Asha’s Story
At the young age of eight, Asha’s parents sold her to a local witch doctor, and the life she once knew vanished. She was now his property and served him for an excruciating six years before running away. Asha tried to escape her nightmare, but instead ended up trapped in sexual slavery in the area’s infamous red light district. But God had other plans for Asha. In 2009, we found her and welcomed her into her new home, your Crisis Aid Refuge Home. Her nightmare was finally over! Throughout the next few years, we had the privilege of witnessing her unbelievable transformation.
Let us share with you her life changing journey:
When Asha came to Refuge in 2009, she was withdrawn and afraid. She could not read or write and had no dreams to share. But things began to change, and soon after, Asha was heard saying, “I was lost, but now God has changed my life, and I will serve Him the rest of my life.” We had no idea the fullness of that statement or what was to come.
Asha began taking courses at Crisis Aid’s Mercy Chapel Vocational Training Center. She worked hard, and by 2011, she joined our staff serving as a runner and an office assistant. One year later, she reached her goal of becoming the top graduate of Mercy Chapel’s first graduating class! Just think, in only a few short years, Asha went from being unable to read or write, to graduating top of her class! Because of her success and dedication, Asha was also promoted to be a Teacher’s Assistant in the Hair Dressing Department.
But her story does not end there. Asha did so much more than just learn a new vocation, she went back to her beginnings and began rescuing others from the horrors of the red light district. She became a strong and very capable leader in our Global Safe Campaign. Working with Crisis Aid to continue to rescue and restore victims held in sexual slavery became her life’s purpose.
By 2014, Asha was promoted to Assistant Coordinator of Mercy Chapel. And one year later, she became a Coordinator in the very Refuge Home that saved her.
Asha recently said, “I stayed in this Refuge Home for five years. I am working now as a normal citizen. These are the best five years of my life. Now I am happy. And above all, I have learned much love. I’m trying to give back by helping other girls. When I summarize my life here, I found my true identity. First, I have found myself. And second, I have found something heavenly.”
This year, Asha celebrates 6 years of being on Crisis Aid staff! She continues to go back into the Red Light District bringing girls out and inviting them into your Refuge Homes and Mercy Chapel. She also assists with the intake processes in the Homes and with basic counseling. She shares her testimony with the girls still struggling, helping them understand the possibilities that wait for them. After all, she knows better than anyone what it truly means to be set free.
Asha is responsible for assisting in rescuing and training hundreds of girls trapped in sexual slavery. The education you provided that empowered Asha can never be taken away from her. In addition, the ripple effect you created touched hundreds of girls and will have a lasting impact on them and their children for the rest of their lives!
But Asha’s story is not the only one. Many lives have been eternally changed through your giving. Real-life stories of women and children in other programs like your Children’s Home and the community around them. Inspiring stories of girls that have graduated with a vocation they love and who are now free from slavery. Even stories right here in the U.S. of children’s lives that have been touched through your “Wings of Love and Care” program and your U.S. Refuge Home.
Education can never be taken away from those who receive it. Education and the love of God can set and keep people free for a lifetime. Education can be the impetus which breaks the cycle of poverty forever in a person’s life, which also forever effects their family for generations to come.
With your partnership, we are launching new educational programs on dairy production and modern farming techniques in some of the most impoverished areas we have ever served. Rescuing people has always been one of our primary goals, but after seeing how the lack of education keeps people from ever breaking the curse of poverty, we are compelled to do what we can to end poverty where God has led us.
We are deeply grateful for the help you provide to young girls, children and families plagued with life-threatening poverty and oppression. Your support has literally rescued them from the clutches of a living hell.
But you have done so much more than just help them; for many you provided life-changing opportunities that have propelled them into a life that is thriving. Your programs have helped train, inspire and move many to live successful, independent lives through training and education. THANK YOU!
Safe homes, food, water, medical care and the love of God save and restore lives. Your gifts save, restore and sustain by helping those who have no other way out of the cycle of poverty. But this journey for each person takes time, so please consider pledging a monthly gift in addition to what you already give annually. Through your partnership, we can invest in the futures of more girls like Asha and other children and families who desperately need your help. If we can impact one person at a time for the rest of their lives, isn’t it worth it?
Our vision for the future is to develop programs that not only rescue people, but that also create jobs and teach modern practices in the process. Together we can literally break the curse and shackles of poverty one person and one family at a time. But this can only be done, TOGETHER.
Thank you for considering increasing your commitment.
God bless you,
Pat and Sue Bradley
