Featured Story

A Season of Change
October 2002

Written by Robert Benson, reflecting on his recent visit to the Victory Center, a ministry to street girls in Morelia, Mexico sponsored by Arms of Love.  

When I flew into Morelia, Mexico last month, more than a few things had changed. Starting with the airport. As soon as I got off the plane, I saw that the airport was undergoing a complete renovation. That's interesting, I thought, for an airport that only has one gate.

After waiting for a few minutes outside, Sue Leak, the director of our ministry in Mexico, came to pick me up and arrived in a fairly new white Volkswagon beetle. A white beetle? I thought she had a big blue van. She used to, I found out … but after her van broke down several times during a recent visit by a short-term team, leaving her stranded along the highway at night, they went home and raised money to buy her a new car.

As we pulled away from the airport, Sue began sharing about the current status of the ministry in Morelia. It was exciting to hear about the girls who are now staying at the Victory Center. When Sue and I first connected in early 2000 and began sharing our respective visions for a ministry to street girls, the children's home was only partially built, it was a long ways from being completed, and her construction money was almost gone. Now, two years later, the facility was nearly finished and was now "home" for its first few residents.

As Sue began sharing, it became clear that many other things had also changed. Since the Victory Center began receiving girls in May of this year, it had reached a peak of seven girls, and now it was down to three. A couple of girls had run away, and two others were reintegrated with their families after changes were successfully made in their home environment. And each girl … those that stayed, and those that left … had her own unique story. Stories of abuse and rejection … but now, stories of change.

A Victim of the Police

One of the girls who had run away was a mentally handicapped girl who was brought to the ministry by a government social worker. Running away is not uncommon for street children, who have assimilated into the street culture and therefore find it difficult to adjust to a structured living environment. Since the ministry had been given custody of the girl, Sue needed to report her as a "missing person" … and she also wanted to find her to see if she would be willing to return.

Upon arriving at the police station, Sue showed them a picture of the missing girl and asked for their assistance in finding her. To her surprise, the room burst out into laughter. Finally, a policewoman escorted Sue to the next room and explained the reason for their mirth: "No one in this police department will help you find that girl … she's the favorite prostitute of the police officers, because she is willing to do anything …" Sue left the station heartbroken, knowing that there was little hope she would be able to find the girl unless some day she returns on her own.

Seven Years Old … and Sexually Abused

One of the girls who currently reside at the Victory Center, who is about seven years old, had been living on the streets all of her life. As a little girl, she lived among a group of other young street girls who helped support each other. Smart as a whip … and incredibly cute … this girl knew how to beg or steal and get almost anything she wanted. Even today, she likes to brag about the fact that she never had to go hungry … she always found a way to get what she needed.

Even so, street life had taken its toll. She's reluctant to discuss the particulars of her early life, but we know from what she has shared and her medical history that she was sometimes taken advantage of … sexually used and abused for money even before she was six years old. It is absolutely mind-numbing to consider such things, and it wasn't surprising to learn that she is the most difficult child to care for at the children's home. Remedying many difficult behavioral issues, and motivating her to study her homework, are immense challenges. Yet in other ways she seems not unlike many other girls her age. Although she was very shy when I first arrived at the children's home, by the second day she couldn't stop playing games with me, was learning to play ping pong and was having a blast trying to fly a kite … although it never did really take flight.

Handicapped by an Unknown Past

Another of the girls who currently live at the Victory Center literally has an unknown past. While her recent circumstances living on the streets were readily apparent, no one really knows what city she comes from or who her family might have been. Currently fourteen years old, she has told many different stories since coming to the ministry … a defensive mechanism, perhaps … but our inability determine her true origins has significant consequences.

In Mexico, I was told, many children are not "registered" at birth (which results in the issuance of a birth certificate). For a child to graduate from school, their registration or birth certificate is needed. If they have never been registered, they can do so for the first time. But in this girl's case, she insists that she's been registered, and yet no records can be found for someone with her claimed name. As a result, she cannot be registered afresh, and unless her legal papers are found, she will be unable to graduate from the sixth grade at the end of this year. Sue is hoping and praying that the legal situation can somehow be resolved before December, or the girl will be devastated when she is unable to graduate from school.

