I’m in Mexico City.  Last night, I went to a Safe House for women who have been rescuing from trafficking.  It’s called “Camino a Casa” (A way home).  There are 25 women (though most are merely girls) and some children of these girls.

They were rescued by the government and brought to “Camino a Casa” to leave.  The safe house is ironically a former drug dealers home that was now owned by the government and rented by the Camino a Casa Foundation.  They have a bakery the girls run making pastries to sell.  Some are now trusted to work outside at places like the Marriott.  One girl attends a school.   They receive counseling, physical direction and spiritual direction.  The biggest thing is the workers at the safe want is for them to understand they were victims and that they have value and worth.   The effort is to restore dignity to these girls who most likely have been abused all their lives and bring hope to the hopeless.

Not long after I first walk in, this cute little precious girl of 2 1/2 walked up.  She had the most infectious smile.  Of course I had to pick her up.  I ended holding her for about an hour.  Or when I wasn’t holding her,  she was trying to drag me around with her little hand proudly pointing out things in the house.

I learned when this little girl was a baby that she was burned with an iron by the man who held her mother captive threatening her mother if she tried to run away.  One of the directors, shared how when she and her mother arrived she wouldn’t let a man come near here.  Now a year later she wouldn’t this man leave.

The women at the safe house were precious but you could tell they had lost their innocence.  In some ways the response to me was no different than a teenager  with shy grins.  But for most, the habit of how they responded to men in their presence was there.  In turn, it was an opportunity with to return a smile that wasn’t sexual but one of compassion and love.

We ended up staying there from about 7 to midnight.  We had a dinner with the staff and those who support this ministry.  Sort of Mexico, it started late and went late but that was okay.  (Except I had gotten up at 4 am to make my first flight. So I was glad when they brought out coffee at 11 pm)

I teared up a lot last night.  (And now as I write)  Since  sharing after dinner was in Spanish and I couldn’t follow, I sat there thinkign of these girls.  I started thinking of how often perhaps they had been exploited.   How they were for the first time experiencing people who loved them.  But still how there lives have been forever marked by this horrific crime.

I thought of how Jesus said how if anyone hurt these precious innocent ones that it would be better for them to have a huge boulder tied around their neck and thrown into a sea to drown.  Woe to the world because of these things!  (Matthew 18:5-7)   I thought of the verse my sister-in-law texted me that morning before I boarded the plane.   Romans 12:21 “Do be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing good.”

I want to do good.  I want to do what is courageous.  I want to help end this and bring the glory of God and shine the light hope that He brings.

Tomorrow we will lunch after church at the home of a Senator and his wife, Rosi, who is a Congresswomen.  Rosi is the one who started Camino a Casa.  On Monday  and Tuesday (Or Tuesday and Wednesday – not totally sure), we will join a congressional forum on this issue.  These meetings have new life after seeing the faces of these dear girls and thinking of the countless others who are being trafficked in the same way.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 1:46 pm and is filed under JACK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.