PERFECT PRESENT #2

Like I said earlier this week, Christmas is fast approaching and we all need ideas for what to get our families and friends.  And so…

THE PERFECT PRESENT #2

The Rope of Hope

It’s not a great picture, but it’s all I have to work with. 

The thing is, this gift is less about the necklace and more about the initiative.

Rahab’s Rope is an organization that fights human trafficking, particularly focused on women, in India.  If you have been reading for a while, you know I have a heart for the less fortunate (Christmas is coming!  The season of giving!  Get your wallets out!), but also for women in this exact situation.  Devin and I sponsor 4 kids from India through Compassion International, and to think of one of my sweet girls that sends me drawings of flowers and bumble bees ending up where these women are…it just breaks my heart.  Melissa Fitzpatrick says it well in describing her time in India with Compassion:

The theology of human worth and dignity that is so essential to the Christian message is so desperately needed in a country like India that is primarily Hindu.  [We need] to instill a sense of meaning and purpose that is so crucial for these women

So, Rahab’s Rope serves that very purpose: to give hope and opportunity to women and girls that have been forced into the commercial sex trade of India by providing a safe and loving environment that will enable them to grow and develop both physically and spiritually.

On Christmas, Rahab’s Rope is throwing a party and inviting all women of the community in for a full day of being cared for.  In making a donation and getting this necklace for a friend or family member, you are also giving a woman in India a meal, a new dress, various items she may need, and hope.  When you make a donation of at least $20, you are buying her hope.

Still not sold?  Check out the facts from the Rahab’s Rope website:

• Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs.
• Each day in India nearly 200 girls and women are forced into the sex trade.  Every. Day.
• The birth of a girl is often a burden and she is not fed properly, loved or educated
• Mortality and suicide rates for Indian women are among the highest in the world.
• As many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are brought to the U.S. under false pretenses each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants (Joel Brinkley NYT citing CIA report).
• Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. (U.S. Department of State)
• The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion. (U.N.)
• Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic. (U.S. Department of State)

This year, maybe we can make an effort to buy things of purpose instead of things we’ll be tired of by January.

THE ROPE OF HOPE PERFECT FOR:  Your sweet grandma, your kid’s favorite teacher, your babysitter, your neighbor, a Christmas party gift, a stocking stuffer, a friend, a stranger in India