Int'l Justice Mission Trip's first communique:

here's the latest from Victor Boutros and the IJM team bound for India:

Friends,



We completed the first leg of our trip with the International Justice Mission team in Mumbai, India yesterday. It has been a study of contrasts - of rays of divine hope penetrating places of unbearable darkness. On Friday, we helped the IJM legal team prepare for a hearing in an ugly case where IJM undercover operatives captured video footage of four mothers attempting to sell the virginity of their underage daughters to two men. Later that evening we went to Mumbai's red light district, littered with the brothels where so many young girls are abducted, raped and beaten. Words cannot describe the oppressive darkness of that place, where pimps and Madames aggressively cursed us or fled angrily from the light of our cameras. "For every one who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed." (John 3:20). At the red light district in Mumbai, the Fall is not being managed. It is an open mouthed grave (Rom 3:13) devouring the lives of those who fall in its trap.


And yet there were moments of joy that pierced the darkness. Even as we experienced the ugliness of the red light district, we passed street after street where brothels had been shut down, sparing hundreds of girls from thousands of rapes, thanks to the courage and faithfulness of a few Christians. Perhaps most moving was the transformation God has worked in the lives of those young women IJM has rescued. We spent Saturday at a Christian aftercare facility for victims of forced prostitution where girls as young as 13 smiled, sang hymns in Hindi, shared their dreams for the future and generally got to be girls again.


The team is so thankful to have a support team praying for us every day! We covet your continued prayers as we begin the next phase of our work in Chennai. We look forward to sharing a full report with you when we return.

Joyfully,

Victor Boutros