Ana’s Night Rescue:
The Story of a Nepali Street Girl
Picture by Nepal Mountain News
_______________________________________________________
Squad Debrief in Thamel, Nepal
July 24, 2016
“We can’t just leave her here. She has no family and nowhere to stay. Who knows what those guys will do to her after we leave?“ I say to the others as we sit on the steps outside of our hotel.
One Hour Earlier…
Danielle and I leave our hotel and head to OR2K for some food with friends one night. Also, Mike Fiene was going to help me with my laptop disaster.
The street lights, though small, cast out the darkness of the night with a warm welcoming glow. As we walk, we notice a woman and a little girl sitting down on the left side of the road. We keep walking… the whole time the Holy Spirit is telling me to stop and talk to this woman and this little girl. Finally, I stop and turn toward Danielle. Without saying a word, we simultaneously turn around and walk back.
“Are you hungry?” Danielle asks them. Two unsure heads nod slowly as their hungry eyes communicate clearly the words they are not saying. “Ok, we will go to the store at the corner and bring something back for you,” I assure them. The little girl follows us to the store and picks out a large can of dry milk.
This seems odd, I think to myself. It is $20 worth of milk. Isn’t she hungry? “This will last a long time for her so maybe that is why she chose it,” Danielle reassures me. We continue and check out as questioning eyes look at us from every corner in the store including the cashier.
We walk outside and they sit down on the curb while I walk into a bakery to get a pastry for the woman. When I emerge from the store, I join them on the curb. Danielle had asked a few questions and discovered that the girl’s name was Ana. She has no family nearby and she has nowhere to sleep. Her tall slender frame, short hair, dark skin, and ratty clothes all confirm her story. Right then, two young men walk up to us, kneel down and ask for us to buy them some milk too. The second they come over to us, fear emanates from Ana. With fear behind her eyes, she glares directly at them. Nothing can get her to look away. She clings tightly to the milk with her left arm and with her right, she latches onto Danielle’s arm.
“No,” is the only answer I get out. Before we have time to think, four more young men join the first two surrounding us on the corner in a semi-circle, all wanting the same thing, “milk for their baby sisters.”
Mamma bear kicks in.
“No, we don’t have any more money to get you milk. We have to go,” I say as I stand up and Danielle and Ana follow. We walk through the men quickly and deliver the pastry for the woman waiting, with the men behind us.
Danielle turns to the woman, “Is she your daughter?” Her head shakes no. “Do you take care of her?” Again, her head shakes no. Ana was feigning protection by this woman by simply sitting beside her on the street.
Neither one of us are willing to walk away with Ana clinging to Danielle. I silently pray for God to provide a way out. Just then, three of our friends walk up, Mike, Jordyn, and Ryan. The men instantly see the two guys, and walk away, though not very far. We all return to the hotel to figure out a solution.
“We can’t just leave her here. She has no family and nowhere to stay. Who knows what those guys will do to her after we leave?” I say. Some of our friends go inside the hotel to ask our squad mates to pray. Moments later, Rachael comes out to us letting us know her ministry host works with at risk children just like this. She agrees to call knowing her host doesn’t usually answer the phone right away. She calls and he answers immediately.
“They can take her tonight! Go ahead and get a cab!” Rachael exclaims.
While we wait for the taxi, Ana lays on Danielle’s lap. Every few minutes, a raspy cough overtakes her little body. It seems as if it has taken up residence in her lungs for weeks with no medication. None of us can leave this little girl to sleep on the street for the night, even if that is what she did before she met us. As Danielle rubs her fingers through her hair, I sing a lullaby to her, “Hush little baby don’t say a word…”
By the time the taxi arrives, Ana is sound asleep. Paris, Ryan, Lindsey, Danielle and Ana all squeeze in the back seat of the cab. There is not quite room for me. I stand back and watch until the car pulls off taking Ana to her new home. No sign of those guys. She will be safe now.
_______________________________________________________
These guys did not just want some milk for their baby sisters. We believe that they owned Ana and were having her beg for the milk so that they could take it, return it, and get the money from it. (We found out later that this is a common scheme that occurs in this area.) Another worry was that this was not the only thing they made her do.
I found out the next day that she was a little scared because she did not understand what was happening when they got in the taxi (she didn’t speak much English), but the mother at the ministry explained who they were and Ana decided to stay.
The day before we left, Danielle and I took her to the zoo for the first time where Danielle let her use her iPad to take pictures of every single animal! Ana loved it.
Danielle and Ana at the Zoo
We don’t know if she is still with this ministry. Many street children have had bad experiences in organizations and return to their old lifestyles. Please pray for Ana. We had no idea what would happen when we stopped that night. We felt the gentle push of the Holy Spirit and obeyed. Jesus used us to rescue a little girl from the streets of Nepal. This “rescue” would have been daunting before this night, but because God did ALL of the planning, obeying and following His lead made it the easiest thing in the world.
That simple thing God is asking you to do could lead to changing someone’s life forever. Are you listening for His voice?
