SHAME TRANSFORMED: MYIA’S STORY
In a deeply impoverished riverside community in Myanmar, a country where She Is Safe has worked for more than five years, Myia worked all night at the docks to feed her two children. When she was first invited to join a She Is Safe Transformation Group (TG) to learn how to start her own business, this grueling schedule made her refuse. But the next night, weighed down by fatigue, she decided to try it. Anything was better than this.
At the TG meeting, Myia experienced the love of God for the first time. She never believed she was capable of doing more than what kept her up all night to provide for her family. As COVID-19 hit her community, the work she had been doing shut down, and Myia wondered if she and her family would starve. When the TG leaders asked what Myia did for a living, she quickly told them she sold fish at the river. If these new friends ever found out what she really did, Myia was certain they would reject her.
Eventually the TG leaders found out the truth: Myia had been selling girls to fishermen for sex. Deeply ashamed, Myia left the group and resolved never to return, despite now having no source of income. To her surprise, the TG women went to her house to encourage her and invite her back – into a new life of hope. Now Myia is able to support her family by selling soap. “I have never been encouraged like I have from hearing the word of God,” she said.
Come Alive
Look into the eyes of someone who has been beaten down, and you see a kind of soul-death. Eyes that should sparkle are downcast with shame. But given time in a safe and supportive environment, those eyes lift and come alive.
Perhaps you have experienced that awakening, when it dawned on you that you are precious to God. Your heart came alive to the good plans he has for you.
Now in this partnership with She Is Safe, you get to bring that dawning to downcast women and girls – so the life that is truly life can be theirs now and forever.
For the forgotten,
Michele M. Rickett
Founder & CEO
New Transformation in Myanmar
In Myanmar, poverty is rampant, especially in rural communities. Some large families live in flimsy tarp and thatch homes that must be moved when the river gets too high. Girls as young as 13 and 14 are sold as child brides to China or into Thai brothels as sex slaves.
In the midst of this darkness, however, God’s redemption is ushering in new life. This past December, She Is Safe launched another group in Myanmar to empower 14 women with business training, savings and loans and the love of Christ. Each group is led by a local Christian woman trained in the She Is Safe Transformation Group program. This program uses a holistic approach of supportive relationships, anti-trafficking education and vocational skills to equip the world’s most vulnerable women and protect them from abuse and exploitation. She Is Safe currently has 11 groups in Myanmar serving 164 women.
Women who earn $1 to $2 a day doing hard manual labor will, within a few months, have new skills and savings to start their own businesses. These ventures include selling traditional snacks or making soap to provide financial stability for their families and keep their daughters from being sold. A sisterhood of Christian community surrounds them as they start their journey to freedom and new life.
Hope for generations to come
Across India, teenage girls at risk of sex slavery, forced labor and child marriage have seen their mothers’ lives change in She Is Safe Transformation Groups and been inspired to start girls groups. These Junior Transformation Groups foster leaders and equip girls with their value in Christ, a focus on education rather than early marriage, vocational skills and saving and lending pools to fund their dreams. She Is Safe currently has 10 Junior Transformation Groups in India offering new futures to more than 100 teenage girls
You Can Help the Most Vulnerable Experience New Life
She Is Safe’s work transforms the lives of women and girls who live with no possibilities beyond abuse and slavery. Transformation Groups do more than offer dignity and freedom; they share God’s heart through a supportive community centered on learning His truth. This approach opens the door to a new life, not just for the women currently in groups but for countless generations to come.
God’s love for women and girls is flowing into shifting cultural tides. In His kindness, He invites us into this flow, calling His people to step into His work. A woman empowered with her worth in Christ overcomes darkness and impacts every life she touches. You can be a part of changing the stories of women and girls who change the world.
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INDIA • INDONESIA • MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA • MYANMAR • NEPAL • SOUTH SUDAN • UGANDA
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