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The story of Maria
Two years ago Maria was
trafficked from Brazil to Spain. After she paid the five thousand euros
"debt" that the "pimp" forced from her, she was sold to another pimp in
Lugano, Switzerland. She stayed there for a few months and then
returned to Brazil. But when she returned home, she was confronted with
the reality of having no profession--and an 8 year old son and elderly
mother to support. So she made the decision to come back to Switzerland
and go back to work in prostitution.
After 4 months of living
in Basel she had an encounter with the Lord. Her life changed
completely and she understood that she could no longer work in
prostitu-tion. But how could she take care of her son and her mother?
At that point she was sent to Project Rescue and we immediately
connected her with "The Mitternachtmis-sion" in Basel, a secure place
for Maria to live and be hidden from the pimps. We provided an airline
ticket to Brazil and within a month she had gone back. Once she was no
longer working in the red light area the question still remained: How
could she support her family?
Project Rescue had an
answer: We paid 3 months rent for her house, plus one month of food and
electricity. Now, she has started a training course in hair-style and
cos-metics. Because this school is in another city (about 2 ½ hours
away from her home town), we rented a room where she can be from Monday
through Friday. On the weekends she goes back to her family. It is a
very intensive course and will take about 3 months.
Meanwhile, Project Rescue
is fully supporting her family. And there is more good news: she is
still serving the Lord and regularly attending a Church. Although she
has been tempted to fall back, she has resisted and has maintained her
decision to have a new life in Jesus.
The total cost of her
reintegration is about 4,300 (including air line tickets). But how much
is one life worth? This is only one example—and we have 14 more cases
on-going in several parts of Brazil.
Project Rescue
Based in Zurich, Pro-ject Rescue supports people with irregular
migration status and who are being ex-ploited in the labor market and
the sex in-dustry. They want to return to their coun-tries of origin
but do not have the means to do so. Project Rescue helps them to
reinte-grate back into their home communities.
Since February 2007, 34 people have returned to Brazil and this year we
are opening a base in the Dominican Republic.
In order to take someone out of a situation of exploitation, it is
necessary to provide:
- Temporary housing
- Medical,
psychological and spiritual support
- Temporary
financial support in Switzerland
- Airline tickets
to return to their home country
- Financial
support while the returnee is in a training course in their home
country.
Project Rescue works together with organizations that provide victims
of trafficking with return tickets and which also have reintegration
programs. But if a person wants to leave prostitution because they have
made a decision to follow Jesus Christ, we don't know any organization
that will give financial support in order to help them to get out of
the sex industry. For this reason, we also need financial support and
contributions. For each person who returns to their home country,
it costs at least 1700 just to leave Switzerland. It is necessary to
provide living expenses for them to stay in Switzerland from 2-4 weeks
while Project Rescue prepares for their arrival in their home countries
and purchases airline tickets. We must also arrange for training
courses, work, and living situations in their home country—and the
ex-penses vary from case to case.
So far, 90% of those who we have helped return have made the choice to
go back because they have made a decision to follow Jesus. Helping
these women to get out from this horrible life has an impact on their
eternity. In Brazil, a pastor is always our contact person and the
returnees are growing in faith and regularly attending a church with
their families.
For more information about Project Rescue, visit their website: www.projectrescuebrazil.org
May each of you have a Blessed and Meaningful Celebration of Christ's
Birth!
Lauran
Rev. Lauran Bethell serves as Global Consultant, helping Christians to
minister in Christ's name to victims of human trafficking and
prostitution.
She is a missionary with International Ministries ABC/USA, and is based
in The Netherlands.
Lauran is writing for News & Views on a regular base to keep us
informed.
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