The Sound of Healing

"Rapha" is the Hebrew word for healing.

Across the ocean there are thousands of young girls who are being robbed from their homes and thrust into the hell holes we call brothels. Recently, I watched a film entitled "Baht" produced by CIY. It documented one Cambodian girl's journey from a happy home and pretend tea parties to the rape and violence of a local brothel. She was tricked by a woman who offered her a job as a waitress, but, instead, kidnapped her and forced her to be a sex slave. The film was very well done, and you should look into buying it when they make it available online. However, beyond the cinematography, I heard the most heart-wrenching story I've ever been told. I cannot imagine anything...anything...more hellish than being sexually oppressed such as the thousands of girls who are crying out with no one rushing to help. 

I have read that many of the girls in this situation are raped up to 60 times per week. 

As awful as that is. Read it again. 

What are we doing to each other? What has happened to us? 

As I heard the story, I thought about what I should do. What can I do in Knoxville, TN to stop sexual abuse and sex trafficking across the globe? 

So, I am asking, if you know any way to respond to these atrocities, lets start brainstorming. What can we do to stop the injustice? God has been doing different things in my heart and mind, and I am trying to seek Him out. Does He want me to act against this? How? 

I found an organization in Cambodia who is providing a safe house for rescued victims. They are called the Rapha House. They give the girls an education so they can re-enter society with a greater chance of resisting the brothels and obtaining a true occupation. Also, they teach these girls about the hope, the healing, the rapha of Jesus Christ. I read this letter from one of the directors and it broke my heart yet filled me with a sense that we can be healed. Each of us can be healed. If girls who are sexually abused as young as 4 years of age can find hope, Then there is still truly rapha in the world today. Here is the letter: 

Fall, 2007

Dear Christian Friends;
It has been said that children who have been severely abused forget how to play. They forget how to be a child. The girls at Rapha House certainly fall into the category of severely abused children.

Recently, a partner church, Indian Creek Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, decided to sponsor a swim party for the Rapha House girls. A new pair of shorts and a new t shirt was provided for each girl to swim in, and beach balls and water wings were introduced for the first time.

I stood in the searing heat and watched the girls play and scream with laughter. It sounded like heaven to me. I watched two sisters, who were sold and rescued together from the same brothel, have a very long and loud splash fight. I watched as four of the littlest girls linked arms again and again and fell laughing into the shallowest end of the pool. This is what healing sounds like. It sounds like the laughter of children.

There was a time, in the not so distant past, when there was no laughter in the lives of these girls. Today, they have a safe place to live. For the little ones, it is an opportunity to have the childhood which Satan tried to rob them of. For the older girls, it is an opportunity to plan for their futures. For all of them, it is an opportunity to know Christ who is their only hope. I cannot thank you enough for making this possible for the Rapha House girls. Thank you for meeting their physical needs, and for allowing them to remember how to play.


Blessings to you!

Stephanie G. Freed

Friends, we are called to set captives free. Let's at least start thinking and talking about how to save these prisoners. 

Right now... a girl is wishing we would rescue her.