Saturday the girls on my team went to visit a local ministry that employs and empower women who want to leave the life of prostitution. This ministry gives women who want to leave the sex industry training and a job with dignity in areas such as jewelry making, a nail salon, cooking, waitressing, and sewing, all while providing them with free counseling, childcare, and healthcare services. As we sat in their cafe eating, Katie exclaimed “Lina can work here! She doesn’t have to give up her daughter, she can work and live here!” We were all thrilled at the possibility and began praying that Lina wouldn’t sign the papers and give up Imani before talking with us.
Monday arrived after a weekend of praying for Lina and Imani. We went to work at our organization and there we saw Lina holding her baby girl. She hadn’t given her up for adoption! Instead, she was holding her close and grinning, saying when she went to sign the papers (on Saturday at the same time we were sitting in the cafe!) that would forever separate her from her daughter, she just couldn’t do it. The possibility of working at this organization was presented to Lina and she was thrilled, so Katie and Kristen took her to talk to the director. After an interview she was accepted into the program and would begin training the next day in the sewing room! That day Lina told Katie and Kristen: “My dream is that I would be able to live in a small house with my daughter, and work in a job with dignity.” Her dream was coming true.
Tuesday morning the five girls on my team, Lina, Imani, and their one box of possessions piled into a tok tok. We were heading to move her into her new home so she could begin her work at the organization. This brave woman was visibly nervous but excited as she put her trust in practical strangers and an organization she knew little about. We arrived at their new home where they would be living in a one room apartment; an apartment complex that housed other women from this organization. I was thrilled: she would have community! Exhausted from lack of sleep, she sat down in her bare apartment with her one box. We told her she was safe and to rest, we would be back soon. And then we went shopping! We went to the market and bargained all afternoon for items that would help make this room feel like a home. She had nothing, and we had the privilege of furnishing this woman’s home with the essentials.
Today, Katie and I went to visit Lina and Imani. We walked into her home to find her visiting with her new friend, another woman who has recently found a new life. We then went to the organization where she works and arrived just in time for their weekly chapel service. As worship began, I looked around at all the faces that surrounded me. Each one had a story, but more important was the work of restoration that was occurring in every life in that room. In that moment I was absolutely in awe of God’s goodness and faithfulness as Lina and Imani sat down beside me, listening to praises fill the room.
