i was super thankful to be with these courageous, strong and beautiful women in Sri Lanka. It is amazing to see how God is using each of us in a unique way for His Glory. 
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
The dissendent daughters
i was super thankful to be with these courageous, strong and beautiful women in Sri Lanka. It is amazing to see how God is using each of us in a unique way for His Glory.
trying to look HOT while being sweaty!
I loved my time in sri lanka and it was fun to be out of my regular enviroment and get a little dressed up once in a while. Daphne and i went out to dinner on this night and had a seafood platter that maybe was the best thing i have ever eaten for the best price i have ever eaten anything like that...plus it was the first time i ever had lobster on the shell.
Pigeon Poo and our new home!!
These are a few of our not so welcome house guests. I think we are actually moving into their territory...they have been inhabiting the the house we almost finally have for the last 10 years...they have never paid rent and are very messy...leaving us hours and hours of work to get the place clean. However, last night kristin and i ate domino's pizza on the veranda of what will be OFFICIALLY OUR NEW HOME on thursday morning at 11am. The landlord finally did what we asked and things are getting cleaned and we are so excited about the potential for Sari Bari and creating a beautiful garden(metaphorically) not only for ourselves but for our friends in the gach. This is a huge answer to prayer! Thanks for praying with us!! If you want you can pray against the pigeons trying to move back in!!
Monday, April 10, 2006
I have not forgotten...
I have just been insanely busy! I have so many pictures and so much to say but no time to sayit. so maybe tomorrow...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
that freedom story
Just got this news from Kristin about our friend MITU--really this is a miracle!!
Alrighty folks...have i got a story for you!!!! i think this is the most amazing sofar. please read.Mitutu hadn't been coming to work. for about a week. some people said she wassick, but most didn't know where she was. so today we went looking for her becauseshe didn't come to work again.kiron, beth and i found her working the line. She was sitting on a stool lookingmiserable!! she didn't even smile this time when she saw us. well, we found outthat she hasn't been able to pay rent for about 18 days and owed about 1440ruppess...that is a lot here (abut $30 dollars). so she quit training withouttelling anyone and started to work the line again full time.We gave her some encourgaing words and told her that our problems are her problemsand that freedom is still possible. I don't know if she believed us yet but wecalled freeset and told her that we had found mitu. they told us to bring herthere. so five minutes later we took her back to freeset. kerry, pria and the four of ussat down and told her the solutions....and its amazing. we pay off her rent. shecomes to freeset and actually lives with pria until the room in the DOWNSTAIRS offreeset is done. after a month of living there they will work with her to findhousing........and from this day onward she will leave the trade forever.she agreed. so kiron and beth took the money and went to meet with the landord whowas not happy at all hearing about mitu leaving. It is the bengali new year so forone month they don't get new tenants or let tenant go. She insisted that mitu paidthe rest of the month....but mitu and kiron held strong. even after a lot ofshouting. so we packed up her stuff from her room hired a taxi and dropped her off atfreeset!!! i dont think i realized what had happened until i was sitting and eating dinner andi almost wanted to get up and dance. never, ever again will mitu have to work theline again. never, ever again will she have to lift up her skirt for a $1.00!!! I remember that verse...."God set the lonely into families". i saw it come true today.and on the selfish side. i feel like to today was such a gift to me. i have beenin a funk and Jesus just ripped my face off and reminded me about his character andhe does hear our prayers.keep it real folks. wish i could share every detail but just know that this ishuge!!!!! huge!!!!
Alrighty folks...have i got a story for you!!!! i think this is the most amazing sofar. please read.Mitutu hadn't been coming to work. for about a week. some people said she wassick, but most didn't know where she was. so today we went looking for her becauseshe didn't come to work again.kiron, beth and i found her working the line. She was sitting on a stool lookingmiserable!! she didn't even smile this time when she saw us. well, we found outthat she hasn't been able to pay rent for about 18 days and owed about 1440ruppess...that is a lot here (abut $30 dollars). so she quit training withouttelling anyone and started to work the line again full time.We gave her some encourgaing words and told her that our problems are her problemsand that freedom is still possible. I don't know if she believed us yet but wecalled freeset and told her that we had found mitu. they told us to bring herthere. so five minutes later we took her back to freeset. kerry, pria and the four of ussat down and told her the solutions....and its amazing. we pay off her rent. shecomes to freeset and actually lives with pria until the room in the DOWNSTAIRS offreeset is done. after a month of living there they will work with her to findhousing........and from this day onward she will leave the trade forever.she agreed. so kiron and beth took the money and went to meet with the landord whowas not happy at all hearing about mitu leaving. It is the bengali new year so forone month they don't get new tenants or let tenant go. She insisted that mitu paidthe rest of the month....but mitu and kiron held strong. even after a lot ofshouting. so we packed up her stuff from her room hired a taxi and dropped her off atfreeset!!! i dont think i realized what had happened until i was sitting and eating dinner andi almost wanted to get up and dance. never, ever again will mitu have to work theline again. never, ever again will she have to lift up her skirt for a $1.00!!! I remember that verse...."God set the lonely into families". i saw it come true today.and on the selfish side. i feel like to today was such a gift to me. i have beenin a funk and Jesus just ripped my face off and reminded me about his character andhe does hear our prayers.keep it real folks. wish i could share every detail but just know that this ishuge!!!!! huge!!!!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
still easy
not sure why or how by my travels all the way to sri lanka were easy...i arrived and was the first in line for immigration and within 2 minutes of arriving at the baggage claim we had our bags. SERIOUSLY, THIS NEVER HAPPENS! NEVER EVER!
just feeling super thankful for this and for the next two days of doing nothing on the beach!
just feeling super thankful for this and for the next two days of doing nothing on the beach!