Stories of Rape and Incest

The third girl living at the children's home is also fourteen years old and is likewise studying in the sixth grade. Only a few months before, when she arrived at the Victory Center, she was in the third grade, but after three months of intensive tutoring she was able to test into the sixth grade. One evening, she sat cross-legged on the floor and shared her life story … willing and even eager to share, but rarely looking me in the eye, nervously laughing to cover the trauma of certain memories, her life unfolded as one of a terribly abused young girl.

Frequently beaten by her father, this girl had oftentimes escaped from home to live with certain other relatives. But the father would invariably track her down, drag her back home, and beat her some more ... and sometimes rape her. Even at 10 years old. By the time she was 12, she had an operation for gonorrhea. And yet when others reported the abuse, her father and step-mother fought the judicial system in an effort to keep her. Her parents fought for - and successfully retained - custody of the girl by making up terrible stories about her, and on one occasion, even bribed a state psychologist to create a false psychological evaluation.

Yet here she is today, learning to embroider pillows … cooking tortillas … enjoying hot sauces and red chili peppers … dancing creatively to worship music … asking probing questions during evening devotions. I was struck watching her eyes fill with wonder as she looked out into the distance after climbing onto the second-story roof of the Victory Center for the first time. And then and again, I could sense her tentatively looking for true affection, searching for a genuine hug or a smile that simply says "I love you for who you are, as you are …" without a layer of perversion lying beneath.

But what stands out the most about these girls is their courage … the courage it took to step out of the streets, out of dangerous situations, out of the false love and relationships that were all they knew. They chose instead to step into a new relationship of trust, with the staff of the ministry and with God. They desired to change their lives … and incredible changes are already taking place.

The Source of Depravity … and the Remedy

As I spent several days getting to know these girls, I could not help but reflect on the remarkable changes that had occurred in their lives. But I also felt myself getting angry at those people who once took advantage of them, and one question persistently nagged at me … How? How could people have done such despicable things to these previously innocent young girls?

The usual (and ultimate) answers to these questions lie in the spiritual realm. Answers that take us back to the sinful condition of man, to spiritual depravity, or to topics of spiritual warfare. Someone gave in to the worst temptations of the flesh and gave themselves over to our spiritual enemy. And yet somehow these answers were not enough for me. I wanted some better understanding - in practical terms - of how someone could allow himself to do such terrible things.

My mind finally rested on this conclusion … the perpetrators of these crimes could not have seen these girls for who they are. They could not have seen them as God their Father sees them, as precious, innocent children. They could not have related to them as fellow, valuable, feeling, human beings. It became my hypothesis that they must have viewed these girls as nothing more than objects, physical objects that could be used to serve their own perverse needs and desires, the result of a selfishness so deep as to completely deny the personhood of the girls they were victimizing.

As I thought about it more, it seemed that this must be the final outcome of violating what Jesus called the second greatest commandment, "to love thy neighbor as thyself." It is incumbent upon us to act toward others with their well-being, their good, their fulfillment, as being the primary motivation behind our actions. We are to care for others in the same way that we would care for ourselves. We are not commanded to love ourselves, that part is assumed. By human nature we are focused upon our own needs, desires, and self-preservation … and by setting this as the standard of how we should treat others, we are called to love others to the greatest extent, without limitations or distinctions.

All of this flows from the preceding "greatest" commandment identified by Jesus: that we should love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. In effect, our heart relationship with God demands that we love others as God loves them, see them as God sees them, and care for them in the same way that He would … the same way He cares for us. He loves all of us equally, so it follows that when we draw close to His heart, we must love others and ourselves equally as well.

Just as the violation of these principles led to the girls' victimization, it is the implementation of these principles that will bring healing into their lives. Someone once viewed them as objects, and their lives were ripped apart. Only when someone else sees them as their heavenly Father sees them - as precious children to be held, protected, and cherished - and loves them unconditionally and sacrificially with the Father's love, will their lives begin to mend. And only as they experience the balm of their Father's love, and are drawn close to Him, cradled in His arms, will their lives be fully restored.

Please pray for continued healing in these girls' hearts and lives ... and that God will bring to the ministry in Morelia many new workers who share His heart for these precious children.