I had such a lovely morning with the girls today, when I got to the safe house they were getting on with their needlework, some knitting socks and others doing crochet, their skills are fantastic for girls of such young ages and I must admit they well and truly put me and my now proven non existent crochet skills to shame!
This is a part of their daily routine, the girls make things such as socks, scarves etc which are then sold with the proceeds being used to pay for teachers to come and teach them skills such as jewellery making and other arts and crafts and towards equipment for the safe house. One of the big aims of the safe house is to make the girls self sufficient and teach them skills that they can use to earn a living when they leave the house so that they are independent enough to look after themselves and their babies.
The girl pictured with her elder child now aged 16 years will be leaving the safe house soon with sufficient skills and acumen to set up a stall on the outskirts of the jungle which will enable her to provide for her two little children; her story is a sad one but which has a happy ending, at the tender age of thirteen the girl was abused by a male member of her family and fell pregnant at which point she was sent by her family to go and earn money, when she had had her baby she was thrown into prostitution and once again fell pregnant and having given birth to her second child she was abandoned by her family as she was perceived to be no good to the family anymore as she was unable to work with two children, she was rescued and brought to the safe house, having spent a few years there she now has the skills to be self sufficient and look after herself and her children but more importantly is strong and independent enough not to fall into her former life, this young girl’s story cannot demonstrate enough the invaluable work that this non state funded and 100% donation dependent safe house do.
The fact that I can’t crochet wasn’t held against me and in fact was quite the contrary as I was welcomed by the girls with open arms. The girls were very inquisitive and wanted to know all about me; where I was from, how old I was, whether I spoke any Japanese but what was even nicer was that they talked to me about themselves and seemed to be comfortable in doing so. The girl in the picture asked me if I had any children and when I replied no she went on to tell me that she had a little baby, she was un-phased by it, she is a joy and a pleasure (as are all the girls) to be around and when she was sat at the table knitting away you wouldn’t for one moment based on her young age and the innocence of a child she has (as clearly illustrated in her demeanour) expect her to be the caring tentative mother that she is; a young girl when she can be and instinctively a mother when she is required to be.
I was informed that this young girl was rescued and brought to the safe house when it was discovered that whilst she was working at a rubbish tip she was visited and abused by a man once a week who paid her 30cents (less than 30p) per visit. I am sorry that I am passing on such truly sad and horrid histories of these beautiful young girls but I want to try and give you some level of appreciation of how much this safe house actually does in trying to ensure that these girls have a much better and happier future and that with help and love it is possible to change peoples lives for the better.When I was asked by the girl in the picture below if I could speak Japanese I asked her why she had asked me such a question and her reply was that she would like to learn to learn to speak Japanese, she made me smile and even now thinking on about her response makes me smile and instils me with faith because what may at first thought seem like the impossible is indeed possible with the right help, support, determination and attitude to want to make things possible.
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