Stephanie’s Christmas Letter 2021
Dear Friends of Rapha -
Some of the sweetest moments in my work with Rapha International are accompanying girls back to their homes and communities. Fifteen years ago, I had the opportunity to personally experience my first reintegration ceremony. I was invited by Bopha*, a recent Rapha graduate, to join a team of Rapha social workers in escorting her back to her home. Attempting to beat the sweltering heat of the day, we loaded the truck early in the morning with two sewing machines- both with foot treadles since there would be no reliable electricity in Bopha’s home. Sewing and storage supplies were loaded as well, representing everything this young woman would need to begin her small sewing business. Bopha would be creating products for Rapha’s Freedom Store as well as sewing for her local community. She felt a deep sense of obligation to help her family financially in order to protect her young siblings from the vulnerability that leads to exploitation, and she was excited to start her small business in the family home.
There wasn’t room for all of us in the cab so we took turns rotating in the dusty bed of the truck during the three hour drive. The roads deteriorated as we drew nearer to Bopha’s village until there was only a very narrow dirt strip barely wide enough for one vehicle. I began to grow anxious for this young woman. I cared for her deeply. She had been in our aftercare program for more than a year, and I had witnessed her transition from a girl cloaked in deep trauma to a creative teenager who was ready to take on the world. But would the stigma of trafficking and exploitation affect the community support that Bopha needed? I recalled the ancient Cambodian proverb, which says “Men are like gold. Women are like cloth.” The premise of this proverb is that when a bar of gold is dropped in a puddle of mud, it can be cleaned, shined, and made as good as new. But when cloth is sullied, it is stained forever. Would this be how Bopha was received in her community- as a ruined piece of cloth?
I held Bopha’s hand as we bumped along the path and when we came to the outskirts of her village, we were surprised to see that there was a crowd of people waiting there for her! I will never forget Bopha’s enormous smile as the crowd walked along beside our slow moving truck before coming to a stop in front of her family’s home. There was much excitement and lots of chatter as everyone greeted Bopha. The social workers began setting up Bopha’s sewing shop on the dirt floor under the family’s stilted bamboo home. The head man from the village gave a little speech under a sign that a Rapha social worker had hung, advertising Bopha’s sewing business. Bopha demonstrated her skill on the sewing machine for the members of her village as her mother and father stood proudly behind her. Flanked by Rapha social workers, wearing smiles almost as big as Bopha’s, I took in the whole scene. I was determined never to forget a single detail as warm tears made dirty tracks down my dust covered face. Bopha had returned to her community as a hero- as a business owner. They were proud and standing in support of her.
I am grateful for the experience of Bopha’s reintegration because it was such a powerful visual of what “restorative justice” means. Limiting this term to mean only legal justice or a successful prosecution diminishes the full scope of it’s richness...and it is so very rich. Rapha International is composed of more than 200 professional staff members on our international teams, who together are passionately committed to restorative justice on behalf of the children we serve. Although we fight hard for successful prosecutions against traffickers and perpetrators, sometimes those prosecutions fail. Rapha counselors restore justice every day in the challenging work of trauma therapy. Rapha teachers restore justice as they empower survivors to imagine new futures for themselves. Rapha housemothers restore justice by simply holding the hand of a broken-hearted child, letting them know that they will never walk this path alone. Our valiant social workers restore justice as they literally restore and reunite children in the God-given model of family and community, and then continue to stand in relationship to ensure the safety and well being of children.
At Rapha International, we lean into the ultimate expression of restorative justice during this Christmas season as we remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus in the greatest act of love, that everyone would know His heart for true justice and grace, and that we would be fully restored to Him. We are not restored like ruined cloth, but instead, we shine like gold in the eyes of our Father. Friends, I pray that we all experience the richness of what restorative justice truly means this Christmas season.
Note: Survivors names are changed for confidentiality and security.
