UPDATE (nov2013)

Dear family and friends,

I am writing to summarize the past year and update those who are interested on where Shores is currently. For those of you who don’t know, I have been in the US for the past year now working and figuring out my visa so that I can return to Brazil long term. This has been a very drawn out transition! In 2011 when I first joined Shores of Grace in Brazil we ran a ministry school in the south of the country. We focused heavily on street outreach during this time although we had no safe house to offer those we met living homeless or in prostitution. My next 6 month term was spent in a different part of Brazil, not running a school, but in a training program where our team studied trauma care for children coming out of abuse and off the streets. We worked in this organization’s safe homes for the duration of our training, although my visa ran out while Shores was still in the process of opening their own home. When I came home last August we had just moved to Recife, where the ministry is now officially headquartered. There are an estimated 700,000-1,000,000 children in prostitution in Brazil. Recife is one of the worst cities in the world for child sex-trafficking and sexual tourism, with very few facilities to receive rescued kids.

The process of getting a long-term visa is long and meticulous but I know that God has the final word on when I am approved.  I am very eager to be back in Brazil and apply everything the Lord has laid in my heart over these past two terms.

Since I left, Shores has opened their first safe house, Project Bethany, and it is now full of girls coming off the streets or abusive homes. Children can come to the home through referral from social services or by us meeting them on the streets. Shores regularly visits the areas of street prostitution to talk with the girls while they are waiting for clients. They also hold monthly banquets where they invite prostitutes and transvestites for a dinner at a nice restaurant and share with them about their value, their identity, and God’s love for them.

Shores of Grace has also began a Well project. Four hours away from Recife is a region called the Sertão that has been in a severe draught. It is an agricultural area but many places here have not had rain for 2-3 years and the people are living in extreme poverty. Many of the young girls from this area are forced into prostitution to help provide for their families. Funds were raised and Shores was able to drill a well there in March so the village could have clean drinking water. Besides all this, Shores of Grace now has a base where they run several types of training programs, and a school again to raise up others!

My role with Shores of Grace includes most every aspect of their work from outreach in the slums and red light district to aftercare development. I also work with the media department to photograph and raise awareness of the situation in Brazil, as well as facilitating theraputic art classes within the safe home. Over this past semester in the states developing my photography, I revised a series of photos taken over the past two terms I served in Brazil. It highlights the three cities in which we have lived throughout our journey to Recife. The photos can be viewed at the link below along with information about the country if you are interested:

http://tracingplanes.com/sonsanddaughters

Posted in 2013. RSS 2.0 feed.