Breaking Free from the Chains of Trafficking

*To protect this client's identity, we will call her Amber.‍

Growing up, Amber loved going to school because school was her safe haven. It was a place to get away from her problems at home. Usually, Amber would come home to find her mom passed out from drugs and alcohol, which often meant that she'd have to go to bed hungry. She was left to figure out much of her childhood on her own.

Then, when she was 11, Amber came home from school one day to see her bags packed. Her mom told her she was going to stay with "the man." For the next few years, Amber lived in a basement where "the man" would bring down "customers" who had their way with her. She was sold into human trafficking and trapped in captivity.

One day, Amber and "the man" were driving on the freeway, and she told him she was pregnant. He told her to get an abortion, but Amber refused. The man then pulled out a gun and told her to either jump out of the moving vehicle or he'd shoot her dead right then. She decided to take the chance and fell out of the car. Thankfully, Amber was found and taken to the emergency room, where she and her son's lives were saved. Praise the Lord!

But her struggles were not yet over. After Amber's release from the hospital, she couldn't find a place to stay longer than 30 days. She needed someplace to recover after all she had been through, but everything she found was temporary. Then, after a few months of searching, someone told her about H-town Dream Center's emergency shelter!

When she walked through our doors, she was in bad shape. The emotional and mental wounds that human trafficking survivors experience can be disorienting and crippling and take years to confront. Amber told us she didn't even know what her favorite color was. But even still, God began to restore her hope that all was not lost.

It didn't happen overnight, and it certainly hasn't been easy, but Amber is on a healing journey! Her beautiful baby boy is now five months old, growing and healthy! Best of all, Amber has begun a relationship with Jesus!