The nightmares won’t stop. I don’t like to sleep because when I do, I see them. There are bad, evil people everywhere. I don’t have anyone to trust. I am running from them in my dreams but I know they will catch me every time.
I don’t know how long it has been since I had a good night’s sleep. I don’t remember how long I’ve been in this place where every day is the same. He brought me into this tiny room. There’s a bed in the corner and a dirty chair and table. It’s dark all the time. I can’t even talk about the things that happen here. I don’t want to think about them.
He said it would be a good job waiting for me here in the north of the country. He told me I could send money home to my family. But I don’t get to talk to them. And I don’t get to choose the things I do.
I saw some videos in the airport when we were traveling here. The messages talked about a safe place. They talked about dangerous people like him. People who hurt girls like me.
I am not sure if I can get there, to that beautiful place in the pictures. But I want to try. There is a short number they said you can call to talk to someone. It’s burned into my memory. If I can get to a phone when he isn’t looking, I will call. I have to believe there’s a way out. I have to hope. What else do I have left?
The story above is a dramatization, but it is based on what we imagine might go through the mind of a survivor hoping against hope that there is a way out of her situation. It is based on the stories these precious souls have told us.
It’s her story - the sweet survivor who is safe now. She saw our video monitors in the Bucharest airport. The photo of the Sanctuary at the end gave her motivation to call the number, and one of our partners picked her up and drove her across the country so she could be safe!
During the entire ride to The Sanctuary, she told us about her nightmares and the bad people she feared. She shared her desire to be in a safe place and her need for restoration.
Thank you for your support that allows us to offer safety, hope, and healing to more survivors like her.
Her story may have started similar to the one above—full of trauma and pain. But it doesn’t have to end that way. Be the key that unlocks a brighter future for survivors today.
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