Celeste Forrest, Staff Writer
You are a 12 year old girl living in one of the poorest ghettos in India. Your family barely has enough money to purchase food, let alone send you to school. One day, a man comes by and talks to your parents and offers you a job as a maid. This job, he says, will give you the opportunity to create a stable source of income, an income that will be able to feed your family and give them a second chance at life.
“It’ll only be a couple months,” the man promises. “You will be able to see your mother and father in no time.”
You reluctantly agree, knowing that you will be able to support your family and take care of them if you take this job. Your parents are so excited at this, that they throw a huge send-off party that night with the rest of your family members and friends. The next day, after packing what little belongings you have, you travel in a cart to a big city in India, never even realizing that in only a couple weeks, you would discover this was all a sick lie. The man was not a business recruiter, but a pimp scavenging the poor ghettos for vulnerable girls to sell as prostitutes. You will never see your family again. You will never have a second chance at life. You have become a victim of human-sex trafficking. Your life will never be the same…
…Unless someone finally decides to step up and do something to change it.
While this account is completely metaphorical, the reality of human sex trafficking is far from fictional; this large-scale issue is affecting not only our nation, but affecting young men and women around the globe. It is estimated that every two minutes, a child is sold into sex slavery somewhere around the world. Thankfully, there are people all across America who do not sit by and let tragic stories like this take place. One organization is doing everything it can to bring human sex trafficking to an end.
Their name is Rahab’s Rope.
Rahab’s Rope is a Christian non-for profit organization that works with women who live in high-risk areas of prostitution, also known as the “red-light districts” in India. Why India? Because India is known for being a hotspot for “sex tourism” and it is a common place where women are sold and then trafficked to other countries. Rahab’s Rope works with women who live in Indian brothels by providing food and protection, as well as a safe place where they can minister to women with love, comfort and education.
Photo by Celeste Forrest
Not only does Rahab’s Rope help free women from the horrid cycle of sex slavery, but they provide training as well. This training includes nutritional and financial education, and also allows ex-prostitutes to find a new, more stable source of income to support themselves and their families. This is done by teaching rescued victims how to sew, bead and craft in free workshops. In these workshops, the women learn crafting skills, like how to make purses out of rice bags, bead colorful glass jewelry and weave ornamental blankets and scarves. Not only do these workshops give rescued victims jobs, it teaches them to be self-sufficient and well-equipped for life in Christ-centered, safe and loving environments.
These beautiful hand-crafted goods are then sent to Rahab’s Rope headquarters, a non-for profit store located in Gainesville, Georgia. Then, the crafts are bought by consumers or sent out to boutiques all across the United States. All funds that are raised through selling the crafts are then sent back to India, where proceeds are given to the rescued-victims and to the workshops so they can continue to minister to the other women currently in brothels. This ministry has been around since 2006, and is continuously growing, even within the United States.
If you are interested in sharing the vision of Rahab’s Rope, or maybe even being “love in action” through purchasing crafts made by the rescued victims themselves, feel free to visit their website: http://www.rahabsrope.com/