Newsletter - Summer 2021

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF TRAFFICKING:
DAYITA’S STORY

Dayita* realized she was pregnant at age 14, shortly after being sold to a brothel in India — by her husband. Yet even in this condition, she was forced to service men day and night.

Dayita was born in rural Nepal where she was forced to marry as a young teen. In her village, there was very limited opportunity for income. Like many other families in this area, she and her husband set out for India to make money and send it back home. But instead, her husband trafficked her and abandoned her to brothel life. When Dayita served her first customer, she said her spirit died, and she no longer wanted to live.

Countless Nepali girls have been pushed along the same path
as Dayita — trafficked into the brothels of India. In some rural communities, this has been the fate of every girl over age 12 for generations. In India’s red light districts, they are stripped of their dignity as they are drugged, abused and repeatedly raped. Some, like Dayita, give birth in the very room where they work.

When Dayita’s daughter, Ridhi, was born, Dayita felt she had a reason to live. In a brothel outreach visit, workers at the She Is Safe-sponsored Girls’ Restoration Home met Dayita and Ridhi when Ridhi was five years old. They were both still living in the brothel in miserable conditions. Dayita welcomed the opportunity to have her daughter live at the Restoration Home so she would be safe from abusive men and experience a caring environment.

Today, Ridhi is about to turn 18. Rather than enduring the same fate as her mother in a life of slavery, she has grown up in the Restoration Home, where she was nurtured with the love of Jesus, attended school and discovered her passion for playing guitar. Her prayers for her mother have been answered: Dayita was able to escape the brothel and earn a living she can feel good about. Soon mother and daughter will be reunited, and together they will be able to grow in God’s healing love.

LINKING UP FOR FREEDOM

Traffickers are always on the hunt! They are looking for those who are in desperate circumstances: girls who are unwanted, those in deep poverty or hunger, those in least-reached areas and those who don’t know that their abuse is illegal. These are easy prey for wicked exploiters.

And then there are people who are grieved at these abuses — you, me and our friends and family. I love to imagine that those who care could grow a human chain of protection where traffickers typically hunt those who are most vulnerable — creating a Freedom Chain.

Here’s the great news! Today, we are growing a Freedom Chain by linking arm in arm, one by one, around the globe. Every month that you and others stay in the fight, extending freedom and new life in Christ by your support, the chain gets stronger and protects more girls from being sold.

Just as girls are trafficked and abused one by one, freedom and restoration are provided when one by one we link together to pray, give, work and invite others to join this Freedom Chain.

Thank you for continuing with us day by day and month by month, strengthening and growing this loving reach by God’s grace.

For the forgotten,

Michele M. Rickett
Founder & CEO

EDUCATION BRINGS HOPE TO GIRLS IN NEPAL

Education is key to She Is Safe’s holistic prevention work in a rural community in Nepal. In this village, the struggle to survive has resulted in families selling their daughters into the brothels of India. There was no consistent education available to children and very little hope of a different future.

This year, however, She Is Safe was able to participate in providing a new school building, complete with a bathroom, to this community, giving teachers and students a safe and clean place to teach and learn. Now more than 40 students attend school every day, learning practical skills such as hygiene and nutrition in addition to academics.

When paired with She Is Safe’s income-generating programs, such as breeding and selling goats or vocational training, Nepali girls are equipped with a strong foundation to escape the threats of slavery, remaining safe with their families as they bring value to their community.

GROWING OUR FREEDOM CHAIN TO COMBAT SLAVERY

She Is Safe partnered with 575 Volleyball to raise funds during a special tournament for My Freedom Day, an international day of awareness challenging students to answer the question, “What are you doing to end modern-day slavery?” More than 140 students and
their coaches were in attendance, multiplying awareness and action on behalf of She Is Safe’s work.

Multiplication efforts such as these grow our Freedom Chain, our network of people whose hearts are linked together and invested in She Is Safe’s work to rescue and restore the world’s most at-risk girls. Will you consider growing your Freedom Chain by inviting friends to join you? Who can you link up with to double or triple your impact with She Is Safe?

YOU CAN HELP INDIA AND NEPAL’S MOST VULNERABLE GIRLS

India and Nepal are linked in their devastation of young girls’ lives due to sex trafficking. That is why She Is Safe works tirelessly in these areas to rescue and restore girls from slavery in addition to preventing exploitation from ever happening. This work has resulted in Nepali girls staying safe in communities as it has equipped them with education, income generation, vocational training and the knowledge of their God-given value. They never have to endure the brothel life and are free to grow into the women God created them to be.

We have also been able to rescue girls born into the brothels, giving them a chance at a life their mothers could not dare to hope for. Rather than spending their formative years in abuse and slavery, they are thriving in a safe environment — discovering who they are in God, becoming educated and exploring talents they didn’t know they had.

Your support is crucial in equipping and protecting girls in Nepal and India from generations of widespread exploitation. This does not have to be their story if they are given the tools to thrive.

Give Today!