Monday, March 20, 2006
traveling the easy way..
i never travel the easy way...if there is something that is gonna go wrong it always seems to happen when i travel in asia...that is why today has been so amazing!
We had to get up at 230am to catch our flight but it was worth the clear and almost beautiful open roads of calcutta. it was worth being first in line at SpiceJet. never ever in my whole time in india have i been first in line for anything! our flight to chennai was amazing and easy and we just walked a little way over to the international terminal--no worries--no trouble. We get bumped to the front of the line in the bag security area and then again to the front of the line for check in on our columbo flight. I am feeling loved today because of these things...it is weird but i kind of feel taken care of... in a way that i really needed to be taken care of after some insanely busy weeks in Kolkata. I am heading to sri lanka for the WMF Field forum which will be amazing. Keep us in your prayers as the international leadership (from usa, peru, bolivia, romania, sierra leone and nepal) of the community comes together. Seems almost prophetic to see the coming together of many tribes and tongues for the growth of the kingdom! keep us in your prayers.
hoping that the rest of my travels are as amazing as they first hours have been...
We had to get up at 230am to catch our flight but it was worth the clear and almost beautiful open roads of calcutta. it was worth being first in line at SpiceJet. never ever in my whole time in india have i been first in line for anything! our flight to chennai was amazing and easy and we just walked a little way over to the international terminal--no worries--no trouble. We get bumped to the front of the line in the bag security area and then again to the front of the line for check in on our columbo flight. I am feeling loved today because of these things...it is weird but i kind of feel taken care of... in a way that i really needed to be taken care of after some insanely busy weeks in Kolkata. I am heading to sri lanka for the WMF Field forum which will be amazing. Keep us in your prayers as the international leadership (from usa, peru, bolivia, romania, sierra leone and nepal) of the community comes together. Seems almost prophetic to see the coming together of many tribes and tongues for the growth of the kingdom! keep us in your prayers.
hoping that the rest of my travels are as amazing as they first hours have been...
Monday, March 13, 2006
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
living with some bad bad bugs
This week i have been tormented by two seperate yet equally disgusting little baddies...i spent most of last week battle a little stomach parasite....which has now finally been defeatly. Win one for Sarah!! And today i finally did the lice treatment that has been calling my name for the last 6 weeks...i found 7 or 8 biguns and 15 or more of their little kids...they also have been defeated at least for today!! We will see how they are in 10 days when i treat my head again.
I had the best time last night with Upendra, Rada (his wife) and their daughter Megha. they wanted to have me over for tea and ended up making me stay for dinner...seriouly people here are sooooooo hospitable!! We had great converstation about their life and family and the many issues that they have faced in recent years as upendra has stuggled to find a job...they are new believers and it was so refreshing to hear their heart and so amazing that God answered all of prayers in providing for Upendra to work for Sari Bari...he is truly amazing. It was really good...do not know what elso to say except that it is the kind of moment i live for here...those sweet moments of real connection and understanding.
more on life in Kolkata as it happens....
I had the best time last night with Upendra, Rada (his wife) and their daughter Megha. they wanted to have me over for tea and ended up making me stay for dinner...seriouly people here are sooooooo hospitable!! We had great converstation about their life and family and the many issues that they have faced in recent years as upendra has stuggled to find a job...they are new believers and it was so refreshing to hear their heart and so amazing that God answered all of prayers in providing for Upendra to work for Sari Bari...he is truly amazing. It was really good...do not know what elso to say except that it is the kind of moment i live for here...those sweet moments of real connection and understanding.
more on life in Kolkata as it happens....
Thursday, March 02, 2006
All things made new
The new life of three women has begun with the advent of Sari Bari. Three women now have freedom to begin a new life that was never before possible. Now it is more than possible…it is a reality. We celebrated the beginning of the new lives of these three women with birthday cake on Saturday. This is something that started with celebrating the life of one girl in Sonagacchi who left the trade and now will become the beautifully regular celebration of every new women employed by Sari Bari.
It was exciting and beautiful to be with them as we sang happy birthday for them and with them as they celebrated not only their own freedom but the start of freedom of the other 2 women working alongside them. It was a sweet celebration of new life on the floor of what is now Sari Bari in Kalighat.
These first two weeks have been full of new and good experiences. The ladies are amazing and they are working so hard…it was hard to get them to stop for the informal education we hope to have built into all our training sessions. We want to make sure that they have basic literary, nutrition education, budgeting and team building games to round out their training but they just want to keep working on their blankets. Most of the time it just feels normal and maybe like I might be in a little over my head but so good.
I also started learning how to make a Sari Blanket and if you know me at all you will know I wanted my Sari Blanket, even though it is my first one, to be perfect and beautiful. I thought I had picked beautiful and fun sari’s to make the perfect blanket. But as my work progressed I realized that my Sari had all these holes and that I would need to patch them. Hey no problem, the patches add to the coolness I thought, but then there was not left over fabric to match my sari so I had to patch with another color that did not quite match…I was tempted to think that now my Sari blanket was ruined. And then I started to think about it…this sari blanket that I was working on is very much like me and in fact very much like all the ladies I am working alongside. It has the appearance of something good and the potential for great beauty but there are holes and the holes while they make it imperfect they do not make it any less beautiful. The holes which require patching, even patching with a color that does not quite match, make the Sari Blanket even more unique and beautiful. I just realized that I want my life to be perfect but it is not…I imagine the ladies we work with feel the same way…they want beauty and wholeness for themselves and their families but this has not been something available or even attainable. But the fact of the matter is just because there are holes, brokenness and imperfection in our lives does not mean that these things can not be patched, healed and redeemed to make something even more beautiful. That is the kind God we serve, one who patches our holes and calls us beautiful…a God who will heal my brokenness and the brokenness of these ladies and make something new.
