(I have spent the last month in Coffee Bay, South
Africa. I have had limited internet
access all month, so I am going to post this blog pertaining to Nepal, and then hopefully
have time to put up one from SA before I head out to Mozambique tomorrow! Sorry I haven’t done the best job of keeping
everyone in the loop!)
I looked over at the tiny girl
picking flowers. Elaina was only eight-years-old,
so frail, and HIV positive. She had just arrived at ASHA, my home for the month of June.
Her black curls bounced as she squatted down and plucked a
dandelion. I watched her big, dark eyes stare
forlorn at the flower in her hand. She
was so cute, so innocent. I shuddered
when I recalled the story that our contact had just shared about her.
Elaina’s mom, a Nepali woman sold
into sex slavery in India, had recently passed away from AIDS. When her mom died, Elaina was forced into a
drug-induced stupor and shoved beneath a bed in a dark room. There she existed for weeks, hopeless and
alone, in the hell of a Mumbai brothel.
Our contact had found her in this condition just a week prior.
Throughout June, I lived with
Elaina and many others at ASHA in Godavari, Nepal. ASHA is a home for Nepali women rescued from
sex-trafficking in India. Every year, thousands of Nepali woman are kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. Sometimes, they are sold by impoverished family members. Other times, deceitful Indian men come to Nepal, marry Nepali women, bring them to India, and sell them into bondage. At ASHA, rescued women learn how to make and sell crafts, and their children receive a God-centered
education. There were eight women at ASHA home, all of whom had HIV, and about twenty children. I can’t describe the attachment that I formed to these beautiful people. As I played
soccer, taught English, and helped with homework, my heart broke for the
children, and the caring women who had been sex objects for so many years. I was repulsed by what had happened to them,
infuriated by the evil they had endured, and blown away by the transformative
power of the gospel.
The women of ASHA Nepal.
Taking some of the boys from ASHA on a camping trip!
A bit muddy after playing soccer all afternoon!
Precious little Elaina and I on one of my last days in Nepal.
Elaina’s first week at ASHA was
difficult. She didn’t spend time with
the other kids, and her periods of silence were broken by fits of uncontrollable crying. I couldn’t imagine how an eight-year-old girl
could cope with being grasped by such darkness. How the hell could this girl be used as a sex
object? How the hell could someone inject her with drugs to keep her quiet and
leave her abandoned? It is hard for me to know how to
respond to such injustice. Yet, I know the one thing that I cannot do is ignore it.
Throughout my four weeks at Nepal,
Elaina began to open up as God’s love obliterated the darkness. As she received compassion from everyone around her, her vitality was restored. She began to laugh, to smile, and to play
with the other kids. The week that I
left, she bounced in my lap and practiced her English.
“L-I-G-H-T,” she exclaimed,
giggling as she pointed. My eyes watered
as I held her tender hands. Praise God
that He loves and cares about the lost.
Praise God that He is the restorer of the broken. Praise God that one day, in heaven, He will
wipe away all tears. Praise God that He
uses US to be His hands and feet in the meantime. Praying that you are moved to action, and not
just sympathy, by knowing the darkness that people around the world, and in the
States, exist in. Find a way to
love/give/serve/care/bring light into the darkness. May God’s Kingdom be expanded through we who
have the Hope of Glory!
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound.” – Isaiah 61:1
My friend, Jamie, made a short slideshow of some of the people from Nepal. The video is at the bottom. Also, the deadline for being fully supported has passed, and I still have about $700 more to raise! If God leads you to give, I would be so appreciative – just click “Support Me” on the left! Thank you SO much to everyone who has already contributed to make this year possible!
