Hey guys! Sorry it’s taken me so long to post about face of justice. So here it is without any farther ado.
Face of Justice is an organization that my team had the opportunity to partner with a few times during our month in Costa Rica. FOJ helps teens and women that had been victims of human trafficking. They recently got approval to expand their housing to accept 18 women. FOJ houses teens from the ages of 12 to 18 years old.
What does FOJ do? Well, they go out into the red light district and bring coffee, tea, and cookies to the women. What is the red light district? It is where prostitution happens. There’s the older age prostitution area which is where the red light district is located right in the heart of San Jose, Costa Rica.
I’m going to transition into telling you my experience with FOJ. The first time I went to FOJ was a Friday night. We needed to be there at 7:30pm and we weren’t going to be done until after 1am. From 7:30-9pm we did introductions, someone gave a devotion, and we worshipped. Around 9pm we would load the coffee, tea, and cookies in the van, pray, and then load up, and head out to the red light district. The volunteers at FOJ called this street ministry. For safety reasons we would always be in groups of 3 normally 2 women and 1 man. Sometimes the groups would be 5 people. You would have a translator in your group that has a previous relationship with the person we’re talking to. My first time out I met a woman named Nikki. During the conversation she joked about their country’s president and showed us memes that her friends had made of him. Eventually the conversation turned serious and she began to open up about her struggles. She told us that she has been waiting on the government to get a check to fix her apartment since the landlord wasn’t fixing anything. She told us about her mom needing surgery because she has a hernia and the doctors have been putting her mom’s surgery off for over 6 months. She told us that she was scared for her mom and the surgery. She shared that she only has a relationship with her mom because the rest of her family told her she no longer exists to them since she is transgender and in prostitution. We prayed for Nikki and then continued on with our night. We would stop and ask if the women would like coffee or tea. Then we would park and talk to the women for however long before they went back to work. I only got out of the van 1 time that night. The rest I spent making coffee and opening cookie packets so they couldn’t be resold.
My second time going to FOJ was a week later, so again Friday night. Same routine, start around 7:30, do worship, devotional, and pray, load up and we’re on our way. Nikki was one of the first women we saw that night, and to my surprise she not only recognized me but remembered my name! I was floored!! A week had past and she remembered me. She told us how she had went to get eyeliner tattooed on but she had a allergic reaction to the numbing medicine so she couldn’t get it done. Her reaction was so bad it looked worse than pink eye. She showed us photos of what it first looked like and she joked about how she looked like the devil, since her eyes were bloodshot, swollen and puffy. I got out many more times that night but Nikki remembering me was my highlight of that night. Yes, I did learn the backstory of another woman that evening and she was very willing to share her struggles and story with us.
Face of Justice is an amazing organization that is reaching out to the transgender community in Costa Rica. They are loving them where they are. Inviting them to church and being God’s hands and feet. The love and compassion this organization has is inspiring. My eyes and heart are becoming truly open to what they face on a daily basis. No, I don’t fully grasp the magnitude of their situation. My heart breaks for them. To be cut off from your family, and not really accepted in society is something that I probably never will experience.
So I’m asking and praying that each one of you pray for all the women and men in the red light district. Thank you so much for partnering with me in prayer.
