This little girl, rescued from a nightmare, is now surrounded by love

Mercy Shines Through

How the life of a little girl in Kenya is “resurrected” from ashes

Dear Friends

The story I am about to tell you is very disturbing, yet I feel that, as those who care deeply about the victims of sexual violence, especially those most innocent, it is a story that must be told—not for the purpose of emotional manipulation, but to give you information on which you can act.

“Eve,” as I’ll call her, had the misfortune of entering this world in the wrong family. Two weeks after her birth her unwed mother died, leaving her in the care of her grandmother and an uncle who lived in the same household. They all lived in an impoverished slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Eve’s grandmother had good intentions for her granddaughter, I believe…but her uncle’s intentions turned hideously evil. When Eve became a toddler, her uncle raped her—without mercy, and without conscience—on at least 2 occasions. Noticing later that Eve was in great pain and could not sit, her grandmother rushed her to a hospital. It was there, during examination by doctors, that horrible scars from boiling water or oil were discovered on Eve’s back.

It’s time I cut to the good news.

Eve was rescued from that family and placed in a safe home for abused children where she began a slow recovery. After months of cowering from human contact and being gripped by panic attacks and frightening nightmares, she began interacting with the other children and caregivers.

Earlier this year, Eve was then brought to Cindi’s Hope Academy, a Heaven’s Family partner, in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi. It is here that her healing and recovery have truly been taking hold as Christlike staff members provide love and tender mercies as balm to her troubled little soul. Eve can still sometimes be found coiled in a corner, sucking her little fingers as the others play about her—reminders that the trauma and psychological scars she has suffered will not go away overnight. They are confident, however, that God’s love and healing power are greater than any evil man can commit.

None of us really understand fully why our Lord allows evil men to commit such violence against innocent lives, but we are confident that His love will triumph, and that He will indeed bring His good from it. Eve—and the other young girls at Cindi’s Hope that the enemy has sought to “devour”—are now bathing in Jesus’ love. When they grow up they will have powerful testimonies that will change the lives of many. And your gifts to the Victims of Sexual Violence Fund are helping to produce that glorious fruit!

Thank you for your willingness to let your heart be broken for little ones like Eve. They are worth the pain, and worth all our efforts to save.

Together with Him,

Carole Collins
Director, Victims of Sexual Violence Fund