FROM SLAVE TO LITTLE GIRL

By Julie Belle: Gloria was 12 when she was first sold for sex. It was almost five years later that we found her and brought her to the safest home she’s ever known. Now she lives with three other girls in our safe home where she's been given a second chance at life. Every day, Gloria chooses the courage to heal and the determination to grow. Some days, the second chance feels like an easy dance, some days it feels like the Third World War.

A little over a year ago, POTSC was gracious enough to let us post a blog here, even though we didn’t even have the home open. (It was a risk, we could have crashed and burned.) But thanks to you, we’ve formed a growing family of supporters who believed enough in us, our dream, and our girls, and we’re SO excited to say we’ve had the home open and running for a year now.

The victories seem small and the work is hard. Sometimes I wonder how anyone could ever recover from the trauma our girls have survived. Daily the girls remind me that they can, as they learn things that seem small but are such huge steps—how to maintain personal hygiene, how to share...and how to sleep through the night.

We celebrate it all.  Gloria learned to write her name for the first time at 17.  Andrea got her first baby doll and got to be a kid for the first time at 15.

It’s the small victories that make them feel like kids again. And now they are kids with a family: us.

If you want to join our family of supporters and give these girls a second chance at life, we’d love to have you. Or, to get in touch with any of us at She Dances, email connect@shedances.org, or feel free to email me directly at Julie@shedances.org.

Freedom is here.