{...here...}

i have a sister. her name is Alex. (there she is, on the left. cute too, huh?)

she is incredible. i mean, one of the more exceptional people you might ever meet.

i tell you this, not because sometimes i just like to tell you about my life (which i do) but to hopefully challenge and inspire you.

Alex up and moved to Denver, Colorado this summer to work with women who are trying to or recently have escaped the commercial sex industry. 

prostitution.

human trafficking.

sex slavery.

in Denver. in the good ol U.S. of A. 

sometimes she sends me excerpts from her journal, and my heart breaks for these women. these women all have a story. and some of these heartbreaking stories start at an age so early it makes my stomach turn.

stories of being literally sold (at age 5 and 8) to the motel owner so their mother could stay a few more nights. stories of desperation. stories of betrayal and of lost innocence. 

{eck. here comes the tears. every time i think about those little girls...}

i think sometimes when we hear about human trafficking and sex slavery our minds jump to India. or Thailand. (or for me, Uganda) or some faraway place where the faces are blurry and the ocean divides us from them.

but the faces of these victims? they probably look a little more like us than you think. and you've seen them. maybe in Walgreens. or the gas station. she might have been sitting on the curb, drinking a Mountain Dew. or talking on her cell phone. 

There are estimates that 100,000 people are being trafficked in the U.S. every day.

the average age? 

eleven.

did you hear me? eleven years old. 

please take a second a think about what you were doing when you were eleven.

my sister is working in a home that is helping to rehabilitate these women. a place where they can be safe. a place where they can heal and reclaim their bodies and their minds and the lives that were stolen from them. 

and i could drive to go visit her. right now. hop in the car.

because this is happening right. here. right. now.

i get so many emails from people wanting to know how to help abroad. feeling such a burden for the women of developing countries. and hello. i love that. that is my heart, my passion, my life. and if that opportunity arises for you GO. DO. and know that i will be the first to cheer you on and tell you to keep going when you ask yourself, "what was i thinking?!?"

but please. don't believe that you have to buy a $1,700 plane ticket to a foreign land to do this. some of you feel so stuck because you have jobs or children or a mortgage and you can't hop on a jet plane and go make a difference. but that thinking? that is a lie.

because what is breaking your heart for the women in Uganda or Ethiopia or India 

that is happening here, too.

darkness, loneliness, abuse, desperation. 

oh, sure. they manifest differently. in every culture and in every place, they take on a different face and voice. 

but.

please, please, please i beg you. look around you. really look into the darkest corners of your own community. and find them. give them a voice. advocate for them. and look into their eyes. listen to them. and touch their shoulder. give them a glimmer of hope. and opportunity. 

is it glamorous? not really.

you know what Alex does all day? she watches Ellen with them. and she sits on rocks by the river and talks to them. she asks them questions. she looks them in the eye. they laugh at funny looking dogs together. she drives them to the doctor's office or the grocery store. but with every rock they throw in the river and with every dog they laugh at together, she is telling them, "You are valuable. You are more than what someone will pay for your body. You are beautiful." 

and that? is transforming lives. 

please don't wait until you can go to Africa or India to make a difference in the life of a woman. 

that mortgage that is keeping you here? use it on a home that will be open and inviting, so that she has a safe place to have a cup of coffee. that car payment? make it on a car that will give her a lift to go pick up some milk.

those children you get to raise? raise them to see that you don't have to live in a third world country to make a difference. bring them into this story with you. and then, maybe someday when you take them abroad, they will see that we are all not so different after all. there is always need. there is not a place in the world that escapes darkness and greed and desperation. 

but if we are willing to look deep enough and fight hard enough, there is always a glimmer of hope in the spirit of even the most broken of humans.  

go. 

now. 

please?

Comments

[Jenny Hellman]

Liz! Hey it's Jenny Schaffner :). This is just awesome. My sister pointed me to your site and it just made me so excited to hear about what you are doing and to see your smiling face all over the website!! It's really just amazing to see how you are using your creativity to help people and make sweet shoes :). If you ever need any help in Tulsa OK or if you are just passing through town and need a place to say drop me a note. I'd love to hear about it all in person!
Jenny

[Leigh]

This was extremely inspirational. Keep doing what you're doing & know that there are SO many people behind you. I teach in a middle school & am shocked to find out new things like this all the time happening around me. That is why I teach -- to give students knowledge, hope, and love for the future. God bless you Liz!

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