This event is a staff favorite because it gives us an opportunity to meet so many of you for the first time and also to share something that we’re all very passionate about: how to stop the trafficking of young girls.

We were blessed to have several girls from our safehouse in Mumbai over as special guests, as well as a performance by Jason Castro, with Keith Garvin of CBS emceeing and Jeanne Rogers speaking.

We are grateful, as always, to Chalk Cullum & Associates for sponsoring the event, making it possible for all event proceeds to further the work of rescuing girls.

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“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Flannery O’Connor

A flat fronted van, we are in four rows, our luggage in a fifth. Our driver only speaks Nepali and our host broken English.

“These lower caste.” He says, his arms spread wide, encompassing everything we can see from small, square windows. A shanty-town, blue tarps, brown ground, bloodshot eyes, this was the price they paid for their last name.

“So there’s no getting out of this?” I ask. “Not even if they get an education?”

“Education? No. These lower caste. No education for them.”

“So how do they get out? What hope do they have?”

He shrugs, looks forward again. I wait for an answer. “Sometime they get jobs out of here, out of Nepal. Thailand. India. You know?”

It’s a few years later and I am meeting a girl named Rehka. She shares a last name with that of my Nepali host years ago, but she’s traveled to America from India. I ask her if she is Nepali. “Yes!” She nods, her eyes lighting up. “You know Nepal?”

“I know Nepal,” I say. I remember the shanty town, the tarps, the hopelessness of faces caged in by genes and a system so unjust to my western ethnocentricity.

Rehka is beautiful, with the light, gentle look for which the Nepali are known. Her wide set eyes are bright, her skin clear, her smile brilliant. She laughs easily and is comfortable immediately among us. She sits gracefully on the floor of our office and tackles a menial task I’ve been putting off in the busyness of the week. She chatters in Hindi and English, switching easily between the two, even though neither are her native language.

She seems like royalty in joyful servitude. A humbling juxtaposition.

And yet, Rehka was sold by her older brother into a scheme more complicated than she could have ever imagined.

The caste system is as unjust as it seems to any westerner raised in an equal-opportunity culture. If “If you can dream it, you can achieve it,” is the our mantra, then “Keep your eyes down, and get what you’re given,” is the mantra of the lower castes. Illegal activity, therefore, seems to be the only way for them to get a little pocket change—which is all her brother received in the trade for her life.

Rehka was drugged repeatedly and driven to Asia’s largest Red-Light District in Mumbai, India. Passed from person to person, each one a different link in a chain that closed more tightly around her over the next week, until she was caged completely.

For the next few weeks Rehka was drugged intermittently and beaten regularly. When her resolve and will were finally perceived to be broken, she was delivered the news that she now owed an insurmountable debt to her captors which could only be paid back one way: sex.

In five years, a child goes from infancy to speaking in full sentences, writing simple ones.

In five years, a gangly middle-schooler graduates valedictorian.

In five years, a hard-worker at a blue collar job in America can make $125,000.

In five years, Rehka was raped an average of 20 times a day. About 36,500 sexual assaults. At the equivalent average of $1 an act, and yet she still could not pay the fullness of her “debt” to her captors.

When she met the director of our rescue program in India, she was broken and void.

I met her seven years later, carrying herself like humble royalty.

As I ask her about her story, she glows, recounting how excited she is to be a part of a ministry that is rescuing girls like her and rehabilitating them, loving them, counseling them, offering them something that supersedes any caste system: the Gospel.

When she says this, I realize that the rescue of trafficked victims is so much more than beating a system, shutting down brothels, arresting pimps, madams, and greedy older brothers. The rescue of trafficked victims is the reflection of the heart of the Father.

The Father says, come to me, all you who are weary, burdened, heavy laden.

All of you.

All.

The caste system seems to be one of the most unjust systems implemented any religion I see around me, subjecting humans to begging, stealing, and selling humans. The sex-trade system seems to be a system of dogs, beating children into submission to horrific acts. The rescue of these girls seems impossible, 60,000 women in this red-light district ALONE. The finances needed to compete with a $32 billion a year global industry, seem insurmountable.

But for the Gospel.

The Gospel.

The Gospel breaks into these castes and levels them, setting free captives in red-light districts and in shanty slums. The Gospel breaks into my western ethnocentricity and levels me at my heart—these are humans, living, breathing, thinking humans, no different than me. The Gospel is the only thing that can penetrate the hearts traffickers and victims alike—the only thing that can free them from the cage of greed and the brothel cage.

“Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
– Isaiah 43:5-7

If you’d like to share this post on Twitter or Facebook, consider using using this copy:

A true story from @loreferguson on the Red-Light District: http://bit.ly/xmOrU2 #humantrafficking

You can participate and make a difference, by helping to rescue and restore victims:

$1,800 rescues and provides one year of care for a girl

$ 900 rescues and provides for 6 months of care

$ 450 rescues and supports a girl for 3 months

$ 150 supports a rescued girl for one month

If you can’t give $150 please consider giving $75 to combine with another’s gift to rescue a woman or young girl from this injustice.

or take a pledge to end this horrible form of slavery…

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Dear Friends,

2011 is coming to an end and every year, we ask if you would consider including SOS as part of your year-end giving. Together we can accomplish much, and we look forward with anticipation to see what God has in store for 2012 and beyond. 

If you are not familiar with our projects, please visit www.sowerofseeds.org. Please accept our invitation to come alongside us. You can make gifts in the following ways:

• ONLINE: www.sowerofseeds.org
• BY MAIL: Sower of Seeds International Ministries, P.O. Box 209, Keller TX 76244
• By phoning the office during regular office hours

Blessings,

Dwayne & Leslie Weehunt & the Sower of Seeds International Ministries Team.

P.S.  This year we have a special way to say thank you to those of you who participate in setting girls free from the horrors of slavery in Asia’s largest red-light district. Learn more here. 

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Where are you from and what brought you to DFW?

I’m originally from this area, but grew up in Park City, Utah and India. When I was 10 my family moved back to DFW to start Sower of Seeds.

What was your most outrageous dream when you were a kid?

I had quite a few outrageous dreams. Growing up we spent a large amount of time in hotels, and I would go into each one and figure out what I could do to make it better. I wanted to own a huge hotel chain all over the world and told my parents that they would have a penthouse suite they could use in each one of them. Some of the hotels would have themes (like Under Water or Musical), and others would just be ridiculously extravagant and located on a beach in Greece. My dream was always owning a hotel chain, being a secret spy or hosting a TV cooking show.

What do you do at SOS?

I am the administrative assistant at SOS. The accounting department also claims me every now and then and on occasion I get to pretend I’m part of the creative department when I shoot photographs of our projects in India.

Why photojournalism?

I love telling stories, I love hearing stories, I often say stories are my love language. So when looking for a degree, Journalism seemed to be a perfect fit. As a kid I would often make up stories and tell everyone I knew. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized how many amazing true stories are out there and how few of them get told. I love the power that journalism has in connecting two worlds – it can connect the little kid who can’t afford to go to school in India and the business man in America with a heart to give but isn’t sure where.

Over the past few years I have fallen in love with photography. Pictures can tell so much more than just words, and I love capturing moments and people through my lens. This was a whole new form a storytelling for me and I love it. I hope to use photojournalism to be a voice for the voiceless, to tell stories worth hearing.

How do you communicate the need in India to your peers?

There are many ways I communicate the need to my peers. The most common way is through photos and stories. All of my friends know that after a trip I’m going to have loads of stories and photos to show them. Even though I’ve been traveling with my parents since I was 4 years-old, I often still have a hard time explaining just how large the need is. It’s so much more then words or photos could ever express.

Follow Hannah on twitter @hannahweee

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By Andi Hawkins

The night care shelter is our half-way house facility, providing a safe place for the children of the enslaved women in the red-light. Here they can find a safe place to sleep at night as well as receive food and education. This night care shelter is a gateway to seeing children and their mothers brought out to safety and into the rehabilitation program.

As we entered, I was astonished to sense the same supernatural peace that I have come to associate with these children who have come from the red-light district. The kingdom of God is so different from what we see in the natural. The night shelter room was serene, as if someone had poked a hole right into Hell and carved out a tiny haven.

The most poignant event of my entire week, possibly my whole spiritual life, happened in this sunny little room. The girls wanted to pray for us. We gathered in the middle while they surrounded us with extended hands. Unlike typical children who pray distractedly with eyes open and darting around, these girls closed their eyes tightly for three, four, five minutes of fervent prayer.

Behind them, a wall of windows overlooked the desolate lanes of the red-light district. They spoke their prayers in unison, mostly in Hindi, and a breeze swept through the open windows like the breath of God. I felt Him say, “Treasure these prayers, Andi, because these children are the greatest in my Kingdom.”

Before we left I looked out the windows at the red-light district below taking note of every detail. There were paper lanterns dangling from clotheslines leftover from Diwali. There were dusty, barefooted men in greasy clothes walking up and down. There were many doorways – clapboard cubicles with curtained entrances – so many you could hardly make them out.

A couple of boys played here and there. The oppressiveness was palpable. It was the saddest place I have ever laid eyes on. And there were no little girls anywhere in sight. Not a single one.