This is our vision for Sari Bari that God would take the lives of these women just as they take these old thrown away Sari’s and make something new. We started making Sari Blankets in a business that we call Sari Bari but this week God started making things new in the lives of three women. He started the redemption process and I believe we can trust the end result will be beautiful.
I was able to pay them yesterday for the first two weeks of training and it was so beautiful to see their faces and see their responses as it was again affirmed for them that a new life is started and that there really will be freedom for them. They had their first budgeting class yesterday taught by Kiran and it was a really rough go…it is really the first time that they have been asked to intentionally figure out their money and consider how they can pay their debts and even save some money. It was not easy for them to consider how they could actually make something like a budget work but I believe and hope that they can be successful at managing their money and living on the money they make without taking additional loans. They do not yet know that we will be paying off their loans (they can pay us back at no interest—some of them are paying the equivalent of 120 percent a year) and I am so looking forward to the day when I can tell them their debt will be paid and they will be free from it’s burden in the not too far off future.
Please keep these women in your prayers. They have a long, hard and most certainly amazing road ahead them. Freedom will require a fight that they will not have to fight alone but still it will not be easy. They need you to fight on their behalf in prayer.
So thanks for praying for us and for them. We feel it and we most certainly need it.
It was exciting and beautiful to be with them as we sang happy birthday for them and with them as they celebrated not only their own freedom but the start of freedom of the other 2 women working alongside them. It was a sweet celebration of new life on the floor of what is now Sari Bari in Kalighat.
These first two weeks have been full of new and good experiences. The ladies are amazing and they are working so hard…it was hard to get them to stop for the informal education we hope to have built into all our training sessions. We want to make sure that they have basic literary, nutrition education, budgeting and team building games to round out their training but they just want to keep working on their blankets. Most of the time it just feels normal and maybe like I might be in a little over my head but so good.
I also started learning how to make a Sari Blanket and if you know me at all you will know I wanted my Sari Blanket, even though it is my first one, to be perfect and beautiful. I thought I had picked beautiful and fun sari’s to make the perfect blanket. But as my work progressed I realized that my Sari had all these holes and that I would need to patch them. Hey no problem, the patches add to the coolness I thought, but then there was not left over fabric to match my sari so I had to patch with another color that did not quite match…I was tempted to think that now my Sari blanket was ruined. And then I started to think about it…this sari blanket that I was working on is very much like me and in fact very much like all the ladies I am working alongside. It has the appearance of something good and the potential for great beauty but there are holes and the holes while they make it imperfect they do not make it any less beautiful. The holes which require patching, even patching with a color that does not quite match, make the Sari Blanket even more unique and beautiful. I just realized that I want my life to be perfect but it is not…I imagine the ladies we work with feel the same way…they want beauty and wholeness for themselves and their families but this has not been something available or even attainable. But the fact of the matter is just because there are holes, brokenness and imperfection in our lives does not mean that these things can not be patched, healed and redeemed to make something even more beautiful. That is the kind God we serve, one who patches our holes and calls us beautiful…a God who will heal my brokenness and the brokenness of these ladies and make something new.
This is our vision for Sari Bari that God would take the lives of these women just as they take these old thrown away Sari’s and make something new. We started making Sari Blankets in a business that we call Sari Bari but this week God started making things new in the lives of three women. He started the redemption process and I believe we can trust the end result will be beautiful.
I was able to pay them yesterday for the first two weeks of training and it was so beautiful to see their faces and see their responses as it was again affirmed for them that a new life is started and that there really will be freedom for them. They had their first budgeting class yesterday taught by Kiran and it was a really rough go…it is really the first time that they have been asked to intentionally figure out their money and consider how they can pay their debts and even save some money. It was not easy for them to consider how they could actually make something like a budget work but I believe and hope that they can be successful at managing their money and living on the money they make without taking additional loans. They do not yet know that we will be paying off their loans (they can pay us back at no interest—some of them are paying the equivalent of 120 percent a year) and I am so looking forward to the day when I can tell them their debt will be paid and they will be free from it’s burden in the not too far off future.
Please keep these women in your prayers. They have a long, hard and most certainly amazing road ahead them. Freedom will require a fight that they will not have to fight alone but still it will not be easy. They need you to fight on their behalf in prayer.
So thanks for praying for us and for them. We feel it and we most certainly need it.
Break the Traffic
The National Christian Alliance on Prostitution has just launed a newwebsite (http://www.breakthetraffic.com/). It was created as a way ofraising the profile of modern day slavery & human trafficking and toencourage people to step forward and engage (even if in a small way atfirst) with the issue.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
How I know Jesus loves me
How I know I Jesus loves me ... because I see the way Kristin loves Mitu.
I think Jesus loves us like Kristin Keen loves Mitu. He loves us into freedom. He loves when we can not imagine the new life he has to offer us; he loves us when we decide that we want the life he has to offer us enough to go after it with His help.
Kristin loves Mitu like Jesus loves us. She loved her before she wanted a new life. She loves her enough to be continually pursuing her. She loves her now that she wants a new life enough to ask for it. Kristin loved Mitu into a new life. She loves her enough to celebrate Mitu’s new life with cake. She loves her when she quits enough to go after her…to tell her she can do it. She loves her enough to tell her. She loves her with her heart and soul…worrying, crying, praying and laboring in love on Mitu’s behalf. Kristin loves Mitu like Jesus loves us. Everyday she wonders how she can help Mitu succeed in her choice for a new life…to uphold and encourage but not disempower. She loves her enough to give her a shove in the right direction and still not lead her by the nose. She loves her in her new life and she loves her if someday soon she quits….and if she quits Kristin will pursue her and love her back again.
