Rescued!

My time in Nepal has been focused on earthquake disaster relief. But now I want to take a moment to remember what PRC does on a daily basis.

This evening PRC's founder Shanta introduced me to an amazing young girl staying here at the rescue center. She shared her story with me.

I am not going to use her name but I can tell you she is fifteen years old. She was born in a small village. At six years old her father left with a different woman. She was left with her mother. Her mother has disabilities which prevented her from understanding how to care for the girl properly.

When she was seven her uncle gave her to be a house servant in Kathmandu. She did get paid a nominal amount for her work, which the uncle would steal.

It wasn't long before the man of the house started abusing her. Eventually he started sharing her with others as well. This went on for about seven years.

Then she learned that she was going to be sold and sent to the brothels in India. She ran.

She was caught by a police officer. The officer abused her and let her go.

She sought refugee where a friend was staying. Abuse started there too. She ran again, and again was caught by the police.

This experience with the police was different. The police officer told her he was going to get her someplace safe. He got her to PRC.

She has been here about three weeks now. She has a long hard road ahead but you can already see she is beginning to flourish. She said before she was even considering suicide. Now she said she sees there is a possible future.

I couldn't believe how boldly she shared her story with me. What strength!

No matter how many of these stories I'm told, it never gets easier to listen. I can only imagine the emotional toll on the staff workers here dealing with this each and every day.

Thankfully they also hear, and share in, the successes of changes lives as well!