India ~ November Update
A lot of miracles happened to get us here to India to help establish Courage Homes, not least of which were the finances that came in at the perfect level to make this year a possibility. So, we arrived in August, gung-ho and ready to maximize our time in India this year to the benefit of little girls getting trafficked. I sat with our team, a consortium of people from various organizations all bent on getting this home up and running. I created a timeline with our major goals and tasks, and we assigned out the responsibilities to get it done. But there was one major issue, how really could we establish this home without the funds for the actual Courage Homes? Our budget was $149,000 which covered the initial capital costs of securing the site, furnishing the home, purchasing a car to take girls to court and medical appointments, and then covering the operating costs for 6 months with things like salaries, counseling, supplies, food. Our goal was to have this amount of money in hand, with the operating costs for the remaining 6 months of the year pledged by reliable donors.
I felt really uncomfortable going back to the same people who had already sent us here, asking for more money. But the reality was, our whole team was doing that and we couldn’t get this home up and running without the funds. We were all uncomfortable. One of the organizations had slowly been collecting donations and had about $25,000. That was nice, but I knew it would get us nowhere. The rest of the team seemed to have more faith than me, wanting to hire staff, find property, etc. I kept saying, you can’t do that without the money. They looked at me like I was crazy and I looked at them like they were crazy.
Then I got a text “an anonymous donor just gave Courage Homes $50,000. I did a double take and called my friend, “Did I read that wrong “ did it mean to say $5,000? Nope. In one quick text we now had half of what we needed – $25,000 + $50,000 was suddenly a lot of money. The rest seemed very doable. And I was reminded that this is really God’s battle, His work, and His resources. He will make it happen, we just need to be faithful and keep on in the battle. Our meetings changed, there was an urgency now to find the site and the property so we could open by March. We are now officially looking, with feelers out everywhere for a site that can house 25 girls, that is gated and where they can safely go outside and play. A place where there are trees and flowers, and room for therapy and art and games and laughter. We can’t wait to see what God might have in mind for this too. Meanwhile, we’ve finalized our applications and job descriptions and have started disbursing them. We’ve received one application already and are looking forward to others. We’re booking Dr. Johnson to come to India and train our staff and other Indian groups working with girls rescued from trafficking, so that we all can do really good therapy. We’re moving forward. Celebrate with us, and please pray for us!