The other week I was given the opportunity to help at a school here on the outskirts of the city with their English classes. We had been connected with a young student teacher there and she wanted to bring native speakers into the classroom for her students to speak with. Starting this day, I had no idea what a meaningful experience this would turn out to be.
As soon as we walked in, talking with our new friend Paty, a group of giggling 7th grade girls walked by us, excitedly waved and basically screamed “Hi!” Hello!” at us. They were adorable. Paty shared with some of the situations of the students and what difficult backgrounds they came from.
We started by helping give an exam to one of her classes that had different English vocabulary words they had to define on it. They also had to identify different punctuation and parts of speech in the writing. We got to talk to them some and they were very excited about us being there/ interested in us. They had so much energy and the wide-eyed looks they gave us were actually quite endearing.
As they were finishing their exam, Paty began to ask me more about what I’m doing here in Mexico. I explained to her my work in the refuge with girls who have been trafficked and more about the organization El Pozo. And that’s when the day changed for me. Paty began to share with me some of her story. “Riley, I think it’s really amazing the work you are doing with those girls. I’m so glad that an organization like that exists, because it is really needed here. When I was 14, I was walking to school and a car pulled over and the driver started to talk to me. He grabbed me a put me in his car, blindfolded me and took me away. He took me to this place with a lot of other young girls just like me, that all had veils over their faces and their hands were tied together.”
At this point, I’m nearly in tears because I can’t believe this happened to her. But the rest of the story is even more amazing.
“I did the only thing I could think of and started to talk to him about Jesus and God. I told him about the goodness of God, his love. I shared the gospel with him for three hours and after that he said to me ‘That’s it, I can’t do it with you. I can’t.’ and he let me go.”
You can read all the statistics about trafficking and abuse here in Mexico City and be moved, but then to have someone outside of the ministry, or the refuge for the girls, actually share their experience with you is beyond moving. The way she described feeling so scared, unsure of what would happen and what she would be made to do was increible. But it is so evident to me that God was with her, giving her strength and bravery.
This is why I do what I do. Because every day girls are being taken. Every day girls are being used and abused. Every day girls are being sold as a commodity like they were animals. And most of their stories don’t end after three hours. They don’t end in a sweet, intelligent, caring young woman studying to form the future generations. They don’t include the gospel being shared.
I want to live in a world where no girl or women is afraid of walking to school because she might be taken. I want to live in a world where we don’t need sections of the metro that are just for women because to stand where the men are is safe enough. I want to live in a world my Uber driver doesn’t feel like he needs to wait outside the gates while I get buzzed in coming home late at night because someone might come along and something could happen.
Let all try to do better friends. I know we can.
I'm blessed that Paty shared her story with me, allowed me to share it with you all, and to now have a new sister in Christ to share life with. Never forget how big our God is friends.