As soon as we left the night care shelter we headed to a church close by. The pastor had asked us to speak, each of us taking turns sharing what was on our heart. I was still very raw from the night shelter, holding back tears, trying NOT to process what I had just seen until I had the freedom to cry. All I could think about was how inadequate and small I felt. I felt ashamed of the easy life I have lived at home. I wondered what in the world I was doing here. What could I possibly do for people who had suffered beyond my comprehension? I seemed like a self-centered jerk fumbling for purpose among giants.

I sat down next to Hannah, one of the girls in our group. She asked me what was wrong and I told her. She gave me some of the best advice I have ever gotten. She said, “Andi, you have to let go of your shame about where you come from. Shame is never from God. The question isn’t ‘God, why do I have so much?’ it is ‘God, what do you want me to do?’”

A woman approached me whose head barely rose above my rib cage. Every tooth in her smile was rotten and twisted. She was barefoot. Her eyes were light blue, a genetic impossibility in India, so they must have been full of cataracts. Every fiber of her body indicated years of poverty. Scars, lines, dirt, frailty. She was the most unlovely person I have ever seen. She grabbed my hands in hers. I had no words to pray–where could I even begin? Then I felt God say, “If you want to love Me, put your arms around this woman. This is Me.” I hugged her tiny shoulders against my own. What an honor.

For now, these are the treasures I took home from India, bright colored stones to hold in my palm and remember. One stone says, “The last shall be first.” Behind the words are the faces of little girls whispering their Hindi prayers from a night shelter overlooking a sea of brothels. Another stone says “Compassion.” On it is a picture of a child with his head resting on the pastor’s shoulder. The last stone says, “Jesus” under the crumpled face of an old Indian woman from the red-light district.

Without God these stones feel very heavy, but with Him they are the secrets of dark places, keys to His mysteries. We can use them to unlock our own cages and free ourselves to love more deeply.

*Names of places has been changed to protect the project.

Andi Hawkins is a columnist for Women on the Move (www.momsmoments.ca) and is a Red Light Rescue Panel Member. Follow her on Twitter @runningmama26

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As part of a shoe distribution campaign, Hannah Weehunt, one of our photographers and youngest daughter of SOS founders Dwayne and Leslie Weehunt wrote the following:

“I looked down at where the people lived and only the small kids were left sitting. I decided to take some better pictures and got out of the car.

As I stepped out onto the patch of bare ground these people called home, a horrible over-powering smell immediately overwhelmed me. I was completely out of my comfort zone, but this is where they lived!

There were mounds of trash and human waste everywhere…  There were kids all around me – their little bodies showing the signs of severe malnutrition. Some were standing naked in the trash and I noticed others sitting on the ground eating rotten apples.  Their faces were covered with flies and when I looked into their eyes I could see that life has already taken its toll on them. . .

It seemed like 30 minutes had passed, but within two minutes, Dad was calling me to come back to the car. We didn’t have enough shoes to hand out to everyone and we needed to leave now. I started looking at the pictures.  They weren’t very good, and as I looked at them God just broke my heart. I have seen some really bad things, but this was the worst!

It’s sad to admit , but this isn’t just a one-time thing or a unique place. People are living like this all over India. That day I realized again what a blessing it was to come to India at all. Yes, it’s hard. . . and there are a lot of things I have to give up, but it’s all worth it.”

So many children are desperately holding on in the hope of relief. You can help them today by responding today.

Help us to keep developing and sustaining outreach programs by supporting programs like Crisis Feeding or Destiny India Schools where children get a healthy, nutritious hot meal daily.

Consider that it only takes $20 per month to support a child in a school, while a gift of as little as $25 can help provide much needed meals for starving children.

Photo by Hannah Weehunt

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Where are you from and what brought you to DFW?    

I grew up in Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC.

Mark and I met and married in Oklahoma, then later lived in New Mexico and Utah before moving to Texas. The short version of the story is that God moved us to Texas to support the Weehunts in the beginnings of SOS, then eventually to work for the ministry.

What was your most outrageous dream when you were a kid?

To be a Bible translator in some remote corner of the earth.

What do you do at SOS?

I am the bookkeeper. I also serve as a volunteer on the Project Red Light Rescue panel, helping to raise money to support girls who have been rescued from human trafficking.

What draws you to finances, specifically in the non-profit sector?

I guess I like Math! I like being part of a team that is significantly impacting people in India who really need help. I like helping to steward the resources entrusted to us by maintaining excellent records in our accounting. We take seriously the trust of our donors and work hard to have a good name in the community by how we do business.

Favorite India story?

