When I was five years old, my parents made the decision to
move our family of five to Melbourne Australia to be closer to my dad’s side of
the family. It was a short lived
experience which produced life changing results. My mum fell pregnant to twins while we were
there, we learned a lot about Australian culture and it was during that period
of time that I witnessed the famine in Ethiopia on the news and announced that
one day I was to be a missionary there!
One of the most vivid memories I have of my first year in
Australia and perhaps one of the things that inspired my previously mentioned
announcement, was a tragedy that occurred at my school. I can’t remember how and I can’t remember her
name but there was a little girl who was in my year who passed away tragically
at the age of seven. I didn’t know this
girl but I knew who she was. The whole
school was in mourning as they remembered her and thoughts in my mind focussed
on one thing that was said about her. This girl was said to be so selfless that
when she had celebrated her last birthday she asked not to receive any presents
but she wanted to give presents away to those less fortunate. I was so inspired
by this girl that I wondered what would be said about me when I died. Would they be able to say amazing things
about me like they did about her? My
conclusion was probably not!
But as I look forward to my birthday this Sunday, the
milestone that brings me half way through my thirties, I want to be able to
give away that which may have been given to me.
So I am asking you for a gift- yeah, apparently my sister says I do that
often but I swear I don’t ;) And the gift I am asking for is a tradition my
Nana Anuilagi Perese started on my maternal side of the family. For
our birthdays sometimes she would give us cash as we were growing up and the
amount she would give was based on the year we were turning. So as I turn 35 this year, I am asking for
$35 from anyone who is willing to give to the cause. It’s not a big ask really…like less than a
night out at the movies, or a bucket of KFC for two Samoans haha. I know that
this won’t quite pinch your pocket the way it could potentially enlarge some
lives.
So what is the cause, you may be asking…I am SO glad you
asked.
For the last four years, I have been burdened by the
prostitute situation here in Ethiopia.
Since I was exposed to the complexities of this lifestyle while on a
visit to Women at Risk in Nazaret, Ethiopia in 2009, I knew that some day, some
way, I needed to support this area of ministry.
Prostitutes here are not in this business because it’s lucrative, nor
because it is glamorous. Normally they
get into this lifestyle out of desperation and because of poverty. And they normally stay in there because they
don’t see any way out. They work in a
bar that fronts a room where they may get the equivalent of $1 or $2 a
trick. They risk their lives and their
dignity just so they can survive.
Women at Risk showed these women that there was a way out
and that’s also one of my new agenda’s.
Along with Zion Church support and a possible partner NGO, we are
wanting to start a rehabilitation project for the women who line the street of
Zion Church. Some of them have already
found freedom from this lifestyle but they need holistic rehabilitation. There are some also who are wanting “out” but
don’t know how to make the next move. We
want to open that door for them and show them the way through.
This involves a day program that will run over the period of
six months. Through addiction
rehabilitation, spiritual discipleship, skills training, business training and
parenting classes, and one on one psychological counselling, we hope to bring
redemption to these women. Redemption
meaning, restoring them back to the original purpose they were created for and
setting them out into the world for greater things.
These women are mothers, daughters, sisters who have the
potential to make a difference in their families and also a difference in their
community and society. They are women who
have great value and worth. Beautiful
women who don’t know their beauty. Often
women who are reaping the consequences of their lifestyle through diseases such
as HIV that, with great regret, have now been passed on to their children. In the last month, we have heard of two
toddlers who have died on this street from HIV.
Two babies who didn’t get to see their destiny fulfilled because of the
desperation of their mothers to feed them.
Emebet is one of the women who has recently come off the
street. At first when we started talking
to her she was totally apathetic about life and about her situation. She didn’t want to change nor did she desire
help. Her four year old daughter who is
the size of a small two year old, would wander the streets with her friend
Fikir and when asked what her name was, we got Bararew (which means Cockroach),
then Mita (which is also a non-name) and then finally when we asked Emebet what
her daughters name was, she said she forgot.
After a night of abuse by one man who came into her brothel
and imprisoned her in her own home, she slowly started changing her mind. She came and spoke with my Pastor and myself
and shared her desire to get out of the brothel. She had had enough. She shared how she was brought up in a
Christian home but her parents always fought and eventually she got sick of
being in the middle of it so she ran away and lived on the streets. After finding no way to earn a living she
found herself in a brothel at the age of 16.
While she knew what she was doing was wrong, she didn’t see
any other way to live but she loved her daughter and she decided this wasn’t
the lifestyle she wanted for her any more.
We talked to her about giving her daughter a new name and Pastor Birhanu
suggested Bereket, which means Blessing.
She agreed and started on her journey to redemption. From being under the curse of her former name
“Cockroach”, she now is destined for Blessing! Bereket is now the girl who is inspiring me.
Faithfully Emebet has been coming to the new believer’s
classes every Sunday at 8am, she has moved out of her brothel and has started a
new life. She sat in church on Sunday so
hungry to hear the message that when Bereket started crying because another
girl had upset her, Emebet didn’t want to take her out so she wouldn’t disturb
everyone, but then reluctantly she did and sat outside to listen. This is what it’s all about!
But there’s more restoration that needs to happen. More gaps that need to be filled. And we need your help to fill it. To support a woman in this program or one of
our staff who will supply the rehabilitation process, please donate now. Don’t be limited by what I have asked. $35 a month would support one woman through
this program for six months. $350 could
pay for our psychologist fees. You can contact me on michelle.tiatia@gmail.com and find
out how you can donate. If you live in New Zealand, you can deposit money into the Love Rescue Charitable Trust bank account which is open now and the account number is 01-1845-0016412 -00. If you live in
the States, you can send a check to Redeeming Love World Missions which has
been set up to support this ministry.
Their address is
 |
| Fikir, daughter of a prostitute who died in the last year and potential beneficiary of this ministry |
