From a missionary working with women who at risk for trafficking and exploitation: 

It always takes weeks for the girls to trust us enough to start telling the truth about things. We turned that corner today. When I got there, one of the older women named Arthi showed me that her left hand was badly swollen and 2 fingers had been broken supposedly in a fall during the night. She had been to a doctor. We started class a little different because the girls were fidgetty. I gave them some work sheets planning to have our Bible study when they settled down some. 

You must understand that these women are outcasts. They are sold or forced into prostitution by people close to them who are supposed to be their protectors. Then they are totally rejected by the family and cannot return and be accepted.

After a short while another of the older ones named Mahla started talking to us and began weeping. Here is what she said to us.
Sometimes in the night gangs of men, 10 or 12, come and break open the doors and drag the girls out. They beat them, kick them and make them do unspeakable things. She had a wound on her wrist, and another one of the older women had a shoulder injured when she was kicked. That is what happened to Arthi’s hand; she did not fall. No one will help them; the police will not even come. They do not have much food. Eleven of them sleep in that one little hovel where I have my class. She said we come to see them for a while and then leave. Her exact words were, “Where can we go? Who will help us? We are in hell.”

By that time several of them were weeping. I hugged them and cried with them and kissed Arthi’s little hand. I did not want to leave them but know it would be extremely dangerous for me to be there after dark. We prayed and left once again. Finally I got back to my room where I sobbed till my head hurts. I have given it to the Lord. Now I am asking all of you to add your voices to mine in spiritual warfare.

I was in India when Bloom started, and I had the privilege to meet with the women and experience their homes and families. A couple of weeks before it was time for me to leave Will and I were walking through the slum and one of the women, Rejiya, asked us to come in and pray for her son who was sick. We did and then we ended up praying for her husband’s health as well. It was very hard to understand her because we spoke about as much Hindi as she did English. I saw that they had an Islamic banner on their wall so I asked if they spoke Arabic (because after 2 semesters I was much more proficient in it than Hindi). They got very excited and brought out their Quran - even as I was trying to explain that I’m not Muslim I am just learning Arabic - and let me touch it. This is a BIG deal. There are several reasons this would not usually be accepted 1) I hadn’t washed my hands 2) I’m a foreigner 3) I’m a non-Muslim. Then I proceeded to ask them if they had a Bible. They did, but it was in Kanada and they only read Hindi. We promised to get them a Bible in Hindi and before we left (after serving us the perfect cup of chai) she asked us to pray for her other son. He is probably around three years old, but she explained that he had fallen off a ladder and now had a permanent dent in his head. We felt it and then started praying. Let me tell you, that baby’s head did not have a dent in it by the time we left. God is good and ridiculous. The last day I spent with the women I checked back with Rejiya and gave her a Hindi Bible. She was so kind and grateful, and I had no idea if I’d ever see or hear from her again. Fast forward three months to where I’m sitting in my living room thousands and thousands of miles away skyping with Vinod, the program’s hands and feet, who tells me that she accepted the Lord after one of Bloom’s meeting and since then her husband has also become a believer. He was quick to tell me that she wanted this all on her own; she came to him asking how she could giver her life to Jesus and that she believed that He was the one and only God (such a pivotal confession in the polytheist saturated society). Praise Jesus we have a new sister!

While in Goa, one of the preventative programs Rahab’s Rope wished to implement was a tuition (tutoring) program for adolescent girls. In this culture (particularly those of Hindu and Muslim faith), when a girl hits puberty her family usually won’t let her out of the house on a regular basis until…

What’s better on a cold October morning than great football - PANCAKES! Especially, when they’re benefiting the Bloom Health Initiative: a holistic approach to health through physical, emotional, and spiritual enrichment currently serving 27 young women and mothers in the Birla slum of Goa, India. Please come and learn more about this amazing program.