It's Monday... again. Those keep happening! Our worlds can get pretty small, can't they? We can get caught up in the mundane and trivial, the technological difficulties, our first-world problems, and coffee headaches, but the world is a bit bigger than us, isn't it?
This is our wakeup call, our reminder that lives around the globe have been profoundly affected by trafficking, that there is HOPE for those affected, and that we can make a difference.
Our story this week comes from Eden, one of our jewelry partners:
Xiao Yuan was nine years old when she was first abused by a neighbor in her village. She grew up with the stigma that these things were her fault and she must be a bad person. At seventeen, she left home to find work.
She was kidnapped on her way to the city and taken to a locked room. As she fought for her freedom, her captors poured boiling water on her in order to subdue her.
Utterly broken and hopeless, for the next few years, Xiao Yuan did whatever her captors asked of her.
Eden met Xiao Yuan through our outreach program. She said the way we demonstrated kindness and love to her made her heart thaw from its frozen state.
She is now working for Eden and healing from her physical and mental scars. Taking Eden's course on identity and confidence has had a huge impact on how she values herself.
Hope and healing really do happen. This is our reminder both that there is hope and that kindness and love can change everything!
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