There is a red light full of women and Kristin pursues the little one who is most lost…like Jesus who will leave the 99 sheep for the one that was lost. Jesus loves us like Kristin Keen loves Mitu. Kristin Keen loves Mitu like Jesus loves us!! I have rarely seen God’s love so beautifully manifested in the flesh in the tangible example of my friend Kristin Keen. It really is amazing!!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Sari Bari has Started!!
Sari Bari started...feb 20 will go down in history as the first official days of Sari Bari. The day the first sari blanket was started as a means for the freedom of the women of the red light districts of kolkata. It was amazing and so normal! We were expecting 3 but ended up with 4 ladies...Usha, Bashanti, Champa, and Aroki! They all jumped right in and were eager to learn. We have hired 2 great trainers Upendra and Gita and they really got us off to a great start after our friend and fellow WMF staff worker Kiran led us in a 20 minutes of devotions with the ladies.
We have also been able to hire one more lady part time to look after aroti's small little girls and help us out with cleaning the center --she said she is 80 and is not really able to sew but is desperate for a job. She is a sweet presence and acts as a mother to the ladies and i am thankful to be included as one of her daughters!
Two of the ladies will not be able to continue to afford their rent at the end of training and they start work full time...so we need to pray for new places for them to stay!
And for those of you who have been praying for you...i am much, much better...still got a little hanging on but almost at 100 percent!!
more on Sari Bari as it happens :) !!
We have also been able to hire one more lady part time to look after aroti's small little girls and help us out with cleaning the center --she said she is 80 and is not really able to sew but is desperate for a job. She is a sweet presence and acts as a mother to the ladies and i am thankful to be included as one of her daughters!
Two of the ladies will not be able to continue to afford their rent at the end of training and they start work full time...so we need to pray for new places for them to stay!
And for those of you who have been praying for you...i am much, much better...still got a little hanging on but almost at 100 percent!!
more on Sari Bari as it happens :) !!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
a good day to follow a bad one
today is a good day. still sick and my throat hurts again after two hours in the AC trying to get plane tickets for people but it is still a good and amazing day. I started today with a little bebo and then some prayer and then i check my email and i have such encouraging emails from julie and mom and dad and laura and daphne and josh and manus---so thank you!!
today sari bari had it's first interviews and 3 women from the kalighat red light area came and will all start training next week on monday...this is an amazing gift. the meeting went really well and i am really encouraged. so that makes today even more amazing--sari bari is starting and will be apart of bringing freedom to 3 women.
and about yesterday...sometime just talking through a few things relieves the pressure...so i feel not so alone today. thanks for praying.
today sari bari had it's first interviews and 3 women from the kalighat red light area came and will all start training next week on monday...this is an amazing gift. the meeting went really well and i am really encouraged. so that makes today even more amazing--sari bari is starting and will be apart of bringing freedom to 3 women.
and about yesterday...sometime just talking through a few things relieves the pressure...so i feel not so alone today. thanks for praying.
Monday, February 13, 2006
my broken crappy self
sometimes you see crazy things here in kolkata...tonight walking down the street i watched a police man intentional break the headlight of a taxi for some minor offense i am sure. I watched him whack, whack, whack till the headlight broke while the taxi driver sat there helpless to respond. he was powerless. i think i know how he feels. I feel powerless...like someone is going whack, whack, whack at my headlights until they break for some minor offense...to make me feel powerless and maybe so that they can feel powerful. i wonder if i am on the other end of this sometimes--the one doing the whacking making someone else feel powerless.
This is how i feel sometimes...like these stair twisted upwards but still twisted. I feel so full of holes and probably not ready to stand up to the weight of the next person who wants to engage me. Living in community is hard. Today i kind of feel like i want to give up because i feel like there are no easy relationships in my life. Everything is hard. From a simple request to the most complex discussion things are hard. Now i am probably just venting here because in general things are good....but i am feeling quite alone and isolated...afraid to take the next step up because i fear the backlash, i fear being alone, i fear being rejected. i guess this is a little vulnerable for a blog that alot of people read but right at this moment i do not where else to vent.
so i guess if you read this pray for our community here. pray for me to be humble, gentle and willing to submit my own desires for the benefit of the community.
This is how i feel sometimes...like these stair twisted upwards but still twisted. I feel so full of holes and probably not ready to stand up to the weight of the next person who wants to engage me. Living in community is hard. Today i kind of feel like i want to give up because i feel like there are no easy relationships in my life. Everything is hard. From a simple request to the most complex discussion things are hard. Now i am probably just venting here because in general things are good....but i am feeling quite alone and isolated...afraid to take the next step up because i fear the backlash, i fear being alone, i fear being rejected. i guess this is a little vulnerable for a blog that alot of people read but right at this moment i do not where else to vent.
so i guess if you read this pray for our community here. pray for me to be humble, gentle and willing to submit my own desires for the benefit of the community.
Indo-Pak girls forced into prostitution
Indo-Pak girls forced into prostitution
Asian News International
Lahore, February 6, 2006
Hindustan Times
In a startling case of organised women trafficking that has come to light, Pakistani and Indian girls aged between 11 and 13 are being smuggled to the Middle East countries for being forced into prostitution there. The girls, who are shown as aged between 20 and 22 on their passports, are brought to these countries on the pretext of getting them attracting jobs.
Over the years the trade has been flourishing, as there is great demand of virgin girls in these countries since the rich Sheikhs love having sex with young girls. The traffickers use blood capsules on the girls' bodies in order to "prove" their virginity.
