A mother had to get herself deeply into debt to get her husband out of gaol. He had been trafficked and escaped and ended up being gaoled. Now her husband could no longer work as he had been injured in escaping the traffickers. So she was in a really bad situation. They were in real debt and had to live off her meagre part time wages. A child trafficker offered her $2,000 for her two little daughters (they were very young, indeed). She refused. What horrified her was that for a split second she saw a way out. She said that she’d never give them away, she loved them so much and feels so bad about that split second of temptation the money opened up in her. She feels like she can never forgive herself.
In the slums I noticed a little girl in a pink dress. She looked about two years old but was older. These kids always look younger than they are. She asked Andrea, a saint who I work with there, if she could go to school. She said there was real violence in the home and her mother would get regularly beaten and there would be lots of blood. She wanted to get away from the violence. She was way too young to go to school so we’re looking at other options.
