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Wounded Children
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Again, I have been thinking, eating, sleeping and praying about this issue. I feel that we need to stand together as a community in the area of helping and preventing.
I will share a very touchy situation which happened in our family. I hate to share it, but we need to be willing to prevent future attacks in every way possible.
I have a precious daughter whom we adopted from Cambodia. She was almost eleven when we adopted her. We had adopted a baby girl the year earlier and had met our older daughter while visiting that orphanage. She had been a trafficked child. Sold by her mother at the age of four to an old woman her their village. Two years later the old woman died and she had then been given to an old man, then given to others several times after that. The old woman had used her as a "sex toy" which is very common in Cambodia. Children are forced to pleasure their mothers as the husbands visit brothels. Now, I did now know my daughters history at the time of the adoption. ( I discovered these truths during following trips there) We were told that her father was dead and her mother could not be found. That was all a lie. Her father was very much alive (but died last year of AIDS) and her mother was NEVER out of the picture. It was the corruption of Cambodian adoptions and why U.S. cannot adopt from there now. Cambodian orphanages are a very lucrative business and pop up everywhere each time America re-opens adoptions. Babies are sold by parents who are in desperate need for money and food and who are led to believe their children's adoptive parents will send them money of the next few years.
To make a long story short...about three years after both girls had been here, the Christian School they attended was "hot-lined" due to an unacceptable behavior in the Kindergarten class. Children were fondling each other during nap time (girls). The little girls were being told "this is what best friends do to each other". We were all horrified and moved rapidly forward to discover the person who taught our daughters such things? Who could this be coming from? Which child was being abused at home to be bringing this to school?
There is no way you can imagine my surprise and sadness to discover it had been MY home. My older daughter had become a teenager and had invited my little one into her room for "all-night sleep overs, nail painting, make overs, etc." and I had been so happy their relationship was a good one. However, my older daughter was doing what had been done to her. She was teaching my daughter to be her "sex toy".
There was times that there was another little girl involved. During the first months of counseling, we discovered that our daughters (the little ones) had "pinky swore" not to tell mommy or anyone else and had been given gum for their reward.
Gum????? PINKY SWEARING?????? And HIS keeps our babies from talking?? To imagine our innocent children being preyed upon and being so trusting is mind-boggling. We must talk, talk, talk to them concerning who and what is not allowed and prep them for their protection--BEFORE it happens. We cannot be too safe about this.
A piece of gum? A promise of being best friends? A simple "pinky swear" can be a great tool for what Brian spoke of as "desensitizing! My anger boils as I type these words.
I guess I'm sharing this to raise the awareness that we have to open ourselves up to be ULTRA sensitive. I know God can give us all discernment as we pray to be equipped in the area of prevention. We cannot be too safe. We live in the midst of a fallen generation where nightly television sitcoms are "desensitizing" enough! We parents need to sit our children down on a regular basis and call out the lies that our society is teaching our children.
The lie of "casual sex" is a powerful tool of the enemy. And as we watch/allow our eyes to watch this on television and our children view it, we are teaching them it's acceptable. I'm talking to myself here, too. I'm being convicted. We need to be teaching our kids what lies they are seeing in everyday life...things that are not socially acceptable. I know I'm repeating myself, so I'll end this. I am just so angry. We all need to be enraged over this and channel anger into being pro-active in this fight to save our children.
To parents who adopt older children I say this: DO NOT THINK THIS CANNOT HAPPEN TO YOU. Through it all, I've never for one second felt regret for adopting both of my daughters. Both were victims. I only wish I knew before what I know now. I wish I had known more about Cambodian culture and how "normal" (NOT) that behavior is over there. I regret not knowing early enough but so very thankful I discovered it when I did.
Blessings.
I pray for eyes to be opened and for those eyes to STAY open at all times as we pray for wisdom and discernment to be sensitive to this area of "desensitizing" our children. It's going on around us everywhere...at every level. From what our children wear, to what they watch, to who their friends are and who they are dating... It's in our neighborhoods, it's in our homes, it's in our schools. We cannot let our guards down. I am talking about the "safe" places.
Then there is the devastation of overseas...child prostitution...human slavery...
The task is great, but we serve a great God and the Name of Jesus is above ALL other names.
Blessings.
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Penny L Sullivan 11/14/2009 09:55 |
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Rose
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11/18/2009 19:47 |
What a powerful story you have to share. Thank you for sharing it even though it must still be painful. He can heal all. God bless you and your girls.
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Penelope
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11/20/2009 16:07 |
Thank you so much, Penny.
I will pray for your family, and for your children, that God will redeem their lives and restore the innocence that was taken from them.
I believe your story reveals only a little of what is ahead of the children and women that the DAB and IHOP rescue from slavery. Not only will they need a great deal of love and understanding, but the children, especially, are going to need to relearn what is right and wrong.
We need to continue to pray for the DAB and IHOP as they begin the process of helping, healing, and restoration.
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DoveInSky
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11/21/2009 21:21 |
Thank you for sharing your story with the DAB community . So sorry you all have had to go through all this. How hard it must have been. I cant imagine. But God bless you for adopting your girls and providing them with a Christian home and a place of healing from their victimization. I said a prayer for you and your girls.
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