Go Beyond

Kolkata, India

Trauma is only one of several things that the young girls in aftercare homes share in common. Each of the girls have similar stories in regard to the abuse they suffered at the hands of their traffickers and the customers they were forced to service in the brothels. In additional to physical trauma the girls also suffer from related emotional trauma. The aftercare homes we have visited provide the resources these young victims need in order to heal and to begin to rebuild their damaged lives. I have great respect and admiration for those we have met who serve the girls in aftercare. These compassionate individuals play a key role in the healing process.

In addition to trauma, a lack of education is another common denominator among the girls in aftercare. Almost without exception, every girl is from a poor background and had little or no education when they were betrayed, kidnapped, or sold to sex traffickers. When a poor family is faced with the costs of education, a son generally takes priority over a daughter. That’s one reason why most of the girls in aftercare have had only the minimum of education. Providing an education is another of the priorities of the aftercare homes we visited. The homes provide tutors as well as make arrangements for the girls to attend classes in a secure environment. One young girl I met in an aftercare home last year made it a point to show me her school work and to tell me how much she enjoyed going to school.

Shopping for books and school supplies.

Our team came to India prepared to start a library in one of the aftercare homes. A couple of months ago we received a financial gift in memory of a woman named Lotus Avery, the grandmother of Vicki, one of our team members. Lotus loved tutoring young people and inspired a love of reading in those she served. So, our team decided to use this gift to purchase school supplies and to start a library in an aftercare home. I especially like that we are doing this in Lotus’ memory because the lotus is the national flower of India. Purchasing books and school supplies in Kolkata is a time-consuming experience. We spent the day shopping in a sprawling market that specializes in education supplies. We negotiated the price of notebook paper with one vendor, shopped for pencils and protractors at another kiosk, waded into a crowded and dingy room to find maps and globes, and walked narrow aisles between hills of books stacked as high as the ceiling. But, after hours of diligent work, we purchased and filled a van with books and supplies.

Tomorrow morning we will visit New Hope School in in the village of Udayan Pally. Last year, our missions ministry provided the resources to help complete construction of this school. I want for our team to see the kind of poverty that deprives many children, especially young girls, of an education and to see the difference that my friend Pastor Rudra is making. In the afternoon we will return to one of the aftercare homes to start assembling their new library. It will provide another slice of the resources that the girls in aftercare need in order to get a better education and to become empowered to begin new lives. Our prayer is that God will use this practical demonstration of love and concern to help young girls heal and to discover the kind of new hope that Pastor Rudra is bringing to the children he serves. The young girls in aftercare are filled with untapped potential. We want to do all that we can to ensure that they have the opportunity to blossom like a beautiful lotus flower.