“Don’t judge them too quickly”
When Yetranet Andarge goes into Ethiopia’s schools and churches to talk about the need to help women escape prostitution, she often points to Naomi and Ruth in the Bible’s book of Ruth.
Naomi’s husband and two sons die. Through the support of her daughter-in-law Ruth, Naomi is able to survive. Ruth marries Boaz, and they can ensure that Naomi is cared for during the rest of her life.
“What if there was no Ruth to help Naomi, or no Boaz to help both of the women?” Yetranet asks. “How would Naomi have survived? How would Ruth have survived? They might have been forced—like other desperate women in biblical times—to resort to prostitution.”
In Ethiopia, there are millions of women just as desperate as some were during biblical times. That’s why we thank God for Yatranet and Ellilta Women at Risk (EWAR). It’s a Christian anti-trafficking organization that Samaritan’s Purse and generous donors like you have supported for many years.
Few options for Ethiopian women
Ethiopia Women at Risk staff member Yetranet Andarg goes into Ethiopia’s schools and churches to talk about the need to help women escape prostitution.
Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest nations, where education and employment options for women are painfully scarce. So when their husbands die, or their boyfriends abandon them in pregnancy, or they move to the city for a job that never materializes, prostitution can seem to be the only option.
“Don’t judge them too quickly” is one of the primary messages Yetranet and other EWAR employees and volunteers convey when they speak in schools and churches.
“Some people think when they see a prostitute standing on a street corner wearing a mini-skirt that she wants this life—that she doesn’t want to work at another job,” Yetranet says. “They don’t understand the real causes.”
Another important message she regularly conveys, as EWAR’s prevention program coordinator, is that it’s very easy for women to be unknowingly lured into prostitution. They think they’re being hired as a restaurant or bar waitress, but they’re soon being pressured into sex. Or they think they’re coming to the city to be a nanny or house servant for a distant relative, only to be handed off to human traffickers.
Christians patronize prostitutes
One final point that Yetranet says is essential to share—especially to males—is that paying for sex is wrong. This message shouldn’t be necessary in churches, but she says lots of Christians in Ethiopia and elsewhere patronize prostitutes.
Yetranet says 22-year-old EWAR is always emphasizing “the value, the respect, and the dignity of human beings” that God intended for each of us. This opens the door for another vital message: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).
EWAR’s program to prevent women from entering prostitution is one major component of the organization’s work in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa, plus two other cities in the African nation.
The other two major components are:
- A 12-month rehabilitation program that provides Christ-based counseling and vocational training to women wanting to leave prostitution. They learn income-earning skills such as jewelry making, weaving, hair styling, food services, and hotel housekeeping.
- A coinciding program to help the children of prostitutes pursuing rehabilitation. It includes a daycare and, for school-age children, free school supplies, free tutoring, and free tuition.
Success stories
Hurting women in Ethiopia are finding help and hope through Samaritan’s Purse and generous Canadians like you.
Sisay Kebede, a team leader at EWAR, says the organization monitors what happens after women complete their rehabilitation. At least 85 per cent do not return to prostitution.
One of the success stories is a graduate of the program who went on to university, became an accountant, and is now married with children. Another graduate is a counsellor at EWAR.
Despite the many successes, Sisay says “it can still be discouraging” knowing EWAR has capacity for only 140 women at year at its four facilities. Studies indicate there are at least 150,000 prostitutes still on Addis Ababa’s streets, many of them desperately wanting new lives.
You can transform the lives of women in Ethiopia and elsewhere by partnering with our Women’s Projects through your donations and prayers.
