DOMA's website explains what CATCH court and Judge Herbert is trying to do:
"Judge Paul Herbert of Franklin County Municipal Court responded to this cry [the cycle of trafficking, arrest and incarceration, and back to trafficking] after years of meeting women in court who were caught up in Human Trafficking. CATCH is an innovative, voluntary, two-year program to help ladies trapped in the sex trade. It utilizes a restorative-justice approach to helping ladies through support, encouragement, and accountability. It truly meets the needs of ladies in recovery, and fosters a healthy environment for wholeness and restoration.
"Franklin County Municipal Court created a specialty docket court–Changing Actions to Change Habits, (“CATCH”), to address multi-systemic needs of women charged with prostitution. 125 women were screened, 96 assessed, 60 accepted and 40 committed to treatment for a 30 day minimum. They are over 18, charged with misdemeanor crimes of solicitation, and/or prostitution, and request entrance into the 2 year program. All serve convictions for non-violent crimes; all have suffered violent crimes done unto them: 77% have traumatic brain injuries; all were raped an average of 6 times; 90% were orphaned or abandoned by their moms; 90% have PTSD. They have 13 arrests (on average) in a 2 yr period; 100% are chemically dependent; 73% were juvenile runaways, the average age is 34, grade level-10th.)"
Usually, when I attend an event that is about an issue near to my heart, I come home raving about it. Usually, my fingers are itching to write about my experience and I end up composing most of my post in my head during the car ride home. Usually, the words just seem to flow from my lips and my fingertips, as if I couldn't stop the sentences from forming even if I tried. Usually . . .
But today is not one of those "usual" days. I am having trouble writing a post about the experience that I had today. It's not because the issue at hand is not one dear to me, in fact, the complete opposite. It's not because I didn't enjoy the time that I spent at this event; I absolutely did. It's not because my heart is not breaking for those that I visited today because it most definitely is. It's not because God didn't work in miraculous ways, for I saw so much of Him in the ladies I met.
I have been trying for hours to figure out what exactly it is that I want to say about the wonderful women I saw today . . . and I have come up empty.
The women I met today are the most encouraging, courageous, humble, loving, accepting people that I have ever seen. They laughed with one another over jokes. They cried with one another when one lady shared that her grandmother had recently passed away and that the funeral is tomorrow. They rejoiced with one another at the mention of a woman being 95 days sober. They encouraged one another, freely giving their phone numbers so they can call one of them when they just need someone. They each felt what others in their tight-knit community felt . . . and that is a beautiful thing.
Maybe I can't write about it because words don't even begin to describe what I felt in that room. Maybe it's because I don't feel that a simple blog post does justice to the women I heard speak today. Maybe it's because I don't understand all of what I learned. Maybe it's even because I don't want to acknowledge everything that I heard. Or maybe it's because I'm afraid that if I write about it, I'll "get it out of my system" and forget what I heard and saw and felt.
But I think, most of all, I can't write about it because I don't want to romanticize their stories. I want them to be raw and real and true, and I don't quite know how to do that. And, even if I did know how, I don't want to tell these stories for those ladies; they deserve to own their amazing stories of hope and redemption, and share them themselves.
These women are not numbers or statistics or probabilities. Rather, these women are human beings. They have hurt beyond my understanding. They have tragedy within their torn families. They have guilt and shame, just like anyone else. They have brokenness and vulnerability that they try to hide from each other, and even themselves, because this harsh world has taught them that they have no right to feel and that they need to bottle it up inside. They have anger, and every right to harbor that, yet they learn to forgive and let go.
These women amaze me to no end. Where the world sees useless prostitutes who will amount to nothing, I see beautiful children of God. Where the world sees a drug addict and dismisses her as good as dead, I see a woman full of promise and potential. Where the world sees the least of these and turns away, I see the least of these and meet them where they are and help them how I can.
"These women are so beautiful," she whispered to me. Nothing could be more true.
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