What six-year-old Ng (not her real name) wanted was what most girls her age want—a safe and loving home to grow up in. What she got was something entirely different.
One day, Ng’s life turned upside-down when her stepfather ripped a gold necklace from her mother’s neck and grabbed a knife to slit her throat. Ng screamed and instinctively threw herself towards her mother to protect her. Then her stepfather ripped Ng from her mother’s body and beat her until her small body crumpled unconscious. He then took all the family’s money and jewelry and left.
You might think that having her stepfather out of her life for good was the best thing that could have happened for Ng. But life was about to get extraordinarily more complicated for this little girl.
Forced to find money in order to eat and feed her four children, Ng’s mother took all her kids and moved into the city to find a job. There she made little more than a dollar a day. So Ng’s mother decided to do what seems inconceivable for any parent who is unfamiliar with the desperation borne from abject poverty. Ng’s mother sold her to an elderly man in order for her to work as his servant. Ng was just seven-years-old.
This began a hellish nightmare that lasted six years for Ng. I’ll write more about that in my next update.
At Rapha House, tragedy plays a part in each girl’s story. But that’s not where the story of these girls ends. At Rapha House, we’re committed to bringing hope in the place of heartbreak, healing in place of pain, and freedom in place of captivity. It’s a big job that requires you and us and God. And that combination is what makes the difference for girls like Ng.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
