Righting the Upside Down World

Hopie sent her son to our Bible club. Afterwards she would often invite us in to hang out. Over the months we connected over Bible studies, BBQ’s, going for walks… It was beautiful to know Hopie and her son Jamiel. Then she told us her boyfriend was getting out of jail. Her demeanor changed and she began describing how things would be different. Everything changed overnight. Hopie was aloof. We began seeing her on the corners waiting for customers. She avoided us. We slowly started to understand what her words had meant. This was 23 years ago when few resources were available on human trafficking. We didn’t fully understand the brainwashing and trauma women caught in this web were forced to endure.  

Today, we’re learning from survivors what it takes to escape and how to tangibly be present with the love of Christ in these critical moments. Angela shared that she remembers each of the three times Christians approached her while she was working, “My only wish is that there would have been more encounters.” Much of what we do is a ministry of presence, letting women know someone is there when they are ready to escape. It’s about grace and love undeterred by the words and actions of the moment.  

It can take 10-15 attempts before a young woman leaves her trafficker. Felicia had left her trafficker before. When we met her on the strip of motels along Highway 99, she was ready to leave again. We began a relationship of presence with her. Showing up to take her to court, praying with her before social worker visits, encouraging her to find her identity in Christ, using art to help her see how her brain can renew and hold new thoughts of hope for the future. After two months, she disappeared from the program she was in and from our lives. She has tasted that there is a way out. We know with each escape she is building muscle to leave again and we pray she remains free of the bonds of abuse. We carry her name with us.

There is a growing understanding of the lies that anchor young women to this abuse. “The money is so fast and so big. It becomes an addiction,” Desiree shared. “This is all I know how to do. How could I ever find a job that would pay this well?” At the Sonshine Thrift store we use a Biblically-integrated job training program called Work Life to discover together our core identity and how God created our world, work and relationships to build us up as a whole intricately-connected person. Survivors of trafficking are gaining work skills and a new relationship with money, work and their world as part of their discipleship.

Hopie’s story did not end the way we had hoped. But thanks to your support to World Impact Fresno, we are seeing young women escape and find new life they never thought possible. It is an absolute privilege to assist in their escape and healing.

Read more from Kim Contreras.