Our partner Lena (alias) writes:
Her name is Sonya. We call her Sunny. She is 17 years old. When she was born, she was taken to an orphanage and when she was three years old, her grandmother took her in. When her grandmother died, her mother took her home. Her mother remarried five times.
Thrown out on the street
When Sonya was a child, her mother and stepfather threw her and her little brother out on the street and they had to live on the streets most of the time. Sometimes neighbors would take them in and feed them. When she was nine years old, her mother sent her out to fetch water, but in an alley the neighbors caught her and raped her.
Sold as a slave
When her mother found out, she beat her almost to death. Her mother didn't report the rape to the police because she was afraid of bringing shame to the family. Then her mother started selling her to the rich families who needed a slave in the house.
Raped many times
In one of the houses, the husband raped her every time his wife was out. When the wife found out, Sonya was thrown out on the street and then she started selling her body to make money. She had a friend who also worked in the same way, and every night they went out to sell their bodies, Lena writes.
The prison
But recently, while standing on the main road looking for customers, she was stopped by the police and taken to the police station. They put her in temporary detention and then took her to the Danish European Mission project. She now has a counselor and a psychologist who takes care of her mental health. She has a difficult personality and gets into daily fights with the other girls at the refuge, but the manager of the center and the counselor work with her every day. She is also taking a jewelry course. She likes it and in every class she does well, Lena writes.
The list of human suffering and cruelty remains long. Perhaps now, more than ever, the world needs us not to give up, but to do what we can to change people's lives so that what looks hopeless can be changed into new hope forever.
Through this project, Sonya will have access to a shelter, medical care, legal help and counseling, and she is learning how to make jewelry. We can thank God that there are people right now who are doing what they can to help people out of these hopeless situations.
Sonya is based in the office of our partner in the area. We regret that we cannot mention the name of the country for security reasons.
There are so many girls like Sonya who need God's love in the Muslim country they live in. If you want to give a gift to some of the world's most vulnerable women like Sonya, you can donate here:
