“When I was small, Mother left me in the care of a man and his wife while she and my older siblings picked cotton on the couple’s farm. It’s how she made money for our school clothes all the time we were growing up. In the mornings when Mother dropped me off with them, she would tell me, ‘Behave and do what the man says’, never imagining that anything bad would happen. She trusted these people; they were part of the church that my daddy pastored. But something bad DID happen. Over the next two years, the man sexually abused me. I never told my parents about it because I was too young to know it was wrong and I’d always been taught to obey. That early abuse set me up for more abuse later on. I was molested again when I was eight and another attempt was made when I was twelve. I didn’t say anything to Mother or Daddy those times either. I thought adults were always right, and if there was an issue, then I must be the one at fault. I continued to mature physically and mentally, but because of the abuse, parts of me were stuck at different ages. My life gradually became unmanageable. By the time my own kids were 12 and 16, they were maturing past me emotionally. I no longer knew how to handle dealing with them, so I took them for counseling. The counselor said, ‘And we can help you too.’ I said, ‘No I’m fine.’ Fortunately, she didn’t laugh at me. She put me into Lakeside for an intensive week, and over the next year, I began to deal with the pain caused by the early abuse. I began to grow up.
“Then, one Sunday I was in church when a woman came to speak about a program she had started in Nashville for women coming out of prostitution and drug addiction. An audience member asked how many of the women in the program had been sexually abused. I heard her say: Almost all were abused before they were 11 years old, and certainly all were abused after the prostitution began. Suddenly I realized I could have ended up on the streets. That could have been my life. Thankfully, I had a family who held me close, but a lot of women don’t have anyone around them who cares.
“That day, the idea for the Lisieux Community was born, a ministry that provides housing and help for women who have been trafficked and who want a different future for themselves. It’s intense work, both for them and for the staff, but it’s important. These women could have been me. They could be any of us.”
“Then, one Sunday I was in church when a woman came to speak about a program she had started in Nashville for women coming out of prostitution and drug addiction. An audience member asked how many of the women in the program had been sexually abused. I heard her say: Almost all were abused before they were 11 years old, and certainly all were abused after the prostitution began. Suddenly I realized I could have ended up on the streets. That could have been my life. Thankfully, I had a family who held me close, but a lot of women don’t have anyone around them who cares.
“That day, the idea for the Lisieux Community was born, a ministry that provides housing and help for women who have been trafficked and who want a different future for themselves. It’s intense work, both for them and for the staff, but it’s important. These women could have been me. They could be any of us.”
Sandra Ferrell, Lisieux Community President and Executive Director
From the website: The Lisieux Community provides a home for women who have survived trauma, addiction, trafficking and prostitution, all part of life on the streets. The women learn to live in community as they access other organizations to assist in healing. We believe that the women do not begin a life on the streets on their own, but through the culture in which we live; we want to inspire change now to transform the culture itself.
Website: https://lisieuxcommunity.org
FB: https://www.facebook.com/LisieuxCommunity
From the website: The Lisieux Community provides a home for women who have survived trauma, addiction, trafficking and prostitution, all part of life on the streets. The women learn to live in community as they access other organizations to assist in healing. We believe that the women do not begin a life on the streets on their own, but through the culture in which we live; we want to inspire change now to transform the culture itself.
Website: https://lisieuxcommunity.org
FB: https://www.facebook.com/LisieuxCommunity
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