The case came to light after a human rights activist Ansar Burney rescued some minor girls from the Middle East, and he came across some horrifying facts regarding the flesh trade going on in the region. "The blood packed in capsules used by human traffickers to show that girls are virgin, could contain viruses and can spread AIDS or other contagious diseases," Ansar Burney warned.
According to The News, the girls revealed that most of their companions belonged to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Russia.
"Most of the victims are between the age of 11 to 13 years and are smuggled to the Arab countries where they are forced into prostitution in Middle East and Arab countries," the paper quotedone of the victims as saying. She added that on the passports, ages of these girls were shown as 20 to 22 years old.
She said the human traffickers promised a beautiful and bright future and respectable jobs in the Middle East and Arab countries to lure young girls and after reaching abroad these girls are forced into prostitution.
"The traffickers forced the young girls to show themselves as virgins because most of their clients demanded young girls," another victim said adding, "after arrival and clearance from the airport the traffickers took her passport and forced her physically to do what she was told."
The "agents" use tools like informing the police and of telling their families against their sex slaves, said the paper. One of the rescued victims said that threats of violence kept the victims in line and in some cases these threats became reality. Many girls were forced to have abortions and were forced back to work within weeks, she said and maintained that beatings and forced abortions were common in the life of the sex slaves.
"Some of the rich people in these countries like sex with young girls," she revealed.
Ansar Burney urged Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to direct the concerned department to take stern action against those who were involved in trafficking of young girls for prostitution. "I urge the concerned governments, their leaders, the United Nations, UN Human Rights Commission and other international human rights groups to come forward and help the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International to save the world before it is too late," he added.
Asian News International
Lahore, February 6, 2006
Hindustan Times
In a startling case of organised women trafficking that has come to light, Pakistani and Indian girls aged between 11 and 13 are being smuggled to the Middle East countries for being forced into prostitution there. The girls, who are shown as aged between 20 and 22 on their passports, are brought to these countries on the pretext of getting them attracting jobs.
Over the years the trade has been flourishing, as there is great demand of virgin girls in these countries since the rich Sheikhs love having sex with young girls. The traffickers use blood capsules on the girls' bodies in order to "prove" their virginity.
The case came to light after a human rights activist Ansar Burney rescued some minor girls from the Middle East, and he came across some horrifying facts regarding the flesh trade going on in the region. "The blood packed in capsules used by human traffickers to show that girls are virgin, could contain viruses and can spread AIDS or other contagious diseases," Ansar Burney warned.
According to The News, the girls revealed that most of their companions belonged to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Russia.
"Most of the victims are between the age of 11 to 13 years and are smuggled to the Arab countries where they are forced into prostitution in Middle East and Arab countries," the paper quotedone of the victims as saying. She added that on the passports, ages of these girls were shown as 20 to 22 years old.
She said the human traffickers promised a beautiful and bright future and respectable jobs in the Middle East and Arab countries to lure young girls and after reaching abroad these girls are forced into prostitution.
"The traffickers forced the young girls to show themselves as virgins because most of their clients demanded young girls," another victim said adding, "after arrival and clearance from the airport the traffickers took her passport and forced her physically to do what she was told."
The "agents" use tools like informing the police and of telling their families against their sex slaves, said the paper. One of the rescued victims said that threats of violence kept the victims in line and in some cases these threats became reality. Many girls were forced to have abortions and were forced back to work within weeks, she said and maintained that beatings and forced abortions were common in the life of the sex slaves.
"Some of the rich people in these countries like sex with young girls," she revealed.
Ansar Burney urged Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to direct the concerned department to take stern action against those who were involved in trafficking of young girls for prostitution. "I urge the concerned governments, their leaders, the United Nations, UN Human Rights Commission and other international human rights groups to come forward and help the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International to save the world before it is too late," he added.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Reflection from Beth
Last night walking home after a long day. In between dodging sidewalkobstacles…sleeping dogs, rickety swerving cycle rickshaws, lopsided bricks doublingas a walking path…I tried to remind myself of who I am…tried to wrap my mind aroundthe reality that is my life here. I spent yesterday, just as so many days before,visiting girls who live sprawled along a stretch of road, an area called sonagachi.Red light. Or so the public says. What do they call it? Life? Hell? Deserved? I walk down the road passing women, children, girls dressed in sloppy lipsticks,some of them. Painted eyebrows, some of them. Golden jewelry. Beautiful clothwound around their bodies…attempts, for us all to hide our shame. I walk pastthem, wondering where they’ve already been by the time I see them early in theafternoon. What their nights will hold in store for them. More tricks. More pain.More numb. It ranges each day, from new arrivals who have just moved in months or daysbefore…to the weathered faces of the madams, oppressed women turned oppressor. For revenge? For a living? For what? Some eyes eagerly meet my own, their painted lips parting in welcomingsmiles…others seem to cautiously look away, unsure, unable. Arms pretzeled acrosstheir chests. Closed off. At least from appearances. Others, seem to be somewhereelse. Their village? Their previous night? Their coffin? Staring with eyes ofstone, I wonder how to reach and plant seeds in their hearts. I walk past insecure, wondering what they think of me. Fearing to take the risk ofsaying hi, of reaching out. Of being rejected. Do they fear the same? Do they feel at all. Or do they feel like I do at times walking up the stairs of their brothels.Nothing. Empty. For them, I pray this over the other options… When I see their husbands and their customers, laying relaxed on the bed thatfills the tiny crawl space they call a room, a home, I try to connect the lines ofthis lifestyle, knowing that these men, many of them, are the enslavers of theirwomen, as their property, as their work horses. And I think of these women. Talking with me, smiling and eating, and cooking, andbuying me tea. And I try sometimes to reenact their lives. To captureunderstanding of what might have drug them to this place. Where dirt and blood andgreed and centuries of painful lives paint the walls I walk between. But it’shard. It’s hard to watch a girl switch personalities like I slip off a pair of sandals.Talking with me, attending a customer. Like that. Just like that. Two worlds, sameplace. