From Pasta to Peace

TW: violence, sexual violence

Sitting across a simple folding plastic table from us is a 26-year-old girl with the excitement of a child. “Amazing that we’re having lunch at a time when it’s normal to be having lunch and we’re sitting at a table. We never get to do that!” she exclaims this in a whispered tone, half to herself, half to the small group of us. She continues to stare down at the giant plate of pasta in giddy disbelief, eating quickly but carefully polite.

Carina was born into a family of drugs and violence. She started using and dealing at the young age of 12. She was never exposed to another option and the local mafias knew this. They cunningly drew her away from her family and put her to work for themselves in both the drug and sex trade. Back and forth between different “controllers”, Carina ended up owing different debts to several local groups. They were now on the hunt for her, filled with violence and revenge. With several other girls being murdered in the previous days, Carina’s friends were begging her to keep herself hidden.  

“I can’t walk around. they’re going to find me and kill me. Just yesterday they killed three women. One of them they killed by sealing her inside of a block wall and just left her there to suffocate.” Carina told us this a little more nonchalantly than what felt healthy, but this is the reality of her life.

“Carina, would you be willing to leave the city today if we helped you?”

Her bun of freshly washed hair bounced as Carina’s attention suddenly turned from her lunch to our question. “Really?” A huge smile spread across her face as she looked at a friend who would also be leaving that day. “I can’t believe it! I can come with you?”

Carina has been on the streets for the past 10 years. Two weeks ago, she overdosed and almost died. Leaving the hospital, she had nowhere to go and slept on the sidewalk the first few nights. She was raped and beaten and ended up at the Freedom Center because she was told by a friend that she could get clothes and take a shower here.

“There’s a positive energy here at the center. I’ve been in a lot of places and I just feel something different here, a difference energy, there’s a peace here.” At last, doors are finally opening for Carina to break free.

“Carina, do you have any clothing to take with you? Anything we need to pick up for you before we go?”

“No, I just have this,” she replied tugging at her new white t-shirt, “but I’m alive and I have my life.”

As we walked Carina and her friend towards their ride out of town we overheard her sharing with her friend, “This is like a dream. Finally. Hundreds of times we talked about this, being able to leave this city, and it’s finally coming true. It’s like a dream.”

When donating to a cause as complex as human trafficking, it’s hard to know that your generosity is actually going to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most. Not Abandoned empowers freedom for exploited women in the darkest places around the world, so that your donations actually change the destiny of a woman’s life.