Aashi

I have 8 days to finish up raising money for the Houston Half Marathon/Relay that I will be running for Aashi!!!


Take a look here

and if you want to help me meet my goal of raising money and someday next year visiting her to tell her I ran for her, go here to donate.  There is also a link on the left sidebar.

Happy Friday :)

We keep our herbs in water..apparently right next to where I keep my LOFT rewards, stamps, and Bird by Bird.  They keep for MUCH longer in water after they’re picked.

Picked?  Cut?  Hunted and gathered?

Don’t be fooled; we did not grow these.  Our herbs hate apartment life.

Have you given to Charasia yet?  Last night at Metro, they told us how these girls get to be in this situation.  Long story short, they live in a small town with their poor family, the brothel owner comes and poses as someone who just wants to hire their daughter and give her a good job that will enable her to send money home.  For $2000, a man sells his daughter into slavery and she is stuck for life.  Then, she gets pregnant by strangers and the babies are left to sleep under the bed where she meets her customers, and the baby girls are often raped by the customers as well.

Charasia rescues the babies and raises them in a loving environment

The link for their Target registry is at the top right.  I would love to be the one to hand one of those little girls a backpack full of things she never dreamed she would own, but since I can’t, I’ll at least buy it for her.

Get em some socks

MetroLIVE is back and we are LOVING it

This year they’re helping Charasia again.

Remember last year?

Charasia is an organization in India who helps little girls.

Not just any little girls- little girls that are super young (I’m talking 5, 6, 7…) who have been raped by the men who come to the brothels to visit their mothers in the red light district.  Some of these little girls “satisfy” 15 clients a day who have full blown AIDS.  When they aren’t “working”, they are laying in their mother’s room while she’s with a client.

It’s sickening, really.

Charasia works with the mothers of the children and convinces them to let their baby girls come live at Charasia.

Do you have a little girl?  Do you dare think about her when she was/is seven being in the situation these sweet girls are in?

At Charasia, they get shoes and food, baths and love, education and clothing, lifelong friends and Jesus.

Charasia depends on donations to provide for their little girls.

This year, MetroLIVE set up a Target registry for them.  You can go to it right

HERE

and have whatever you want to buy shipped to the organization.

It does not get easier.  Or cheaper.  The toothpaste they need is $.97

You have $.97.

Devin and I are thinking we’d like to go work with Charasia a little bit someday.  I am dying to hug on some of those munchkins.

Happy Friday everyone!

MetroLIVE

Devin and I have been going to MetroLIVE on Thursday nights. We like it because the music is so kickin' that it makes Devin lean over to me and whisper, "I want to be a rock star" every single time, the speaker, Curtis Jones, relates to us really well, and they are very involved in missions (particularly Charasia, Star of Hope, and Lifehouse). If you're in the Houston area and you're in your 20s or 30s, come check it out.

Last night, the President and Founder of Charasia, Ralph Borde, came to talk about how the ministry was started and what they do. Charasia is an organization in India that, in short, brings children of prostitutes out of the red light district and into a life of education. Ralph told some stories that just make you want to crumble: the one about a little girl who was raped by her father and wants to go to med school after she graduates, or the one about the toddler sleeping under the cot that her mother was servicing her clients on. Heart breakers. Devin and I bought a dress and some shoes to send with Ralph to give one of the little girls something new to wear. You can make monetary donations, donate your time or skills, or sponsor one of the children.


Americans have the same stories, guys. Human trafficking, prostitution, children being sold into prostitution, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse. It happens all the time. It happens in the city, it happens in your small town, it happens in the suburbs, and it may be happening to your next door neighbor. We are naive to think it doesn't. Violence UnSilenced is a blog where those abused (men, women, children) can write their story that happened yesterday or 20 years ago in hopes of healing, venting, or just knowing they aren't alone. If you can stomach the stories, I encourage you to take a look at what's going on behind closed doors. Get curious. Be informed.