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with all this…where to store it in my mind, inmy heart, in my prayers. What I want, is to be intentional with every girl I talk with. with everymovement. Every smile. I fear. But I want to shove out the fear with risking in love. For perfect lovedrives out fear. And I want my love to be born out of brokenness…brokenness that happens longbefore I step off the metro at Girish Park and walk the half mile to the road ofgirls who line the streets, standing day in and day out in the same exact place toattract a day’s rent and a belly’s worth of food. Then, when I see my friends,when I touch their hands, and hear their stories…stories void of redemption voidof a savior…in my already broken state, I can offer to be with them. Where theyare, offering the kind of redemption and comfort my Savior offers me. I often have variations of the same vision for this place. For this street stuffedfull with girls, stooped, standing, kneeling, waiting, watching, talking, zoning,knitting, curious and accusative, dying and living…I have this vision…that I’mwalking alone down their street, carrying a single lamp, a single flame, carryingso as not to quench the fragile flame. And lighting the path for them, bringinglight to the darkness. Shining it on their faces, on their lives, shining andrevealing. And the Light brings warmth, and it brings comfort, and it’sattractive. And I walk through, and I offer what I have to them. Ye, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death…we can fear noevil…for the Light is with us…fear not for you will not be put to shame…and do notfeel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget the shame ofyour youth, and the reproach of your womanhood you will remember no more. For yourhusband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts, and your Redeemer is theHoly One of Israel”….this is the lamp I dream to carry, this is the lamp already,I quietly carry each time I enter sonagachi. This is the lamp I pray they one daywill clutch as well. So this is me. walking, and clutching, and waiting, fearing and risking andloving. Alongside the daily normal…or not so normal routine I’ve found myselfliving. And I’m praying that you’d also envision this same picture. for yourselves.Because these situations, these needs are not just happening safely thousands ofmiles out of your reach…no, you are needed. You too, are part of this vision.Maybe not for women sold into sexual slavery. But people harboring pain, needingsomeone to take a risk on them, in need to know the Redeemer…a risk to love, totouch, to carry light to them. By us. For us. Light is brought. Christ has brought. And shadows are redeemed. With such carriers…God is pleased to use…ones who fear…and risk…ones who love…andare broken.… For you…for me… May we carry on.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
The first face of SARI BARI
So Sari Bari is a week and a half from starting it's first training and yesterday i spent some time with who i hope will be the first face of Sari Bari. She is the first face of Sari bari for me. She is why and for whom Sari Bari will exist. Her name is "Asha" and she is 20 years old and was sold into the trade by her brother in law when she was 12 years old. She is a sweet and beautiful girl who has no idea of her value and worth because all she has even known is that she can never do anything else. the freedom that sari bari will offer, is for her. She is my reason along with a thousand other reasons that we will start Sari Bari. Her story is the story of everyone who will find freedom through not only another job but the start of new life. A life in which diginity and respect are offered instead of cursing, a life of hope and restoration instead of destruction. Her life has so much value...i told her that yesterday. i told that she has so much value and is worth so much. My prayer is that she will come to the introductory meeting on tuesday this week and then make the choice for something better...not an easy choice but utlimately a choice for freedom!!
A little update
The last month has been overfull with amazing things. We are overwhelmed with the ways that we are finding community, the ways God is using us to love, serve and offer freedom to the women of Kolkata¡¦s red light districts, and the ways that we are just plain old having fun! I love being here. I am know i am in the right plave doing the right thing. This is going to be a little long but please read on because it is just soooooo good!
The first good and amazing thing is that we will are starting, I guess I should say finally starting Sari Bari. For those of you who do not know, Sari Bari will be a employment opportunity that will offer the women and girls freedom.
Sari Bari exists to provide women caught in the sex trade in the red light areas of Kolkata, India freedom by providing alternative employment and income. Sari Bari Imports (USA) markets and distributes the handmade textiles of Sari Bari India in the minority world while educating and empowering consumers to join in the pursuit of justice and redemption on their behalf.
The name "Sari Bari" comes from two symbols: a sari is the traditional clothing worn by Indian women. In India, saris represent the essence of womanhood. The word "bari" in Bengali means "house or home". Our hope is for Sari Bari to be a safe home where women, who have been exploited in the sex trade, can have their dignity as women restored. By providing a way out of selling their bodies, we believe that these women will have the opportunity to find healing and freedom and to experience the Jesus in a tangible way.
The women will be paid a “fair” wage that will sustain them and their families. Eventually, we hope to be a “fair trade” organization but until we will be seeking to follow fair trade pratices.
Sari Bari has been in the dreams and visions of our community for some time now and the dream will become realized on February 20 when we start our first training. The women train three days a week or a month or two and then they will be hire full time. We will have our first interviews this coming Tuesday and hope to see 2-5 women make the choice for freedom. We will be starting in a different red light area partnering with another organization. We will share space with this organization and work with their girls but this is just the starting point we hope to see production units in all of the city’s red light areas…offering hope, dignity and freedom to the women so long hidden and held down without a way out.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you want to be involved by offering us some of your business expertise!! We have a USA distributor so we just trying to get all the details ironed out.