Just one? I’ve been to India 6 times, and every trip has at least one story where God opens my eyes to the pain of someone’s suffering, and His deep compassion and desire for us to respond with help in some way.

From my most recent trip, we visited a church on the edge of the red light district in Bombay. About half the church was composed of children; the other half were women, with just a handful of men. These people energetically worshiped, and were so happy to be there! Some of the women and children had been rescued from sex slavery, while others were still working in the red light district. But that didn’t matter, we were all there to seek and worship God. It was to me a beautiful, accurate picture of the true Church–we all come to God from the same place. We desperately need His grace, and we are deeply grateful for His love. None of us has it all together, and we are called to walk together. It wasn’t by any means a “”safe”" place, given the neighborhood, but God was there in the middle of real, raw life. I was reminded of the quote by C.T. Studd:

“Some want to live within the sound
Of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop,
Within a yard of hell.”

Follow Pam on twitter @PamDMueller

Read more of Pam’s writing here.

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After 11 trips to India there’s one thing I can tell you without a doubt: Indians need water and they need it now. With that in mind, let me introduce you to a family I get to visit a few times a year.

This picture is from when I first met them in their town close to Mumbai. They were sitting just like this when we walked past their house on our way to a preschool we have several houses down. I was shooting a video and asked if they would like to be a part of it. They agreed and so the kids gathered around for the shot. I asked Hannah to take a still photo of them for me, for future reference, and got their names: *John, Hope, and baby Joshua.

To my excitement, we continued to visit this same area, checking on our preschool and the teachers there. As we walked along their lane, John was working close by and saw us coming. I asked them if they would let me take another photo. Look at how much Joshua had grown!

Less than a year from the last visit, I went again. At this point, I had made a hobby of taking their picture every time we visited, so I brought them a print of the last picture, which was quickly passed around among them. This time, Hope told me that she was pregnant again!

Back again, 6 months later. This time I found Joshua learning the English alphabet in our preschool. Hope had just given birth to the new baby two days before we visited! I got to hold the new baby girl, Glory. She was about as heavy as a pair of socks, but was healthy.

While we also visited the preschool on our most recent visit to this community, we were really there for another reason: to drill a water well.

And what a surprise to find the well was being drilled right around the corner from Hope’s home, quite literally a few strides from their doorway. How nice this will be for their family, as they are raising Joshua and the new baby!

The drillers had already hit water by the time we arrived. Everyone was standing around the loud drilling site. Imagine how excited we would be if someone came to convert our car from a gas-guzzler into one that ran perfectly without any type of fuel. Only this is even more basic… think of the time and money they will save! Now they can invest time and money in taking care of their families.

Many stories of water in India are sad stories that begin with thirst and end with that thirst still unquenched. Those are the stories we tell most of the time, because they are true and we desperately want to end their suffering, and we need your help.

But this story is also true, and is very much a blessing to me as a frequent visitor to India. I don’t love this particular community because they seem to be doing well, though that makes me happy. I love them because they seem grateful just that I am there and I hope that is how I would make you feel if you came to my house.

*Names have been changed.

–Season Caldwell (SOS staff videographer)

You can participate in this life saving outreach in the following ways:
$4,800 provides one well for a village community
$777 provides water for 100 people
$388 provides water for 50 people
$194 provides water for 25 people
$39 provides water for 5 people
$7.77 can save one life by providing clean water for one person
… for the next 30 years!

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Though the picture of this lady and garbage is gripping, what you can’t see is even more devastating.

Directly behind me, as I took this picture, stands Kali Temple. My heart still breaks when I remember witnessing this whole scene.  Just outside of this temple is this poor old woman with no one to take care of her.

What are you doing today to reach the hurting, the poor, and the marginalized?

-Chase Willsey (Champions Director)

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Among better sanitation facilities and practices, vaccinations and supplements, access to “improved water supply quantity and quality, including treatment and safe storage of household water” is an important key to preventing diarrhoea-related deaths in children.

UNICEF Recently released a report on diarrhoea, which is the second greatest cause of death in children under five, after pneumonia. The tragedy is that these deaths can be prevented.

Water wells provide a readily available source for safe, clean water.

For $4,800 you can provide a water well in India that can supply 600-1,000 people with water.

While the cost of a single water well might be out of reach for some individuals, there is something everyone can do to make a difference.

If you can afford to give $7.77, you can give someone water.  It is simple. For as little as $7.77 you could save a life of a child in India.

The Triple Seven Campaign makes it easy for anyone to participate in the solution.  Let’s make a difference. Let’s spread the word.

View the Full Report here: Diarrhoea – Why children are still dying and what can be done (PDF)

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