My first mission trip was to Nicaragua in 2011. As a new Christ follower, I'm not sure why I went. I had never desired to go on a mission trip.
Our team went to serve at an organization that rescued women and children from forced prostitution or trafficking. Even though we knew the details of why these women and kids were there it didn't quite sink in until the end of the week when our team visited the brothels.
We went to the marketplace, which is also where brothels are. On one side you have vegetables and the other you have women to be sold. I still remember the smell of hot onions and cabbage and walking the dirt roads littered with trash.
As we arrived, I saw young women sitting in plastic chairs in a cement block building — if you can call it a building. The women were sitting on the front stoop all made up and trying to smile, as if they enjoyed being there.
My eyes caught a very young looking girl. She wore white shorts and a blue shirt, her face covered in makeup and her body language stiff, as if she was pretending to be strong.
I knew this stance all too well.
We approached the madam and asked if we could pray for her and the women. She agreed. As we started to pray, I began to weep. My face was buried in the back of the person in front of me. I could not handle the reality of what I was seeing and feeling. I wept loudly and uncontrollably. I was overcome with a heavy feeling of shame. God was revealing the shame I had carried myself for so many years and how these women carried that same shame.
He told me that day that He wanted to remove my shame. Not only did He want to remove mine, but He wanted their's too.
This became the beginning of my redemptive healing from God and eventually the birth of ReMade.
What is ReMade?
The ReMade Campaign is a local nonprofit whose mission is to raise awareness and educate communities on the crisis of trafficking, sexual exploitation and trauma caused by it. We advocate for and encourage life change for those exploited.
The ReMade Campaign invites you to our very first fundraising awareness event.
Our hope is to enlighten your hearts and eyes to the great tragedy that exists in our world today. It doesn’t just happen in “other” countries, but in OUR Nation, in OUR State and in OUR City. Sex trafficking has become a multi-billion dollar criminal industry.
Join us on Saturday March 11 at Tresca on 8th to take a journey through the life of a woman who has been sexually exploited. Hear about the impact of trauma and how it skews our view of ourselves. You might be surprised just how much you have in common!
Registration deadline is March 10!
Our first project
We are very excited to partner with Sexual Assault Response Program (SARP) and the Forensic Nurses at our local hospitals to provide a small gift of “hope” to the women/girls they serve who have been sexually abused. Victims who receive services from SARP and the Emergency Rooms are provided with a bag that has information about abuse and provides them with options for care outside of the ER. We want to provide them with a gift that would encourage them and help them feel/believe they are loved, there is hope, and they have worth.