Lexi is 10 years old. She’s absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful smile and big brown eyes. She’s one of the oldest at the center, so she’s like the mom of the group. She keeps all the other children in line, helps our contact with lunch, and takes children home if they’re too young to get themselves home. She gets in trouble for mischievious behavior, too, just like any other child. She goofs off, giggles, and teases the other kids.
This is her life at the center. Home is a different story. And if nothing changes, life will be very different for her at any time.
You think of a 10-year-old as being so young. That is a “kid” to most of us. Ten-year-olds shouldn’t have to take care of other children or worry about feeding themselves. At home, being 10 means having few responsibilities. They just go to school then play outside or with toys, right!? Ten-year-olds have few concerns in life for the most part. Or at least that’s how it should be.
But Lexi doesn’t have the life of a normal 10-year-old from America. She’s an adult at home. She has to be. But even more heartbreaking, she has many more concerns because she’s getting older and closer to the life many women are forced to live here. She lives in danger day in and day out. With each passing day she gets closer to having her body sold by her father for money. That’s the concern and fear of a 10-year-old girl here. The worry-free life that a child should experience doesn’t exist on the streets I walk every day.
So there is urgency. Urgency to get Lexi to a safe place so she isn’t sold into prostitution at such a young age. Urgency to prevent the great emotional pain that comes with being sold for sex every single day. Urgency to prevent another life from being destroyed. Urgency to teach her about Jesus so if she ends up living her life in a brothel she can cling to the hope He offers. He is her only hope. He is hope.
Please pray for Lexi. Pray for God to intervene and rescue her from the enslavement planned for her life, for something radical to happen and change in her life and in the community she lives in.
