Another person who greatly affected me during our ATL month
was a woman named Gale. She too worked for MES along side with Joseph. There
was one day in the month when Joseph drove us to a part of town where
prostitute population was high.
Imagine driving by a gas station
to fill up your tank, and to see a small selection of girls sitting on a park
bench with a pair of keys dangling from a chain on their neck. The girls are
wearing weaves and tight somewhat scandalous clothing with a phone in hand.
This was the sight I saw and a familiar thing to see in Cape Town.
On this day Gale was talking to a girl who I will call Sarah. I got to hear Sarah’s story and while it
was being told my heart began to break. Her parents sold Sarah who is now 20 to
a pimp at the age of 12. Her parents received an amount of money, and still
continue to receive money to this day. Sarah is able to go visit her family
once every blue moon and all seems to be well in her world. Now upon hearing
that story, how do you tell this girl that all who pretend to love her don’t
and that there is a God who loves her so much more? Not very convincing, but that’s just one of the many stories
that exist in this world. Sarah wanted to get out of the industry, but how can
she? She has no one to support her, her family will disown her and there are no
safe houses on this side of the world for women like her to retreat to. She’s
stuck, and I pray that the Lord works in her to change.
Gale has her own story of how she was down at the bottom.
While she was telling me her story I could see the sorrow of what she had to endure etched on her face, and then I could see the radiance glow when she started talking
about how the Lord helped lift her up out of the muck and into His loving arms.
The Lord found her, and she him, and Gale was strong enough to say,
“Lord I
promise I will never go back to that life, and would rather serve you.”
Gale is
now a volunteer worker for MES. She is a single mom with two kids who is in
love with the Lord, and obeys his command even when it doesn’t benefit
financially. She was a blessing to me this month; I thank the Lord for placing her in my path.
Gale and Me
We made Sleeping Bags Too, they were quite comfy!
