Ending the Scourge of Human Trafficking
Imagine that you are a young 13-year-old girl in India. Your mother died from illness when you were ten years old. You and your family are part of the Untouchable class of India's social caste system, which means that you are an unwanted and barely tolerated member of society. Now imagine that your widower father is an alcoholic rickshaw puller, struggling to provide food for the table. Just three years after your mother's passing, your father, out of desperation and blinded by his addiction, sells you to a local brothel for $25.
Forced into the prostitution industry, you are desperate to return to a life of freedom, where your body is your own. You cry out to anyone who might take pity on you, but no one listens. Hopelessly faced with a life of sexual slavery, you choose to end your life rather than suffer in this one any longer.
You commit suicide. The brothel owner, disgusted with the loss of your earning potential, orders your body to be driven to a remote area and dumped in the roadside bushes. But you are not dead, yet. As you lie motionless in the darkness, discarded like unwanted trash, two men pass by on foot. With your last bit of strength you manage a few pitiful groans. Miraculously, the two men hear you, find you, and carry you to their village where you are given emergency medical treatment.
As it happens, the two men are pastors who had been preaching in a nearby village. They report having found you to Pastor Parishudha Babu, one of our India Partners. You awaken to find that your life has been spared. You are free from the bondage of sexual slavery?! The men and women who care for you show you a kind of love that you have never experienced before, and they welcome you with open arms.
With the promise of a bright future, and eternal life with a Heavenly Father who loves you, you accept Jesus as your Savior. You thank God as you pray not only for your rescuers at Orphans Faith Home, but also for the family in the U.S.A. who now faithfully supports you with their monthly sponsorship. Their faithful giving allows Orphans Faith Home to provide you with food, shelter, clothes, and to attend school, as you grow daily in your new faith.
This is a true story. The girl's name is Laxmi. This story is a shining example of what we do here at India Partners. We don't offer this story as a way of coercing you to write a check, but rather as a praise report of God's faithfulness.
I John 3:16-18 (NIrV) tells us, "We know what love is because Jesus Christ gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters. Suppose someone sees a brother or sister in need and is able to help them. If he doesn't take pity on them, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, don't just talk about love. Put your love into action. Then it will truly be love."
India Partners is opening a special fund to help rescue girls and women who have been sold into the prostitution industry. The fund will also help those infected by HIV. Your gifts will provide new beginnings for these tender lives. May God bless your kindness.
