Rudha

I choked back tears as I left GSH today. Honestly, I was overwhelmed and it was all because of Rudha. It was a moment in time I will never forget, a moment that represents a dream in my heart coming true....a dream to give hope for the future to the hopeless.

We arrived a little after ten to start our second jewelry making training session with the young women of GSH. As I mentioned before, they have all been rescued from a horrible life on the streets.

We set up our training stations, the young women arrived, and then we began to teach. The first day we trained them, there was one young woman named Rudha who struggled just to make a basic loop for an earring. She tried so hard, but wasn't able to do it, but all the while she was smiling and happy. We learned she has special needs. Rudha has an enormously high risk for abuse and exploitation here in India. Because of GSH she is safe and protected, but as she gets older the staff have been wondering what she can do as a vocation with her special needs.

Today I was teaching a group of young women to make bracelets, so I asked Rudha to join my group. Before coming to India we asked women from three churches to donate their old, broken, and mismatched pieces of jewelry for a recycle project. We broke down the donations into bags of beads, then today we taught these young women how to make bracelets out of the donated beads. What a great way to recycle for hope.

Rudha was a star at bracelet making. She was incredible. She truly excelled at it, and she was beaming with pride. Her bracelets were the neatest ones & she chose the perfect bead combinations. As I praised her, her confidence grew. I found myself wondering if this was the first time in her life she was the best at something. Most importantly, we have found one way for Rudha to earn an income that will go directly into her bank account for her future.

What an amazing day.

Check back tomorrow for a report from our training session at Rescue House, a home for teens rescued out of sexual slavery.