In the Comarca, an indigenous reservation in the mountains of Panamá, 98.5% of girls will be sexually assaulted before the age of 12.
Let that sink in.
Oma, the indigenous village we’ve been visiting since we’ve been here, is part of the Comarca, and therefore part of that statistic.
Thinking about this makes my heart hurt. This daunting fact isn’t brought to light, and is an accepted part of the culture here. Once assaulted, girls have an option to testify on their behalf to the police, but the chances of any change coming from it are slim to none. The girls are too afraid to speak out, for fear of something worse happening when they return. With no ground to stand on, their voices aren’t heard. They continue to live in this dark reality since they essentially have no one to help them.
As you can imagine, this takes a toll on the girls here. Heather, our host, talked to us about how you can tell when a girl is sexually assaulted. They go from being fun-loving and free-spirited to having a more downcast, solemn personality almost overnight. She told us how heartbreaking it is to see this transformation right before her eyes.
When she told us this story, my mind immediately went to the girls I’ve interacted with at Oma-girls like Ida. When you look at these faces, you struggle to imagine how someone could take advantage of someone so innocent. You can visibly see the divide-the little girls who are running around, giggling, tugging on your shirt, to older girls who are more reserved, shy, and hard to get to know. It’s more than just shyness. You can tell there is an underlying lack of trust.
Dayanna, a friend of Heather and Danny, has said that the most heartbreaking thing is when she sees girls who are exceptionally pretty at a young age. She fears that they will be assaulted sooner than others. It is hard to imagine this underlying reality when you look at the gorgeous little girls here. You want them to only experience joy and the undeniable truth that they are daughters of the one true King.
Beauty for Ashes is an organization that empowers women to discover their value in Christ. Its purpose is to allow women to find comfort and healing through sharing and to experience the joy of fellowship and community. They focus on four major themes: identity, worth, forgiveness, and community. Each squad on the World Race has a Beauty for Ashes coordinator, and each team has a contact under the coordinator so that teams can put on Beauty for Ashes events.
Hannah is the Beauty for Ashes contact on our team. She is a sweet soul who has such a heart for women’s ministry and really vision-casted what that could look like this month on the race. After hearing these statistics, I know it made the event all the more pressing and important to the girls on our team. A few weeks ago, Hannah led a Beauty for Ashes event for the women here.
It was a beautiful afternoon led by the Holy Spirit. It was incredible to watch the Lord speak truth into these women through Hannah. We were able to love on them and give them a comfortable space to be vulnerable. We hoped it would show them how valued and precious they are to their heavenly father, and to lead them to Him.
Our main focus was the story of the woman at the well from John chapter four. Here is an excerpt (verses 7-15):
“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, of that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’”
The living water Jesus is referencing is himself. Only through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice can we receive eternal life.
This unnamed woman was a Samaritan, a race of people that the Jews despised as having no claim on their God. The story later reveals that she is an unmarried woman living openly with someone who is not her husband, which would have left her as an outcast during that time. This was evident by the fact that she came alone to draw water, when drawing water and chatting at the well was a social highpoint of a woman’s day during biblical times.
This story teaches us that God loves us in spite of our mistakes. He values us enough to actively seek us and welcome us into intimacy with Him. As a result of her conversation with Jesus, only a person like this woman could fully understand what this means. Jesus showed her that she was wanted and cared for when no one, not even herself, could see anything of value in her. This is a perfect example of his undeserving grace.
Later on in the story, this woman goes on to share what she learned from Jesus.
“Many Samaritans from that town believed in him (Jesus) because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.’” (v. 39-42)
This woman, who was an outcast from society, became a carrier and deliverer of the good news that Jesus gives, all because she received the gift he held out to her. We all have this ability. This woman’s testimony changed many lives, because there was an evident change in her. She reached out her hands, received the grace offered, and shared it with others. Jesus loves to use the outcasts and the ill-equipped to share his word. When they are successful, they have nothing to boast in but the Lord. We can find our true worth in the Lord, because it’s in Jesus.
Women reading this blog:
- You are valued
- You are loved
- Your story is redeemable
- You are a daughter of the one true King
For these women in the Comarca, their only hope is in Jesus. For women all over the world, their only hope is in Jesus. He is our identity, where we find our worth, our reason to forgive, and our gateway to healthy community.
If this struck a chord for anyone and you have more questions, do not hesitate to get ahold of me.
Please pray for the women in the Comarca and surrounding area of Las Lajas. Pray that Jesus’ name will be heard and that there will be an awakening of women and men alike who know their worth in Christ. Pray a bold prayer that they will start a movement that brings redemption to the people here in Panamá.
Yours in Christ,
Rach
