| Contact Information Email : info@freeforlifeministries.com Phone : 615-969-9052 Address : PO Box 158715 Nashville, Tennessee 37215-8715 USA |
| REACHING OUT Romania |
| Iana Matei (left), founder of "Reaching Out" - the safe house in Romania |
| The Safe House Iana Matei founded the safe house "REACHING OUT" in 1998. The program there is strictly for young women who have been rescued out of human trafficking. Most of the residents of the safe house are teenagers, and some of them are in their early teens. The program consists of a one-year stay at the safe house, where the girls go to school, have counseling, learn a trade such as sewing, and slowly learn to integrate back into society. When they leave the safe house they are placed into a home with a widow or family prior to being out on their own. Over 170 girls have been through the program, and nearly all of the girls keep in touch with Iana after leaving the home. The safe house has 12 beds available, although they are often over capacity as nobody is ever turned away who needs to enter the shelter. Iana Matei Iana Matei is a psychologist. She was born in Romania but fled to Australia during the communist regime. She lived in Australia for 10 years prior to returning to Romania to work with street children. Soon afterwards she started working with trafficked children. Iana is known as an expert worldwide in the area of human trafficking. She was listed in the 2006 Trafficking In Persons report (published by the U.S. State Department) as one of just 10 "heroes" in the world involved in this fight. She has received many awards for her work as a "modern day abolitionist" and has spoken to organizations such as the United Nations, Englands House Of Lords, NATO, etc. Part of her vision is to prevent trafficking by getting to the root cause - poverty. She is in the process of building a hotel in the Carpathian mountains which will, when completed, provide jobs and a source of income for Romanians and especially for "at risk" girls. In addition, the proceeds from this non-profit hotel will fully fund the safe house. It is only partially built at this time as she is waiting to have the funds to be able to continue the project. She hopes to have it finished within 18 months. Iana is truly a hero, and a great example of how much one individual can accomplish. Donations can be directed directly to Reaching Out on the "Donate" page of this web site. |