Friday, May 28, 2010 Visayan Foundation

In a previous post a while back, I attended a Mardi Gras Ball

benefiting the Visayan Forum Foundation

(http://www.visayanforum.org/portal/).  It was there that I met

Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, a modern day hero and one of the most amazing

people I have ever come in contact with. She has incredble energy and

undying love or victims of human trafficking.   Since I met her, I

have had several opportunities (inclduing a videoke party) to witness

and experience how insanely fun she is, as well.  It has been her goal

to open a safe house for victims of traffcking before she retired, and

today we got to witness the inaguration of the Center of Hope.  She is

very close with our field office director, and our organizations have

worked very closely in the past.  The opening of this shelter is very

significant to IJM because a need for a secure and safe shelter for

our clients has become more obvious over this past year, as the

shelter we have been referring to seems to be getting somewhat over

crowded.  They had a group of survivors sing the song Journey by Lea

Solanga, and one of our clients said the introduction to the keynote

speaker, Ms. Leslie Bassett, Deputy Chief of Mission from the US

Embassy.  I was so overcome with emotion, I was wiping tears from my

eyes as my boss tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Megan, why are

you crying? This is just an introduction."  I think it was from what I

witnessed after the clients sang. They were crying and Cecil went up

afterwards hugging them.  It was so beatiful to see the genuine love

she had for them that they so clearly reciprocrated...I felt like I

got a glimpse of the changes she has been making and will make in

these clients' lives. On the program was the story of one victim, a 14

year old girl who, after being tricked into a job of prostitution, was

forced to sell "fake virginity" by having cotton balls soaked in

pigeon's blood inserted in her, in addition to being forced to have

several abortions before being rescued by Visayan Forum.  Shocking

information, but a harsh reality of the things that are ocurring to

these girls. There was an opportunity to make a donation to the

organization, so I used some donor money to purchase a "healing

package" for 1 client in the shelter for one year, meaning it would

pay for 1 client's rehabilitative services.  I hope that's ok :)