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We stepped out of the rickshaw on the way to McDonald’s . . . . . .
 
 
 
AND THERE SHE WAS.
 
 

 

Our goal had been to merely eat ice cream and make a memory as a team.

 
 

But then . . . we met the true purpose of our make a memory day.

 


 
 

She was holding out her hand, begging for money.

 

She was probably only five years old.

 

Adorned in a tattered red shirt and torn yellow skirt, she looked up at us, begging for help.

 

 
 
 

Now if you know the streets of India, you know there are MANY beggars.  Many look extremely poor.  Many are crippled.  And many are children. 

 

Now, you also probably know you can’t just give them money because it could go to someone or something else. 

 
 

But, you CAN buy them food. 

 
 

I was just about to ask if we could take her with us to get ice cream when Aimee took her by the hand and asked her to come with us.

 

Leading her up to the counter, Aimee bought her a happy meal and an ice cream cone.


 


Aimee helped her open her nuggets and dipping sauce and did everything a good mommy would do to help her little child.  It was so adorable.
 
 
This little girl looked so happy as she sat down with us to eat, an ice cream cone in one hand and a chicken nugget in the other.
 

 

As she ate, we made silly faces at each other, smiled at her, took pictures together, and tried to make conversation.  However, she did not understand what we were trying to say.

 
 

I asked her what her name was and said, “My name is Jenny.”

 

She responded with, “My name is Jenny.”

 
 

It was clear she did not understand English.

 
 
 

We decided to give her a name.


 
 

 
We decided that name would be JULIE.


 
 
 
 
 
 

Julie scarfed down the food in front of her, and soon, she was playing with the surfer barbie that came with her happy meal.  She combed the hair of the little doll, and used this same little comb to try and brush her own hair.  At one point in time, she even tried to feed her doll some of the melted ice cream left in her cup.  It was so cute watching her try to be a little mommy for this little doll.

 

When it was time for us to move on, she decided to follow us.  Many of the girls wanted to shop, which is definitely not up my alley, so I latched on to Julie’s hand and walked with her through the store as the rest browsed through the clothing.  She wanted to touch everything.  Funny thing was, the first thing she made a beeline for was the wallets.  In her plastic bag, she carried a little wallet of her own, but it was worn and tattered.  There was hardly money at all in it either.  It was sad to see that at the age of five, money was her main priority.  I KNEW she was bringing this back to someone else too, probably someone that cared nothing for the little girl.

 

She also was very fond of looking at the hair ties.  I decided to buy her a little purple set with flowers.  After buying them, I put them in her hair.  She was so proud of them and wanted all the girls to see.

 

As we waited for the girls to try on clothes, we sat outside of the dressing room.  We counted the doors together, “1, 2, 3, 4 . . . ,” and I tried to keep her from looking under them. 
 
At one point, we were playing a sort of hide and seek from each other too, which was fun.
 


 
 

One of the hardest parts was when little Julie saw Aimee ahead of her.  “Mommy,” she said, as she pointed to her.

 

It broke my heart that we had only spent a little bit of time with this girl and shown her only a little bit of love, and already she looked to one of us as her “mommy.”  It made me want to cry.

 
 
 

The girls continued to shop, and as we waited by the outside of the door, Julie was suddenly entranced by something.

 

 Ahead of her, the elevator was moving up and down, and she pointed to it excitedly.

 

I decided to take her for a little ride.  We went up to the fifth floor and back down.  She was quite enthralled by it all.


 
 
 

She wanted to ride the escalators as well, but it was time to go.


 
 

When we headed back outside, she waved goodbye and took off jogging down the sidewalk, off to do more begging.


 
 

It was hard to watch her go. 

 

I just wanted to take her with us.

 
 

However, that would not be the end to our time with Julie.  

 

After leaving Subway (man, it sounds like all we do is eat), a couple of the girls wanted to grab a coffee.  As soon as we started to cross the road, we heard a little voice cry out to us.  It was Julie!!  She raced towards us, doll and wallet and one of the hair ties in her hand.  I was SO HAPPY to see her again!  She was in the process of putting one of her new hair ties in the hair of her dollie so they could be twins.  I took her hand, and we walked together behind the other girls.

 

At one point, she took off to beg one lady for money, but then she came back.

 


As the girls waited for their coffee, she had us take pictures of her doll and her with her doll.  It was like a little photo shoot. 
 
 
 
This went on until a security man chased her away.

 

Somewhere amidst all of this, Aimee said something to us that cut me to the heart.  “You do know that what we are doing will only make her happy today.  You do know that when she is older, she will probably be forced into sex trafficking.  And once she is used up, she will probably die an early death” (not exact wording, but something like that).


 
 
 

It was all so harsh but so true.
 
 
 

 

When it was time to go for good, I gave Julie a hug.  I stepped into the rickshaw, and she was still reaching for my hand.  And as we pulled away, she ran after us. 
 
 
AND as we pulled away from our little Julie, I decided this:
 
 
I do NOT want little girls like Julie to keep walking the streets of this world.

 

I do NOT want little girls like Julie to be forced to beg for money.

 


I do NOT want little girls like Julie to be forced into sex by men too strong for them to fight back. 
 
I do NOT want little girls like Julie to die an early death.
 
I do NOT want little girls like Julie to never know what LOVE is.
 
I do NOT want little girls like Julie to never know the LOVE of Jesus.
 
 
 
Since that day, I have again started to wonder where God is calling me after the race.  What is happening to girls like Julie is NOT okay!!  The God of the whole universe does NOT think it is okay either! 
 
 
 
 
At debrief, a girl name Ashley talked about several opportunities after the race.  One of them was a mission initiative to Mombai, India.  The goal would be to start a program to take children off the street.  The goal would be to save children from a life of trafficking where it is very prevalent.  This would include 6 months of training and one and a half years of ministry before a new team would take over.
 
Not only that, but on our bus ride to Nepal, Amy Duncan told me of an idea her and another guy on our squad, Jared Messenger, have.  They want to save children from trafficking right in America, in the streets of Cincinnati.  There is a family with a huge home that wants to give it up for ministry, and that could be where the children could stay.  They even have 20 acres of land, a swimming pool, and a basketball court.  It could be a place of healing and restoration.
 
 
I am not sure if God is calling me to either of these, but both are amazing options.  All I know is that there is injustice in this world, and it MUST be fought.
 
 
As it is written in Isaiah 58:6-8, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”