Second in the amazing catergory is that we are continuing to see girls come out of the trade and freedom and hope with our friends in another buisiness project. So far 9 women have left and 7 are still moving forward into deeper transformation. The most recent girl left yesterday and started her first day---we are so excited—check my wmf co worker kristin's blog for more on her story
www.myspace.com/kristinkeen
And the third and final amazing thing this last week is that we might have finally found an apartment—no only a place to live but a place that could meet all our needs and the needs of Sari Bari in Sonagacchi which is only delayed by not having a place for it as we have so many women interested. It is actually a 2 story building with 8 rooms and courtyard. It is very poor and run down—actually only has a water pump in the courtyard—not running water in the house (we can fix this don’t worry). It actually is very similar to a brothel which strangly enough is exactly what we want…and the landlord will allow the women to come into the building. It is in poor area and we would be able to live with those who we are seeking to serve. The building has so much potential as a place for Sari Bari, a place for us to live incarnationally and be safe—but only a five minute walk from the gach, and it has the potential to be a half way house for some of the young girls coming out of the trade. Please pray, pray, pray for this and for us as we meet with the landlord this coming week on the 15th. We having been waiting and praying for something like this and this really seems to be the right place.
Oh and the last thing is that we are having a lot of fun…fun being with the girls, fun doing literacy training with a business that employs the girls, fun having an eighties party and then a swiss national party—yes these things do happen here check out the eighties party pics!! I mean the side pony tail is about the best we can do with what we have as far as costume goes with a little blue eye shadow !
The first good and amazing thing is that we will are starting, I guess I should say finally starting Sari Bari. For those of you who do not know, Sari Bari will be a employment opportunity that will offer the women and girls freedom.
Sari Bari exists to provide women caught in the sex trade in the red light areas of Kolkata, India freedom by providing alternative employment and income. Sari Bari Imports (USA) markets and distributes the handmade textiles of Sari Bari India in the minority world while educating and empowering consumers to join in the pursuit of justice and redemption on their behalf.
The name "Sari Bari" comes from two symbols: a sari is the traditional clothing worn by Indian women. In India, saris represent the essence of womanhood. The word "bari" in Bengali means "house or home". Our hope is for Sari Bari to be a safe home where women, who have been exploited in the sex trade, can have their dignity as women restored. By providing a way out of selling their bodies, we believe that these women will have the opportunity to find healing and freedom and to experience the Jesus in a tangible way.
The women will be paid a “fair” wage that will sustain them and their families. Eventually, we hope to be a “fair trade” organization but until we will be seeking to follow fair trade pratices.
Sari Bari has been in the dreams and visions of our community for some time now and the dream will become realized on February 20 when we start our first training. The women train three days a week or a month or two and then they will be hire full time. We will have our first interviews this coming Tuesday and hope to see 2-5 women make the choice for freedom. We will be starting in a different red light area partnering with another organization. We will share space with this organization and work with their girls but this is just the starting point we hope to see production units in all of the city’s red light areas…offering hope, dignity and freedom to the women so long hidden and held down without a way out.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you want to be involved by offering us some of your business expertise!! We have a USA distributor so we just trying to get all the details ironed out.
Second in the amazing catergory is that we are continuing to see girls come out of the trade and freedom and hope with our friends in another buisiness project. So far 9 women have left and 7 are still moving forward into deeper transformation. The most recent girl left yesterday and started her first day---we are so excited—check my wmf co worker kristin's blog for more on her story
www.myspace.com/kristinkeen
And the third and final amazing thing this last week is that we might have finally found an apartment—no only a place to live but a place that could meet all our needs and the needs of Sari Bari in Sonagacchi which is only delayed by not having a place for it as we have so many women interested. It is actually a 2 story building with 8 rooms and courtyard. It is very poor and run down—actually only has a water pump in the courtyard—not running water in the house (we can fix this don’t worry). It actually is very similar to a brothel which strangly enough is exactly what we want…and the landlord will allow the women to come into the building. It is in poor area and we would be able to live with those who we are seeking to serve. The building has so much potential as a place for Sari Bari, a place for us to live incarnationally and be safe—but only a five minute walk from the gach, and it has the potential to be a half way house for some of the young girls coming out of the trade. Please pray, pray, pray for this and for us as we meet with the landlord this coming week on the 15th. We having been waiting and praying for something like this and this really seems to be the right place.
Oh and the last thing is that we are having a lot of fun…fun being with the girls, fun doing literacy training with a business that employs the girls, fun having an eighties party and then a swiss national party—yes these things do happen here check out the eighties party pics!! I mean the side pony tail is about the best we can do with what we have as far as costume goes with a little blue eye shadow !
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Bono: National Prayer Breakfast..just some excerpts
Bono
National Prayer Breakfast,
So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.
But then my cynicism got another helping hand.
It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.
Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!
But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.
Love was on the move.
Mercy was on the move.
God was on the move.
Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!
Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!
Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!
Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.
It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.
When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.
I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.
Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like
It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.
But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.
This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.
'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.
'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).
Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.
That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
the beginging of freedom for another..
i am barely writing i am so tired but today was a good and amazing today. my friend angoli who is 20 (she says but i think younger) came with us to freeset. she has only been on the line for a month and she wants another job so bad...she actually came and looked for a month but could not find work as a house maid so she ended up on the line through a lady from her village. angoli is the sole bread winner for her family. her mother died and she has a younger brother and a father who is mentally ill...at 20 she carries so much on her shoulders. she has is not owned by anyone at least we are thinking not and the lady who connected her to the line work came with her and is supportive for her taking the new job and will allow her to live with her for a small expense. because she is so young and new to the line freeset wants to see her leave the line right away and live with this lady and will pay her a little more during training so that she can leave. please pray that nothing happens to change her mind between now and friday morning and pray that her "didi" is really the nice woman she appears to be...we have real concerns that maybe she may try to take lokhi's paycheck as it seems lohki is paying her most of what she earns right now--this was discovered after the agreement to come and work at freeset..seems this will require some follow up--alot actually--please pray for angoli and lokhi and us.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
A day in the Gach
Yesterday was a great day in the gach. We have started keeping a daily journal of what happens and who we talk with...below is mine from yesterday slightly edited...
