Providing holistic restoration for young girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited in Honduras.

12 : the average age of girls who have been trafficked sexually.

We believe 12 year old girls should be painting nails and joyfully dancing.

The end.

At the beginning of this year, Jonny and Michelle at Paper Antler took on a huge and inspiring task that would take them the entire year of 2012 to complete. This journey that they are on is called The Fifty Nifty. They have set out to raise $50,000 for our home in Honduras, while also raising awareness for our organization and the issue of human trafficking in the world today. We are more than grateful for their sacrifice and continued support of the restorative work that we do, they truly know what it means to believe in freedom. We want to remind you that every Tuesday is pledge day at Paper Antler, in efforts to reach their goal of $50,000. They always post a wonderful blog every Tuesday with an opportunity for you to give and play a vital role in this endeavor. Be sure to follow their blog and pass the word along so that we can all celebrate the huge success of The Fifty Nifty and the freedom and restoration it is bringing to young girls in Honduras who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.

Freedom is here.

Andrea grew up in a physically abusive home where her entire childhood was one of rejection, fear, and abuse. At age 14, out of desperation, she ran away and found herself on the city streets of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. These are the same streets where recent studies have shown that out of 143 street children interviewed and examined, 100% had at least one sexually transmitted disease. Andrea was lured in by a man who promised care, provision, and protection. He then took her to a city hours away where she was locked up and didn’t see the light of day for two months. Day after day she was sexually abused by up to eight men a day while she was kept sedated with a forced drug addiction. Andrea was used as a commodity; she was traumatized and exploited, she was losing all hope. Then a moment came where her spirit found an ounce of hope still hanging by a thread as she escaped the terror she was living in and hitch hiked her way back to the city that was the closest place she could call home. Soon after, she was picked up by child services where she was thrown into an unforgiving system of abusive and apathetic homes. She was wounded, she was ashamed, she was confused. Then we found her. She entered our home a quiet, timid, and fearful young girl that saw herself as a victim. She was immediately fed, clothed, and told that she is loved more than she will ever know and that she is no longer a victim, but a child of promise. Now, at age 15, Andrea is thriving as our passionate staff counsels, teaches, and encourages her. Her smile is easily seen and sweet as she loves to study and to learn how to bake. A swing set and a baby doll give her a childhood that she never had. Andrea has a dream of one day being a beautician; a dream she practices and prepares for on our staff and other girls in the home. She is being restored, her hope is alive and singing, and her healing is taking place at this very moment.

Res-to-ra-tion: A bringing back to a former position or condition

Our mission statement states that we provide holistic restoration for young girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited in Honduras. The restoration of our young girls is absolutely a forward focussed work as they experience and are encouraged in the future and not looking back on their pasts. But the restoration process is also a “bringing back” or reestablishment of how they were originally designed and created by God. God says they are the crown of creation, daughters of a King, the light of the world, and royalty in the Kingdom of God with a rich inheritance through Jesus Christ. As they understand who they are according to who God says they are, true restoration begins to take place. It is life changing, it is healing, and it is empowering.

Thank you all for being such amazing advocates for the restoration and freedom of precious young girls in Honduras. Together, hope will abound, freedom will be released, and love will win. To donate needed funding for our restorative work in Honduras, click HERE. Every donation big and small is important and completely tax-deductible.