When the Human Trafficked Lives Next Door: Angel’s Story

message I received from my friend, whom I nicknamed Angel. Shortly before meeting her, I had

read an article about human trafficking being common in our area in the Middle East. Sex

trafficking is prevalent, but that is not the only form that is common. House helpers are also

trafficked from other countries. Women are told they will be going to Europe for well-paying

professional jobs and are led to believe they have “agents” in their home countries seeking out

educated women to connect them with these well-paying jobs. The only problem: it’s all a lie.

They arrive at the airport where their passports are taken from them, not even knowing what

country they have been taken to.

The article shared how some women are tied up in rooms, only to be let out when it is

time to clean the house or any other domestic tasks. Some are barely given anything to eat.

African women are treated even worse and earn less money than women from other countries.

Why? Employers say they are concerned that their black faces will scare their children. In many

cases, these sweet girls are treated as less than human. They are paid less than workers from

Indonesia or the Philippines, if paid at all. Once someone “buys” their contract, no one makes

sure the family pays the worker or cares about how they are treated. With little to no knowledge

of the language or where they are, they don’t know who to turn to for help.

When I saw Angel taking out the trash, I wanted to make sure she was okay and wanted

her to know how to get a hold of me if she needed to—that I was a safe person. It was later that

night that she texted me that message.

Angel is one of the most amazing young women you

could ever have the privilege of meeting. Although her life is so very hard, she is always thinking

of how she can help other girls who have been trafficked. When she first arrived in the country,

she was taken to an apartment where she was given only a little handful of rice and about 5

ounces of water a day. She created a group where her # makes its way around the community

of “house help” workers. Thankfully for Angel, the man of her house is kind to her. He let her go

for walks with me and come over at night so we could worship and pray together. Most are not

so fortunate.

Angel loves Jesus. On one of our walks she told me, “Knowing what Jesus sacrificed for

me, how can I not do my very best to sacrifice for others?” What better nickname for her than

“Angel”? On another one of our walks, she told me of how one girl called her, crying in despair

from her living conditions. I can’t give you too many details in order to not endanger her. Just

know these girls need our prayers. I told Angel I was going to have people from all over the

world praying for her and her friends. This is what she wrote back: “Wow, mummy, so lovely. I

always shed tears when I see a picture of you or when having a conversation with you. I never

knew I would meet such a wonderful mummy like you, and your family and your group members

as well.” (That’s you by the way. If you are reading this and care about girls who have been

trafficked, you are the “wonderful group members.”)

What I didn’t share with Angel is that I am asking our “group members” to pray for them

regularly and to write Angel and her friends notes of encouragement that we will pass along to

them. Would you please consider writing a note of encouragement to these girls, letting them

know they are not forgotten, and consider sharing this blog on your social media account? You

can send your notes of encouragement and prayers for these girls to the contact page of my

website http://AnnaLuke.com and I will send them on to our sweet Angel and her girls. Consider

leaving your name and state so Angel can feel love coming from a wide range of places.

I’m hoping you, too, will have a heart for Angel and her fellow girls who have been

trafficked.