Sisters in Survival

Tonight I watched as 11 women wore caps and gowns, traditional garb for a traditional graduation. But, unlike any other graduation, these women were graduating after 14 weeks of intense rehabilitation, training and deprogramming. They graduated from the Sisters in Survival program from Breaking Free. Some were mandated as part of their sentencing by the courts, others were rescued from the street, but generally most had not wanted to be there. They had been in the life, the sex trafficking trade, for years. They had babies by their pimps, who further enslaved them by lording the safety of their child over their heads. Some had their children taken away. One graduate sobbed her grateful tears to Breaking Free for saving her life, and now she could get her children back. It was an emotional evening. I was only able to see part of the graduation; bad traffic intervened, but I was so touched and moved by these women. They are going to succeed. Their recovered, retrained, reprogrammed and rejoicing sisterhood at Breaking Free refuses to let them fail. They've a long way to go, but they are determined. God go with them, please. (By the way, that's a shot of me, at 13, when I was in the Breaking Free commercial and their print campaign.)