Freedom from slavery
OBI is working to provide hope for girls such as Ibee, above, and others caught up the sex slave trade through safe houses, education and awareness programs, mentoring homes and more.
Osea thought she was taking a babysitting job, but ended up in a brothel. Thanks to OBI's orphan care programs, she now has a chance at a better future through job skills training.
REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, Eastern Europe - Two months pregnant and hoping to get married, Ibee took a job in Turkey to save money for a wedding.
However, when she left her rural town, she found she had not been hired as a street vendor but as a sex slave in a brothel.
The 18-year-old was forced to stay but even if she did try and leave, she had nowhere to go. Between beatings, forced drug and alcohol use, Ibee gave up hope.
"Some days we would have 15 clients," she said.
She and countless other girls and boys like her take foreign job offers in a hope of better income and opportunity, but reality is much different. Some children are even kidnapped or bought and sold in open markets.
"It's very scary," said Lenna, after escaping the sex slave trade. "The girls are constantly beaten and they start drinking and losing any interest in life at all."
Fortunately, Ibee, Lenna and several other girls have found a place to escape, recover and start over. Operation Blessing is working to provide hope for these girls and others through safe houses, education and awareness programs for adolescents, mentoring homes and job skill training as well as placement.
Safe houses are emergency locations for girls and their family members to reside until the immediate threat has passed.
The mentoring homes are long term residences where counseling and other educational programs are conducted with trained faculty.
In addition, the girls are trained in job skills and given tools to help start a business when they return home.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Operation Blessing is helping to transform the futures of children like these by providing clean water, education assistance, nutritional feeding programs, medical care and more.
Please make an online contribution toward OBI's orphan care programs today and help us continue to reach those in need.