It has really been on my heart to get involved with an organisation that fights against human trafficking but despite my efforts I had not found one that really stood out. Then I was contacted by Bethany, an advocate for Destiny Rescue (and a cousin of some friends of mine) about promoting Destiny Rescue in the church. I wanted to promote it even wider so I asked her to write this post to raise awareness of the amazing work of Destiny Rescue. So please take the time to read this. I will be revisiting this after Christmas to see what we, as a community can do to help.
Approximately 1.2 million new
children are trafficked each year – most of them lured, bribed, or forced into
the sex trade. It’s pretty easy to quickly read over that, but let’s go over it
again.
Every
26 seconds a new child is sold into slavery.
Approximately
1.2 million little girls have their innocence and childhood stolen each year
and in exchange receive sexual, physical, and mental abuse.
Little girls like mine and your
daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and maybe even sisters undergo horrific
abuse all day, every day.
 |
And that’s just the stats for new
kids. There all already millions of other children who have been coerced into
the sex industry and are forced to have sex with an adult several times a day.
They are trapped and have no way of escape unless people like us decide to
stand up and say that this is not ok.
My name’s Bethany. I live in
Canberra, I’m one of 13 kids, an evangelical Christian, and a Destiny Rescue
advocate. I’m passionate about seeing children’s innocence protected and
rescuing and restoring little girls so they know they are more valuable than
the Crown Jewels and have a chance to fulfil their dreams.
To perfectly honest, the whole
sex trade issue was something I kinda knew about, but because it wasn’t in my
face 24/7, I lived as if it didn’t exist. Then a friend of mine went on a
Destiny Rescue overseas team trip. She came home and gave a presentation at my
church about what she saw. I couldn’t forget it. Then in April I went to a
screening of Trade of Innocents, a movie about the sex trade in Cambodia. I now
had a “face” for the sex trade and I
couldn’t sit around and do nothing. So I sponsored a 15 year old girl through
Destiny Rescue and applied to become an advocate.
So, you’re probably wondering why
Destiny Rescue is so amazing. Here’s why. They are a Christian based,
non-profit organisation who are dedicated to rescuing children and preventing
them from being forced into human trafficking. They work closely with
government agencies and international non-government offices to gather valuable
information and leads. They see that the criminals are brought to justice and
provide a rescue home for all the children they save. Here the children are
given medical attention and they receive group therapy and counselling. Here
they can feel safe, eat nutritious meals, and receive a valuable education.
Destiny Rescue also provides them with training so that once the girls are able
they can leave the Rescue Home and provide for themselves in a decent job. They
have Destiny Rescue coffee shops and a hair salon which are run by these girls.
 |
Another thing I love about DR is
that they don’t just try to fix the problem, but also offer prevention care.
They identify children who are in danger of being enslaved and offer their
families help in the form of self-sustaining projects.
But most importantly they teach
the girls of a God who understand humiliation and suffering and who reaches out
to them in love. A God who can give them freedom from the anger and who can
redeem their past. I’ve read testimonies of girls who come out of brothels in
such deep hurt that anger and torment are their only companions. But yet as God
works through Destiny Rescue these girls miraculously find peace and happiness
and are able to fulfil their dreams.
Now, I know there many other
organisations whose mission is to rescue the sexually exploited, and honestly I
can’t say I’m up to speed on all their differences. In the beginning the reason
I chose Destiny Rescue was because it was the organisation right in front of
me. It could also have been that they have a lot of orange around and that’s my
favourite colour. J But now one of the reasons I love Destiny Rescue
is that their focus is on children. I know the sex trade, regardless of age, is
horrible and disgusting, and I can’t really think of a word that describes the
filthiness of it, but children being forced into it make me 500% angry. I mean
how dare they think they can take girls as young as 5 years old, and for a
sometimes a couple of thousand take away her virginity and innocence. How dare
they put a price on someone Jesus died to save. Oh, it makes me angry.
But let’s look at the positives.
What can we do to change this? You can
partner with Destiny Rescue and …
1.
Become a 26 seconds member and commit to $40
annually
2.
Become a 26 seconds partner and commit to $26 a
month
3.
Sponsor a rescue or prevention child for $45 a
month
4.
Give the one-off generous donation of $1500 which
will fund the rescue of a child
5.
Go on one of their overseas trips to see their work
firsthand
6.
Volunteer and go overseas for up to 2 years to fill
a needed position.
7.
Or perfect number 7, you can become an advocate
like me and tell your friends and family all about Destiny Rescue and the work
they’re doing. I’m currently the only advocate in Canberra (as far as I am
aware) and I’d love a few partners.
Other things you can do is
purchase jewellery handmade by some of the girls. They are actually phasing
this out, so I’d highly recommend jumping on the website and having a look. There is some really beautiful things on there. I also
have some jewellery on hand so if you live in Canberra give me a bell and I
might be able to arrange to get some to you. They do also have some t-shirts,
so if you’d like to get the message out I’d highly recommend it. I have one and
it’s really comfortable and you feel awesome wearing it. My Dad also has one
and it’s one of his favourite shirts, so it’s a good one for the guys too. :)
http://www.destinyrescue.org/aus/ is the main webpage and has more info. You
can buy jewellery and coffee and some shirts here http://www.destinyrescueshop.org.au/ or you
can visit http://destinythreads.com/ which is a store that sells t-shirts and has
new designs each month.
I don’t feel like I’ve covered
everything 100% so if you’d like to know more please contact me and I’ll help
you out as much as I can. Otherwise you can contact the Destiny Rescue office
and the friendly and lovely people there will be able to tell you everything
you’d want to know.
Oh, and one last quick reason why
I love Destiny Rescue. Its president and founder is an Australian, but that’s a
whole other story. :)
Thanks Bethany!
If you have time also watch this beautiful video from Destiny rescue.
What do you think readers? After Christmas can we raise $1,500 to rescue a child?
Linking up with Essentially Jess for:
