This week I spent two days in a Swazi courtroom, praying for
a young woman who had to testify in open court that her own mother forced her
to have sex with strangers for money. The girl’s mother sat just 25 feet away across the room from
the girl, with arms crossed, glare in her eyes and enough attitude to fill the
room.
The girl was terrified and could hardly be heard as she
whispered her story through a cracked voice in her mother tongue –
Shangani. The interpreter would then
translate the African language in to English and the High Court judge would
write down every word of both questions and answers (there is no court
stenographer). At times the details were
so painful that the interpreter herself found it hard to speak without showing
her own emotion.
At 16-years-old this girl was ripped from her home in a foreign
country and smuggled in to Swaziland through a fence in the Swazi bush. Her mother would take her to bars, ply her
with alcohol and then sell her for the night to a stranger (always a white man)
for R200 ($14 US). If she tried to
refuse she would be beaten or not given food for three days.
I have known this young girl for many years now and thought
that I had heard her whole story, but alas, my jaw dropped time and time again
as she squeaked out her testimony for the world to hear as though she was using
her last breath of air to do so. She was
ashamed, embarrassed and afraid, and the world was listening.
How does a human being sex traffic another human being? How does a biological MOTHER sell her own
daughter to perverted men who will pay for sex with an underage girl?
The legislation that made human trafficking a crime in
Swaziland only became legislation in 2009.
It was only three years later in 2012 that the Child Protection Act
became law in Swaziland – the same year that we moved here. We all hear and read about human trafficking
and while the problem is growing globally, I fear that the people of the world
may be getting tired of hearing about it and have grown numb to the pain that
so many are suffering.
 |
| Yesterday's newspaper article about the case. |
This week was a hard week for me with my trust broken again
by another office break-in on Project Canaan.
Then my heart was shredded into a million pieces by listening to a girl,
who is the same age as Chloe, share her two-year journey in hell.
The court adjourned after she was finished testifying and will
resume in December. Until then there is no closure, no healing and more
fear. Please join me in praying for
justice for this victim and for victims around the world. Please pray for
healing and forgiveness that can only come through Jesus. Please pray for
courage and strength for everyone fighting darkness every day.
Live from Swaziland … Come Lord Jesus, come.
Janine
