Hello, readers! We at Catalyst Ministries wish you a blessed Christmas season! The end of the calendar year always brings about a time of reflection, and an awesome opportunity to be excited for what God has planned for us the next year. More than ever, this season of Advent has gifted us with a unique lens through which we can meditate on our own actions and individual blessings from God. At Catalyst Ministries, we have been working as hard as ever to reach and rescue women and to fight against human trafficking and exploitation.
This month, I had the opportunity to speak with Wendy, a Mental Health Team volunteer who works at Catalyst Farms. The Farms is a therapeutic residential safe home run by Catalyst Ministries where women rescued from human trafficking can live, heal, and rebuild their lives.
When women are fighting every day for existence, survival is the only thing they can focus on. However, when they are rescued and move to the Farms, they have a chance to learn about themselves in a way that they may never have been able to otherwise. These women are encouraged to explore God and their inner selves. They come face-to-face with the questions:
Who am I? What stirs my passions? Do I have value to offer?
Wendy said that the Farms cultivates a safe and healing environment, and this creates a place where the residents can begin to dream.
One resident, named Hope*, took an interest in exploring the arts. She learned how to paint, sew, and make cards.
“Every week, what she would do is sort of show me what she had created,” Wendy remembers. “With each of these, there was a little trepidation in the beginning.”
Volunteers at the Farms ensure that residents’ pursuits of passion are no-fail processes. Different residents come with different talents. In the program curriculum, residents are exposed to a multitude of life skills such as cooking, crafting, and exercise. The expectation is that residents try different options. If they are not interested in a skill, then volunteers adapt and let them try something else.
“We want them to have a choice because they’ve come from a more controlling environment,” Wendy says.
The exposure to different options is healthy, and for some women, it may be their first time being able to dabble in these pursuits.
As Hope continued to explore the arts, she began to excitedly anticipate her time to be creative. Simply put, she blossomed. She took an interest in making cards and outside of her busy Farms schedule, she would think about what colors and designs she wanted to explore for her next endeavor.
For these women at the Farms, finding a topic that piques their interests creates solace. The residents do a lot of healing work relating to past trauma in their lives. The chance to do something that they love offers them something else to think about and look forward to in their routine.
Read our previous blog post here: It Could’ve Been Me
Wendy attended some card-making classes with Hope and expressed excitement at how Hope’s independence grew from that experience. Hope took off with card-making on her own and spent her own money to purchase various materials. She was able to sell her cards at the Catalyst Ministries’ office. To Hope, there was power, satisfaction, and joy that came with the ability to create things that were both functional and beautiful.
Wendy views herself as being blessed to witness the flourishing of the residents in their individual pursuits. Hope went on to plan a dinner party for Catalyst’s programming team. She took it upon herself to decorate glasses with decoupage, paper napkins, and rhinestones. Wendy remembers being delighted to see the sense of design and the colors that Hope used to make the decorations on her own. It was a process of blossoming and the birth of self-confidence. Through her dinner project, Hope was able to see that she had creative beauty to offer the world.
The very first day that Wendy met Hope, she brought an adult coloring book. The two of them colored a sheet and made a journal.
“As we did that, she talked and shared, and it was a nice way to be doing something relaxing together.”
At Hope’s graduation, art pieces like that coloring book page were assembled by volunteers into a scrapbook for her to carry with her as she journeyed forward. Many women who are saved from trafficking and exploitation have not had opportunities to see projects through or acknowledge the beauty of a timeline of progress in an activity or skill. The Farms provides them with the chance to see the possibilities and worth within themselves.
“It touches one’s soul in a way that makes you think that there are possibilities, you know… I think it spurs on possibilities and the motivation that if I can do this, I can do other things.”
- Wendy, on the power of creativity
To be able to witness the birth of creativity and hope for the good plans God has for each survivor of human trafficking is nothing short of miraculous. Hope and other residents at Catalyst Farms have opportunities to discover and focus their gifts into skills and creation. Wendy’s gifts of time and encouragement, along with the gifts of other dedicated volunteers, helps hone residents’ proclivities into life skills and ways to support themselves in their new lives.
You have the opportunity to partner with us in that process through our Christmas Wishlist. Take a moment to visit our Wishlist page and ask the Lord how He would have you invest in a Catalyst Farms’ resident’s life. If you would like to become a Monthly Impact Partner or make a one-time gift, please consider joining hands with us today. We are so thankful for the community that gives to Catalyst Ministries as you partner with us in the incredibly important work of helping survivors of human trafficking grow and heal under the Lord’s guidance.
— Deanna
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Proverbs 31: 8 - 9
* Name has been changed to protect the identity of the individual in discussion.