Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Jesus Loves the Little Children

In many countries that are afflicted with extreme poverty, women and girls are viewed as so beneath men that they are often raped, beaten savagely, burned to death and scarred by acid thrown in their faces. Rape is less an act of lust, than an act of brutality and punishment. Women and girls have no say in their own lives and are sold, traded and married off at incredibly young ages.  They are property; objects to be used for man's pleasure and purposes. Sex trafficking of young girls is commonplace.  In India alone, there are tens of thousands of underage girls trapped in the commercial sex trade in the cities of Kolkata and Mumbai alone.  They are not there willingly as we in America so often think.  They are kidnapped, tricked by promises of better jobs away from home, and even sold to sex traffickers by their own families. When these trafficked victims realize what is in store for them, they are unable to escape, risking terrible beatings and even death if they do not comply with their captor's demands. Night after night of being forced to engage in humiliating sex acts according to the whims of the men who pay the pimps for the girl's services takes its emotional and physical toll. The girls are beaten if they do not comply with customer's expectations and are subject to torment if they do not act happy about their fate.  These young preteens and teens face a nightmarish existence of hours of rape each night, physical and verbal abuse, shame,  imprisonment and isolation.
International Justice Mission and Compassion International are lights in the desperate darkness of Indian brothels. These two Christian organizations partner together to reach the children caught in the brothels and those living in the spiritual filth of the red light districts. IJM workers execute daring rescues of these children, getting them into safe and healing aftercare facilities and working tirelessly to apprehend and gain convictions for the pimps, johns, brothel owners and traffickers. The following links share two articles about IJM's amazing work in India.  The first is the story of one girl found and saved against all odds, and reveals the incredible efforts these courageous men and women will go to in order to save even one of "the least of these". 
http://www.ijm.org/content/rescue-with-a-determination-that-wont-quit?utm_source=blogs&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=blogher_rayofhope

The second article is about another daring rescue of trafficked girls in one of the most hardcore red light districts in Mumbai, India.
http://www.ijm.org/news/ijm-mumbai-police-rescue-girls-trafficked-sex-against-all-odds

Compassion International is also making inroads into the heart of the red light districts of Mumbai, India. This summer, the child advocacy ministry opened a child development center in the middle of the Miraj Redlight District, where hundreds of children live as victims of the evil influences that surround them. Many of these children are the offspring of mothers who are currently commercial sex workers.  The fathers who are present often are involved in the sex trafficking business in some way. Guardians are often listed as other relatives. The likelihood that these children, boys and girls alike, will enter the commercial sex trade is obvious.  But Compassion is offering these children a refuge, a safe place to get spiritual, emotional and physical food in the hours that they are not in school. By partnering with a local church that is already a part of this community of darkness, Compassion can immediately intervene and reach the most needy and vulnerable children in the project area. Through Compassion International in Mumbai, India, you and I now have the opportunity to make a difference in the fate of these children by becoming a child's sponsor. The following link will take you to Our Compassion, a social networking sight where some of these children are posted. If you see a child that you feel called to help through a monthly sponsorship fee, loving letters, and faithful prayer then please contact me through this blog or my email address, jjowhimsy@yahoo.com. I will be thrilled to get you in touch with the advocates of these children who can guide you through the process of sponsoring the child of your choice.  Also, if you are interested in seeing more children in this project who are not featured on the Our Compassion website or the accompanying blog, Our Compassion Adventure, let me know and I can request additional child packets.
  http://ourcompassion.org/general_discussions/life_sponsor/f/14/t/1367.aspx

http://ourcompassion.org/general_discussions/life_sponsor/f/14/t/1752.aspx

http://compassionadventure.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-detour-to-india.html


2 comments:

  1. Hi Julie - my name is Jill and I also blog on behalf of Compassion over at Compassion Family. I have a "master list" that I compiled of everyone I run across that blogs about Compassion regularly. I'll be adding your great blog to the list!

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  2. Thanks Jill! I will head on over to your blog to check it out.

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