August 10th, 2017
“I am one of a kind.”
Watching little girls grow up in the cemetery is not for the faint of heart.
We hold our breath and hold on tight as she goes from 8 to 9 to 10 years old. We know the odds of her being targeted, taken and sold grow as she does.
Neighbors sell each other’s children as a way of life among this poverty-stricken population. No one is safe. Life is hard for boys too, but girls are most at risk because they’re easier to sell.
We’ve worked tirelessly connecting her with a world of opportunities through our community centers and child sponsorship program. Our work is built on our unwavering conviction of her inestimable worth.
I speak wherever, whenever, to whomever will listen about this community we love and the special challenges of being a girl there. It’s my life’s privilege to speak on her behalf, but this week, for the first time, I spoke directly to her about her worth and why we came.
We believe in her unwaveringly, but it’s what she believes about herself that matters most. We recently spent an evening together exploring and digging deep into truths of her worth, and we’ll do it again in a few weeks, and again a few weeks after that. And in between we’ll keep living and giving like it’s all true.
Please pray for our cemetery staff and volunteers as they pour themselves into gaping voids formed by generation after generation unconvinced of their significance.
And please pray the truths we discuss in our SHINE sessions sink deep into the soul of every little girl, become her reality, and guide her path into a future worthy of her. (SHINE is a curriculum we use to help young girls see their worth, value, and purpose.)
We ended our time together with every girl declaring out loud the truth about herself.
“I am valuable”
“I am one of a kind.”
“I am wonderfully made.”
“I can speak life.”
Amen and amen!
Valerie Bellamy, Compassion First Director of Cemetery Outreach