Please feel free to pray for these women!!
Please feel free to pray for these women!!
23 Jan 05
Partner: Kiran
Deepa –at the front of the line today usually in the middle with the young girls
Puja—also at the front today
Chandana - Today we met a couple of new girls at the beginning of the street. Primarily, Chandana who has been on the line for 10 days, is 19 and has 2 kid—ages 2 and 3. She was very interested in going to freeset to see about new work but was not able to go today. They always say that so I am hoping she come on Wednesday as promised.
Mona-is a flyer—does not come regularly to the gach but is really interested in new work—we talked with her about making blankets for sari
Flyers on the corner—talked with a number of ladies whose names I need to learn but do not know yet. They are always very friendly and welcoming and it is now known on that corner that we can help them get other jobs because almost every time we go they introduce to someone else who wants new work—cool but hard when right now jobs are not really available.
Monica—asked about puja (beth)—very friendly and affectionate—put her arm around me
Somali and friend puja—puja might be new—never met her before lives in somali’s brothel
Krishna—spoke her a little today—seemed a little out of sorts not her usual friendly self—busy doing laundry
Angoli-she is healthy and still interested in coming to freeset—she has only been on the line a month and we found about today that her didi Lokhi is actually her didi ma—her grandmother. She said she will come with us to freeset on Wednesday. Lokhi was not there and if I understand right she is now staying in another room—her room rent is 150 rupees a day (this ridiculous rent by the way)
Somali’s family-we had a great day in somali’s room. Sonda talked with kiran like she was a friend and was maybe the most open that I have ever seen her—talkitave….it was really a good day. I paid for tea—maybe we should offer to do this more often. Mitali was in a good mood—we talked about her birthday and having a really fun party on the 8th to celebrate. She did mendhi for me and she actually did it nice this time. I played with anish—we play hand clapping and I tried to get him to identify his nose and mouth etc…not really able…does not probably get enough stimulation. Kiran and mitali played a game—really great.
Sima—nepali girl in brothel 19/a she is only been on the line 5 months—really nice but maybe a little stand offish—spoke to kiran in hindi
Sonali—she is so sweet always asking where we are going—need to make a priority of having tea with her—maybe we can bring tea for all those girls next week.
Dumpa-gray brothel right after the young girls invited us in for lunch today—she had made roti and wanted to know if we wanted to come in and eat—it was already 3pm so we did not stay but made an appointment to go back on Monday and eat with her at one. There are a lot of girls in her brothel that we talk with including the one with the golden sindoor but whose names I do not know.
Chobi and soma’s room—we spent an hour and half in their room… I think kiran really likes to spend time with this lady and wants to see come to know jesus and release her worry…the mom talked for a long, long time but I kind of zoned out and just played with the batcha—so fun to play with him do not think he gets to play much—he kept trying to feed me and share his food—we played peek abo with my dupatta. I gave chobi my hand cream and they all kept talking about it and that probably only the boro lok(rich people--like me) have such nice cream…kind of hard place to be wanting to share but also wanting to live simply but everything I have is a treasure –wonder what the line is…
Ratana-we went to visit ratana---my first time—she has a really nice room meaning a little bigger with her own bathroom—she had another girl in her room whose name I did not get and a man and small child sleeping on the bed. She got a call from a customer while she was there and I spoke to him on the phone and he asked if he could come and make friends with me—I said no but he arranged with ratana to meet her tonight—ratana though Kristin would be going with her to the village tomorrow so she gave me her phone number Good to meet her after hearing about her…kiran advised that Kristin not go with her alone. After catching up with Kristin, Kristin called her and told her that she/ we go another day.
Another Good blog
Please check Kristin Keen's blog--she is way better at posting than i am and she really gets down what happens in daily life.
http://www.myspace.com/kristinkeen
http://www.myspace.com/kristinkeen
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
odd thoughts on kentucky friend chicken
today i went to kfc...it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! i think maybe the last time i ate kentucky fried chicken was ten years ago and i am sure i have not missed it but wow--something about eating kfc in India where nothing else is familiar must be what it is...i will say that i struggle to move in between two worlds...going to a sweet mall out in the rich suburbs of calcutta (states comparable) where people take thier nannies who they pay 500 rupees a month and they sit with them but they(the nannies) do not get to eat kfc and they certainly can not afford to buy the nice things contained in the mall...just hard to make this reconcilation in my mind...i can not throw off fully who i am--i do have the money to eat kfc and today i chose to eat there and yes i did enjoy it but i was very clearly reminded that when i chose kfc in am choosing something that most of the women i work with in the gach coudl never afford..$3.00 for a meal...crazy...not fully resolved on how i feel ab0ut but uncomfortability remains in my heart...how do these things exist together..can i treat myself ocassionally when for so many such a treat is never possible.
one good update...7 ladies from the gach are now working with freeset...2 of them are asha and onita who we took awhile back but we were not sure they would return esp. onita but they have both started training...yeah..so proud of them and so hopeful about what the future will bring for them and their families.
one good update...7 ladies from the gach are now working with freeset...2 of them are asha and onita who we took awhile back but we were not sure they would return esp. onita but they have both started training...yeah..so proud of them and so hopeful about what the future will bring for them and their families.
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