She is 10 years old. She is just a little kid. Yet she has her own child. A girl who must figure out how to be a mother and also a child at the same time.
She gets in the car with her Aunt who said she got her a job. She is promised to be taken care of. She is promised an income. She is promised a place to stay. She is promised a life with a bright future. Instead, she is sold to a brothel by her own Aunt. She was robbed. Robbed of her childhood, robbed of her freedom, and robbed of her dignity.
Three sisters. Nine, eleven, and thirteen. The eleven year old impregnated by her father. Their fathers’ friends come over. They know what is about to happen. Her father and his friend exchange money and he sends one of them to the room where she will be used until he decides he is done with her. Three sisters, sold by their parents into sex trafficking. Three daughters, traded for money. Three daughters, told that they are worth a price and nothing more. Three daughters who I pray will one day know that they are daughters of God, and that they are priceless.
Her head is spinning. She can’t stand anymore. She can’t fight. She can’t think. She took the drink that they forced upon her. She knew she would be hurt more if she didn’t. A burning pain. Her skin is searing. In a haze she sees the needle they are using to tattoo her new name. She can no longer be called by her real name. She is no longer allowed to be that girl anymore, she must accept this new identity. She is now called this name by every abuser who unclothes her and lays eyes upon it. She is now marked.
She was told to go upstairs. She was told she would not be hurt. That nothing would happen to her. That they wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. An unknown man comes up the stairs and enters the room. They are alone. And he advances. She is confused. She knows this is wrong. She tries to fight. But he hits her. Over and over again. She is on the ground. He is kicking her. She is bleeding and she is crying. Then she blacks out. She wakes up and the man is leaving. She is alone again. But only until the next customer pays and is allowed to hurt her again.
She is worth $50,000 to her abusers. Men from all over pay to use her for their own pleasure. She is abused up to forty times a day. Forty. She is rescued. But she is not free. Her pimps are relentless. She is tracked. She is searched for. She is worth finding because she is brainwashed. They put so much effort into abusing her that it is worth the effort to find her. No other girl is as willing to sell themselves to men. She makes them the most money. They must find her.
She looks at him as her true love. He loves her. He cares about her. The very man that hits her, that kicks her, that spits on her, that uses her, that sells her for sex. That is her love. There is no other life. She doesn’t want to leave. Where would she go? She runs away from safety. She fights to run back to her abuser. To her that is her husband. That is all she knows.
She is not just a statistic. I have met her. These stories are true. Human trafficking is all around us. Slavery still exists. This is reality, and this needs to end.
I have been volunteering with the organization Dunamis for the past two months. They are doing incredible things. Dunamis is currently getting ready to house fifteen girls ages nine-seventeen who have been rescued from sex and labor trafficking. Dunamis provides security and doctors to administer therapy and treatment for healing from trauma. They are teaching them life skills like jewelry making and sewing to ensure that each girl has the tools to make a living for themselves in a healthy way. They have created a safe space for young girls who haven’t known safety their whole lives. They are in the process of creating buildings for the girls eighteen and older. Dunamis is dedicated to ensuring that older girls are truly ready to leave and not just because they are eighteen. They hold a new standard to the low success rate of human trafficking victims. They want to see girls boldly step out into the world knowing their true value. They are cultivating growth. You can support this organization by donating at https://dunamisfoundation.com. Your money is breaking the awful chains of abuse that have become a cultural norm. This matters.
XOXO, Cat
