Update (4/08) from Peoria Friendship House of Christian Service in Peoria, Illinois: Director Barbara Hartnett tells of their new ministry to Mexican immigrant women, which will receive funding from Break the Chains this year. These immigrant women are extremely poor. Their husbands come to work in factories (pumpkin canning) during the summer, and are often unemployed in the winter. Domestic abuse rises in the winter. The women are always seeking ways to make a few dollars. When Barb realized that 95% of the arrests made on prostitutes were happening in the neighborhood around the Christian Center, she decided to teach jewelry making, one of her own hobbies. Barb is teaching the women how to make high quality jewelry, and has a group of 8 to 10 Mexican women coming to Friendship House to learn. Barb has designed a silver charm bracelet; the various charms on the bracelets relate to Matthew 25:34-36. She is working with a company to have silver-plated charms manufactured. Funding from Break the Chains will allow Friendship House to purchase all the materials for the bracelets; the women who make the bracelets will receive the income from the sales.
Sawmill Baptist church (Powell, Ohio) Raised $2,326 with a Yard Sale!
“The day was chilly and rainy, but our spirits were soaring high as we prepared to open the doors for the day ahead. We had a time of prayer beforehand -- it was a day for all the people in the chains of trafficking and we asked God to use us as His servants to raise the much needed funds to support the ministries working hard to stop this crime. We prayed that God’s love would shine through us to each person that came in. We had people at the sale all day long -- the rain did not slow things down.
“We had many different items to sell, a Red Cross Representative was on hand to do fingerprinting cards for children, and we sold refreshments. We also sold 66 of the Purple Break the Chains pins in our congregation. Each customer received information about human trafficking and also about our church. God blessed our efforts and we did very well, raising $2,326.55. We are so excited and humbled to be able to send this check to AB Women’s Ministries for the Break the Chains project. The items we had left were donated to Volunteers of America.
“We continue to keep these victims in our prayers and the six different ministries that these funds will be distributed as they are working hard in each of their areas to fight trafficking and give people the life God intended them to have. We are all much more aware now of the things around us. We at Sawmill are so happy that we have had an opportunity to be a part of this mission project and to help break those chains of slavery in our world.”
(Submitted by Paulette Nuhfer, Sawmill Baptist Church, Powell, Ohio)
Charity Marquis is the founder of NightLight USA, based in Los Angeles, California. Charity is working tirelessly to develop outreach and support ministries to women in the sex industry who are trafficked or exploited. NightLight USA focuses on guiding women and children into the light [of Jesus Christ] through physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and economic development. The organization is modeled after the Nightlight ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, directed by Annie Dieselberg.
Mylinda Baits, an American Baptist missionary in Costa Rica, works with the Costa Rican Baptist Convention to provide pastoral and lay leadership training and theological education. She is involved with the Mansion of Light Baptist Church, one of the recipients for "Break the Chains" funding. Mylinda has written the Bible study that is available on the "What Can I Do?" page of this website. To view Mylinda's missionary journal, click here.
Pastor Xinia Porras, pastor of the Mansion of Light Baptist Church in La Guácima de Alajuela, Costa Rica, is leading the congregation to reach out to the families in their community with parenting classes, abuse prevention and job training. They have begun the planning and work for opening a day care for working families and outreach to girls at risk of prostitution. Break the Chains project funding will help this congregation do that outreach.
Karen Smith, an ABC missionary in Thailand. Karen directs the New Life Center Foundation that provides shelter, educational, and emergency services to tribal girls at risk, and to those who have been trafficked or sold. To view Karen's missionary journal, click here.
Lauran Bethell, a Global Consultant, based in Prague, Czech Republic. Lauran helped establish the New Life Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1987, offering freedom and hope in Jesus Christ to young women and girls who are sold, tricked or willfully drawn into prostitution. Now she encourages ministries around the world. To view Lauran's journal, click here.
Deborah Kelsey, an ABC missionary in Italy. Debbie has begun a new ministry in Italy to reach women trafficked for work in the sex industry. To view Debbie's missionary journal, click here.
Sarah Chetti, an ABC missionary in Lebanon. Sarah has been involved in ministries in a local prison and with the Sudanese Congregation that meets at FanarBaptistChurch. To view Sarah's missionary journal, click here.
Susan Linderman, an ABC missionary in Bulgaria. Susan works with Project Hope, an eastern European ministry that ministers to women caught in sex trafficking. The ministry attempts to provide healing and economic alternatives to prostitution. To view Susan's missionary journal, click here.
Annie Dieselberg, an ABC missionary in Bangkok, Thailand. Annie works with NightLight Design Co. Ltd., a business-as-mission, which employs and empowers women affected by the sex trade in Bangkok. To view Annie's missionary journal, click here.
Estela Schweissinger, an ABC missionary in Bahamas. Estela ministers to Haitian women and children through the Mission Baptist Consortium of churches in Nassau, Bahamas. To view Estela's missionary journal, click here.
Sarah West, American Baptist missionary in Lusaka, Zambia, leads a weekly Bible study with several women who have found themselves in various ways snared into prostitution. One woman who has now opened a prayer chapel in her home was HIV positive. But like the wind, the Spirit moves in ways beyond our understanding or control. This woman is now HIV negative. And she has her prayer room open 24 hours a day for the praise of God and for ministry to others. To view Sarah's missionary journal, click here.
National Ministries (ABC/USA), along with other faith-based investors, are pressing the travel and hospitality industries to help protect women and children from the horrors of human trafficking. Currently, National Ministries’ efforts include a combination of letter writing, company dialogue, and filing of shareholder resolutions, all aimed at getting companies to adopt a "Code of Conduct to Protect Children". The code calls for an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children from hotels and for them to train their employees on how to prevent child sexual exploitation by tourists. Click here for more information on the code: http://www.thecode.org/
What are others doing to eradicate trafficking or minister to its victims?
Have you been inspired to become involved in eradicting human trafficking, or to minister to its victims? Share your story with us!
