Thursday, May 25, 2006

Rescuing Angela and Yolanda

Angela

Her name is Angela. She is fifteen years old. Her face still displays the innocence of childhood. Yet her swollen abdomen will tell you that this is a girl who never really had the opportunity to be a child or know true innocence, because Angela is a child prostitute.

At a young age, Angela’s mother sent her to the streets into prostitution to earn money. She took every penny that she made and often would beat her. She was abandoned by her father. She was beaten so much that finally a “client” helped her runaway from home. He kept her in a small room and brought other men there to have sex with her. He told her that he would be her husband. This man was 45 years old and the supposed father of her baby. Once he found out that she was pregnant, he kicked her out of the house.

Angela was alone, pregnant and living on the streets when a beautiful Christian woman found her. Nieves works at a clinic for adolescents in Boca Chica. It is a government funded clinic and a place where the young prostitutes know they can get free medical care. When Nieves met Angela and saw her terrible situation, she knew that she had to something to rescue her. Nieves took her to a children’s foundation in Boca Chica.

Caminante is a children’s program in Boca Chica that is working hard to get kids off the streets. They are mostly involved in prevention programs but they are a point of contact for kids like Angela who need help. They are very well respected in the community. The Alliance against Trafficking has been involved with the institution since we began. When Nieves took Angela to Caminante, they immediately called us. (The Alliance against Trafficking)

When we were called about Angela’s situation we had actually been planning a visit to Boca Chica that day. It was as though God had it all planned for us. We met her and took her to the Alliance home. Angela is eight months pregnant and infected with venereal disease. As I write this she is being taken for more medical tests and we are working on a plan for the birth of the baby. She will have to a C-section because of the STD.

We are all so excited about this opportunity that the Lord has given us to participate in the transformation process in Angela’s life. I believe that the curse of sin and poverty will be broken and will change the course of generations because Angela was rescued.

Pray for Angela and her unborn child. Pray for her health and for her heart. Pray that she will come to know a real, personal friendship and faith in Jesus.

Yolanda

When Yolanda was six years old, her mother died of AIDS. Her mother was a prostitute who was regularly trafficked in to Haiti. As a result of her mother’s very unstable lifestyle and eventual death, Yolanda has been raised in the home of her paternal grandparents in Boca Chica. Ever since the horrible death of her young mother, Yolanda’s grandfather has told her that she would die of AIDS like her mother. She is sixteen years old now and is living her days in this involuntary pursuit of the fulfillment of that prophecy. She spends the nights in the brothels making money in prostitution to support her drug habits. She sleeps most of the day. She is in and out of her grandparents’ home because her grandfather beats her and verbally abuses her. Her grandfather tells her regularly that she is a piece of trash.

We have been visiting Yolanda for over a year now, because she has shown such an interest in getting help. During my last visit, her grandfather yelled, “I hope that you will get that piece of trash out of my home!” We are now in the process of formalizing our long term shelter at the home and we trying to rescue Yolanda out of her situation. In her heart, I know that she is screaming, “Somebody please rescue me!!!!!” but reality is that her addictions are very STRONG. She is scared.

We told Yolanda that we will give her one week to make a decision to leave, so I want to ask you to pray for her this week. Pray that she will make the right decision. In the name of Jesus SHE WILL NOT DIE LIKE HER MOTHER!!! She will live for Jesus.

Finally please pray for my work with the Alliance against Trafficking. I am so excited as God is finally opening the doors for us to offer a long term shelter and life recovery program for adolescent girls. This has been a dream of mine for two years now. The program is in its birthing stages and we are learning along the way. We have a great financial need but we are trusting that God will supply every need. We are estimating that it cost us at least $200/ month for each girl that we take in. Pray for wisdom for me and the other members of the Alliance board as we begin this totally new area of ministry.