It’s ugly. It’s unthinkable.
Yet as unbelievable as it may seem, sex trafficking is happening in our world. Organizations such as International Justice Mission are working to find and prosecute those who sexually abuse women and children. Once evidence is gathered in a specific community, local authorities move in and rescue the victims. But oftentimes the girls are so emotionally and physically scarred, they need treatment before entering a better life.
In 2005, World Hope International opened an assessment center in Cambodia to be an initial placement for girls rescued from these situations. Here’s a glance at how one young woman got involved and is using her passions for art and ministry to touch one life at a time.
Finding Hope
With a quick scan of the center’s classroom one Saturday morning, you’ll see about 25 girls ranging from ages 4 to 16 scribbling on 8-by-12 sheets of paper. Warm, humid air lingers in the room with little, if any, circulation. The entrance is open, shedding direct sunlight on the girls’ straight hair. Colored pencils rattle on the floor, but a faint sound of Chris Tomlin’s singing drifts from the CD player on the table.
Barefoot and dressed in a modest denim skirt, a 20-something, English-speaking woman surveys the room. Her name is Lindy Morgan, and she’s come to practice art therapy as a way to help these girls heal from their past. The project this week is to create books that describe who they are and what they care about.
Lindy helps girls find the art supplies they need, asks about their drawings and compliments their hard work. As Leang shows off her favorite animals, Lindy knows that what brought Leang to the center was sexual abuse by her father. She moves on to help Thy, who only two weeks ago arrived at the center high on drugs. She had worked willingly as a waitress but was also sold into the sex trade out of the very restaurant where she was employed. When asked her age, she lies by saying 22. She’s really only 14. Chan, seated in the corner, was sold by her family to cover a debt.
These girls are victims of crime, but despite their trauma Lindy sees girls full of life, resilience and love.
A Dream Awakened
Lindy has had a heart for international ministry and art for as long as she can remember. From packing only sparkle toothpaste in shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child to participating in several missions trips during high school, her heart was hardwired with these dreams.
When Lindy was a junior at Indiana Wesleyan and studying art, Jo Anne Lyon, the director of World Hope, spoke at her school. Everything Jo Anne said about World Hope resonated with what Lindy had always wanted to do and be. Lindy introduced herself and asked if they could meet.
“We got together, and I said, ‘Jo Anne, this is my heart—helping girls heal and creating art. Is there any place for me in the world of missions? Am I crazy?‘ She looked at me and said, ‘Your dream is a God dream. This is something that God has given you. You need to keep waiting, and the time will come.’ ”
Jo Anne told how World Hope was started and the struggles she went through that she almost gave up on it. She assured Lindy that she should continue waiting on God, and she told her about art therapy, helping kids express the trauma they’ve been through using drawings and paintings.
“I heard that and I thought, Yeah, that’s what I want to do with my life" Lindy says. "I just knew it.”
But Lindy didn’t drop everything and move to a foreign country. First, she graduated from college and began working at Focus on the Family. “My whole time in Colorado Springs, I knew God was saying, ‘Don’t get too comfortable. The time is coming for you to travel.’ “
Three years later, Lindy’s mom called and said Jo Anne was coming to Colorado to speak at her church’s missions conference. Lindy knew without a doubt what she needed to do. She went to the conference, and Jo Anne not only remembered her, she also said she had something she wanted to talk to Lindy about.
Jo Anne was only in the state for a couple days, but she dropped her schedule for the afternoon and told Lindy about Cambodia and how they were starting an assessment center . A group was planning to visit the country in three months to meet the director and check out the site. Jo Anne invited Lindy to come.
Lindy thought, How can I not go? This is clearly something from God. So in 2005, Lindy visited Cambodia for the first time.
After the two-week trip, Lindy went back to her job in the States, not sure if she should go to Cambodia. But those two weeks captured her heart, and she couldn’t escape it. Plus, her family supported her decision to go back.
“When I was praying about whether I should come, I was worried and needed assurance from God,” she says. “I read these verses: ‘If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast’ (Psalm 139:9-10). God showed me He'd come with me if I ‘settled on the far side of the sea,’ and that's exactly what I was planning to do! It was the promise I needed to make the decision.”
Building Relationships
Before Lindy could come to Cambodia as a Hope Corps volunteer for a year, she had to raise at least half of the required $15,000 and half had to be committed in pledges for monthly support. So the first thing Lindy did was pray.
“One friend encouraged me by saying that all I had to do was share about what God is already doing in Cambodia; then God would ask the right people to be part of the work He was doing,” she says. “It wasn't about my asking for money or being worried about not raising enough. It was about sharing God's heart for His daughters.”
Lindy wrote a support letter with her drawing of a girl on the front and sent it to about 200 friends and family members. She asked them to commit first to praying and second to supporting her financially.
“Once I shared that I was planning to come, people were interested and invited me to speak different places. After I would share, sometimes people I hardly knew would come up and ask to support me,” she says. “It's about more than money. It's about relationships and encouraging people who can't move to another country that they’re still part of God's plan in Cambodia.”
Settling In
When Lindy got off the plane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2006, all she could think was, I’ve never been so HOT! Everything was so different. In her first journal entry she wrote, “I don't know how I'll ever find my way.” But God proved himself faithful, and eventually Lindy picked up some Khmer words through language classes, learned how to get around on a moto taxi and fell in love with her work.
“It was as though someone had handed me my dream job,” she says.
Starting out, Lindy was worried she didn’t have enough experience in art therapy, but that's where prayer and honesty came into play. “I haven’t tried to counsel the girls beyond my knowledge or ability. We have a fantastic Khmer counseling staff equipped to do that work. I’m here to help in the process of expression and healing. I often pray and ask God to show me clearly what the girls need to express and believe and how I can help them do that. He’s really honored that request.”
Healing Takes Time
During her year in Cambodia, Lindy has used art as and for therapy. Each Saturday she’s in charge of about three hours with the girls. Each project they do together has a specific purpose in healing and growing. Some examples are group murals, puppet shows and mosaics.
Lindy also co-leads a weekly group therapy/education session. The girls create collages and illustrations for stories that have meaning for their lives. One particular week Lindy shared an allegory she had written for them. The story was about a kite whose string is cut, causing it to crash. The bird, who is at first a friend to the kite, later mocks the kite for being broken. The owner finds the kite stuck in a tree and takes it home to mend its tears.
“Afterward we talked about it and how it might apply to their lives,” she says. “Girls who have been sexually abused and exploited feel a great deal of shame and guilt for what has happened to them. In Cambodia, especially, you never talk about these feelings with each other. So I was worried that no one would talk about the story.”
However, one teen girl spoke up. She told how she had a friend who was similar to the character of the bird in the story. She explained how her friend had lied and tricked her into a bad situation. She said she was grateful for this assessment center and thanked them for rescuing her and giving her a new life. Her honesty gave other girls the courage to share their stories with each other.
“I was very encouraged by that day,” Lindy says. “We work with a lot of broken girls, and healing often takes a lifetime. We only get to see a tiny piece of that journey.”
The story Lindy wrote was simple, but God showed her she just needed to take the step of offering truth to the girls about His love, and He’ll do the rest.
“Sometimes I feel so helpless, but He reminded me that it's His job to heal them. It's my job to pray and to be a place they can find His love. These are His girls—His precious, beautiful daughters. He is our rescuer, our kite mender!” 
*All names have been changed to protect the girls’ identities
