7:30am, May 2nd, 2015, we run.
Runner Girl is helping to lead a movement in South Florida to rescue the victims of human trafficking and modern day slavery. This will be a 5k unlike any other. For every child and girl and woman and victim, we dare you to be free and fearless. We cannot be still or silent or apathetic any longer. This is our time.
And if that's not compelling enough for you, then read on...(as written by Rob Morris)
“We found ourselves standing shoulder to shoulder with predators in a small room, looking at little girls through a pane of glass. All of the girls wore red dresses with a number pinned to their dress for identification.
They sat, blankly watching cartoons on TV. They were vacant, shells of what a child should be. There was no light in their eyes, no life left. Their light had been taken from them. These children…raped each night… seven, ten, fifteen times every night. They were so young. Thirteen, eleven… it was hard to tell. Sorrow covered their faces with nothingness.
Except one girl. One girl who wouldn’t watch the cartoons. Her number was 146. She was looking beyond the glass. She was staring out at us with a piercing gaze. There was still fight left in her eyes. There was still life left in this girl…
…All of these emotions begin to wreck you. Break you. It is agony. It is aching. It is grief. It is sorrow. The reaction is intuitive, instinctive. It is visceral. It releases a wailing cry inside of you. It elicits gut-level indignation. It is unbearable. I remember wanting to break through the glass. To take her away from that place. To scoop up as many of them as I could into my arms. To take all of them away. I wanted to break through the glass to tell her to keep fighting. To not give up. To tell her that we were coming for her…”
Because we went in as part of an ongoing, undercover investigation on this particular brothel, we were unable to immediately respond. Evidence had to be collected in order to bring about a raid and eventually justice on those running the brothel. It is an immensely difficult problem when an immediate response cannot address an emergency. Some time later, there was a raid on this brothel and children were rescued. But the girl who wore #146 was no longer there. We do not know what happened to her, but we will never forget her. She changed the course of all of our lives.” Rob Morris, President and Co-Founder of www.love146.org
That night as I played this over and over in my mind, I stood numb in the shower weeping. I envisioned myself walking to these little girls and lifting them out from behind the glass and rescuing them human being to human being, holding them tightly, like I would my own daughter, and telling them it was all going to be ok now...no more fear.
Joel 3:10 challenges us to “train even your weaklings to be warriors.” In truth, we are all warriors. No matter who you are. And we were destined for so much more...to be the voice for the silent and the arms that carry and rescue and the rally cry that calls out and awakens a world to what is happening in dark places and hidden rooms and behind glass walls. We must unite. Everyone deserves to live beautiful. Free from the fear. This is our time. Let's #enditnow.
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| My husband joining in the fight. |
Help us by spreading the word and following along at these sites...and of course, running or walking or riding your tricycle (if you must) on May 2nd...
Stay posted...race link coming soon!
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