“My sister was trafficked and is still in China. We haven’t heard from her in ten years,”  someone shared fighting back tears.
“My sister was also trafficked to China. Also, my cousins. I think my cousins were labor trafficked. It’s hard to find work in my village. Many people in my village go to China looking for a better life, but get trafficked instead. I have no way of contacting my sister and cousins,” a Hmong teenager responded.
“My friend was sold to a man and his five sons. She was just passed around to each man in the family,” another woman in the group shared.
 
We call ourselves Color Me, because we want to see full healing, life and hope brought back into trafficking victim’s lives…to see the darkness they once lived in flooded with light and color. Last month, we had our first awareness event and invited Vietnamese leaders of fellowships and their members from all over Hanoi to ask for their partnership in this important issue. We had over 40 people come to this event! We shared statistics, a video including survivor testimonies, spoke from the Word, etc. We also had a small group time of sharing and I had eight people in my group. I was expecting to hear most people say that this was their first time hearing about this issue, they didn’t know how to respond or what to do, etc. One lady in my group did say that… but I wasn’t expecting to hear the stories above from people in my group that have family members that have been trafficked and are still in China. I am in this work because He has given me an incredible passion for it, but at that moment, the statistics and reality of how rampant trafficking is in Vietnam hit me in my face…and my stomach.  Thank you so much for your partnership!

Over the past few years I had the wonderful opportunity to help “Quit & Art” with their booth at the HIWC Bazaar. My ability to speak was useful for the group of deaf people who had made so many wonderful handicrafts and sown so beautiful quilts during the course of the year to sell as their means of making a living. The excitement of the “Quilt & Arts”-team and their welcoming spirit to me as an outsider are some of the treasured memories I will take with me when I leave Vietnam in a couple of months. It became kind of an annual tradition for me to ask if I could help them at the day of the bazaar. And I was always received with enthusiasm. We shared the work, their sandwiches and the cake I brought along. The excitement always grew towards the end of the day when the sales were summed up. Seeing the pride for their achievement in the eyes of the deaf and the happiness displayed made me want to be part of this day in their lives again and again.  -- Birgit Schmidt (see http://quiltsandart.com/ for more about Q&A)

This past summer holiday I spent 6 weeks in Hanoi and went out to the Bo De orphanage 3 times a week to help out or simply "love" the kids. This school year my schedule allows me to out there Friday mornings. I now tend to the handicapped children who are often left out by drop in visitors. Not only do I see what I do as helping the kids but also trying to be an example to the permanent workers there. It is a blessing for me and weekly reminder of how much I have! -- Brenda Marshall