On the ground in India: Nisha’s one of the lucky ones

Nisha isn’t one of those kids who hates school. In fact, she loves it!

Whenever she visits her friends, she’s always offering to help them with their lessons and encouraging them that getting a good education is the key to reaching their dreams. That’s because Nisha knows she is one of the lucky ones.

While most of Nisha’s childhood friends had no choice but to become sex workers, this 15-year-old is studying hard so she can reach her dream of becoming a banker someday.  

Nisha, whose name we’ve changed for her safety, grew up in the Banchara community of India. Here the sex industry is a normal part of life. According to local tradition, the oldest daughter of each family must become a sex worker to help pay for her brothers’ marriage dowries.

Five years ago, Nisha thought this would be her future, too. She would start working when she was 12 and have to continue most of her life to pay off the debt. Fortunately, generous donors helped Nisha escape a life of pain and regret. And her means of escape was an education.

Thanks to the support of people on the other side of the world, Nisha was able to move into a Freedom Home where she has now lived for five years. She has a safe place to call home away from the pressures of her community’s traditions. She has access to basic needs like healthy food and medical care. And her favorite part of all — she gets to go to school!

She loves going to her classes and dreaming of her future career in finance.

Everything about her life is on track now. But she can’t help but think of her friends back in her old neighborhood who are on a different path. Unfortunately, most of them have been forced by their parents to become sex workers. And without an education — that precious gift that Nisha is so grateful for — they have no way out.

Today, you can help give another girl the same gift that Nisha received. You can help introduce her to freedom!

Your $50 gift will help provide her with essentials such as a safe place to live, counseling, education, or medical care. And you will give her the chance to experience God’s love.

In both India and Thailand, girls feel the pressure to provide for their families. And their cultures feed them the lie that they can do that by entering the sex industry.

But Nisha knows that she has value beyond selling her body … and you can introduce another girl to that powerful truth, too.

You can inspire another girl like Nisha to dream big. Please give today to help start one young woman on the path to freedom from the sex industry.

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