Human trafficking. We’ve heard about the problem, but few of us see a real human face in this nightmare. Let me introduce you to “Jane,” a woman from Southeast Asia. A few years ago her husband left her and her son. Without support, she scrambled for work. Along came a “friend,” someone she had known for many years, promising to get her a job as a maid in another country. But when she arrived, the man who met her at the airport took her passport, conveyed her to an apartment and told her that there was no job as a maid. Instead, she would be a sex worker required to “earn back” all the money he spent. Alone, without a passport, and afraid of threats to her son, she was essentially a slave. Locked in her room until it was time to “work,” she became a creature of the street, threatened when she didn’t make the quota, and afraid to try to escape.

Eventually, she met one of the members of the church I know that ministers to these streets. With great care, they reached out to “Jane.” I am glad to report that “Jane” has been delivered from this prison, although it took some time and caused what psychiatrist Jonathan Shay terms, “moral injury,” as you would imagine. Her son is safe. She is now serving as the leader of a program called “The Children Under the Bridge.” These are the children of women forced into prostitution, children who are otherwise left to fend for themselves under a bridge. “Jane” has become the mother, providing education, safety, and food.

Our project is to support “Jane” as she builds this program for these victimized children. With your help, she will have a place to live, food to eat, and the resources she needs to rescue these children with education, help, and counseling. And we will also provide ways for their mothers to escape a life of economic prostitution.