"Breaking The Chains Of Human Trafficking" |
| Contact Information Email : info@freeforlifeministries.com Phone : 615-969-9052 Address : PO Box 158715 Nashville, Tennessee 37215-8715 USA |
| OUR STORY |
| program featured an underground expose’ on the problem of human trafficking. 48 hours took a news crew to Romania led by reporter Peter Van Sant in an attempt to purchase a human being. They were soon to find out it was easier than they thought. This was to be my first introduction to this issue, and to an amazing woman named Iana Matei. Iana runs a safe house in Romania for victims of sexual trafficking. She had told 48 hours that if they were able to buy a girl, she would take her in. To my horror, that is exactly what happened. Over two days they bartered a price for a young girl named Nicoletta. Her traffickers decided her life was to be worth 1,800 dollars. The woman that sold her proceeded to tell them they would be able to do anything they wanted to her. After the transaction was concluded, they drove Nicoletta to Iana’s safe house called Reaching Out. At this sanctuary Iana would try and help her reclaim her life. Nicoletta, mentally handicapped, had been abandoned as a small child and placed in an orphanage. She was put out at the age of 18 and ended up living on the streets trying to survive. This is where the traffickers found her. They told her they would care for her, but instead they sold her for sex to anyone that would pay their price. When 48 hours rescued Nicoletta, she told them she had not been outside in over a year. My heart broke at the sight of this small, frail young woman. I was not able to grasp the horror of what she had been forced to endure. For days I walked around crying and wondering what I might be able to do. I went to the 48 hours web site and there I found Iana’s email address. I wrote to her telling her that I had been so touched by the story I had just seen. I asked if there was anything I could possibly do. To my surprise she wrote to thank me for my note, and said she was in need of ongoing funding to meet all of the expenses of the safe house. Again I wrote back and said I would look and see if I could find any organizations that may be able to help her. The final sentence I wrote was to say if there was ever anything I could do, I would. In August of 2006 my husband and myself had an opportunity to go on a medical mission trip with the organization CERT International (Christian Emergency Relief Teams) to Romania. Immediately I thought of Iana, and I emailed her to tell her we were coming. It had been over a year since our last correspondence. I thought she would never remember me but she said she did remember my note. I had kept her initial reply to me for over a year, for some reason I could not bring myself to delete it, I now know why. I told her we would be coming to Romania on a medical mission team and asked if her girls needed medical and dental assistance. I also asked how far she was from where we would be stationed. She wrote and said that sadly, they were located about 3 ½ to 4 hours away from where we were based. I thought to myself “I’m from Canada, 4 hours is nothing.” I told her I would see about bringing a medical team to where she was instead. Through CERT we were able to take a team consisting of my husband (a doctor), a dentist, a nurse, 2 pastors, a CERT staff member, an amazing teenager named Sarah, and myself. Before going to Romania in September, I spoke to Iana on the phone for the first time. I asked how she and the house were doing. That is when she shared with me that she was down to 19 dollars, and that she had been hospitalized for high blood pressure due to stress. How was that possible, she had been named as a hero in the U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons 2006 Report! I thought to myself, what is wrong with this picture and how could it be that she is getting no ongoing support, where was everyone? She had been on the front lines of this fight since 1998. So right then and there I decided to start "Free For Life Ministries." Now our goal is to raise awareness about human sexual trafficking and to raise financial support for Reaching Out. I sat down and thought for awhile about how I could best accomplish meeting the day to day needs of the safe house in Romania. What came to me was this; get 1,000 people to make an ongoing pledge of 10 dollars a month. It is a simple idea, but add up all the 10 dollar donations and real change can be made in the lives of these courageous girls. I have enlarged my initial vision and see this ministry growing in the future to encompass other safe houses around the world. As more people partner with us, we will be able to support other heroes in the fight against sexual trafficking. Colette Bercu Founder & Executive Director Free For Life Ministries |