There Is Hope: Reflections on a Team Trip
It’s been just over a week since I arrived back home from my team trip with Destiny Rescue in Thailand and Cambodia. The first question many people have asked me is, “What was your favourite part of the trip?”.
And my answer has always been the same: I loved meeting the girls who have been rescued and seeing that they are just ordinary teenage girls doing ordinary teenage girl things. They played games with each other, teased each other, did each other’s hair and nails, and took selfies with each other. (And who doesn’t like a good selfie?!).
From the outside looking in, I would never have thought that these beautiful and lively girls were rescued from the horrors of human trafficking. Not for one second. To me, that is a testament to the hope that Destiny Rescue is bringing into the lives of these young girls.
The next part of my answer is always travelling with the team and meeting the Destiny Rescue staff and volunteers. I may be a little (or a lot) biased here, but I do believe my team has to be one of Destiny Rescue’s most crazy, fun and, okay, slightly rowdy teams!
We started off as a bunch of strangers who met at an airport in Bangkok, exhausted, jet-lagged and perhaps in desperate need of a good shower. But we ended the trip as a group of friends who experienced countless heartwarming and life-changing moments together – from our wild tuk tuk rides through the bumpy roads of Cambodia to our nightly shopping adventures in Thailand. Then again, being squeezed into the back of a ute with 14 other women would force anyone to get very close to people very quickly!
No matter where we travelled, it’s clear that the staff and volunteers of Destiny Rescue are wholeheartedly committed to its cause. I still can’t get my head around the fact that many volunteers have left it all – family, friends, work…clean water running through the taps – in order to do their part to end human trafficking. The Destiny crew are without a doubt living examples of what it means to step out in faith.
As you can tell, I could go on and on about my trip…and I will to anyone who asks! Because while I may not be on the ground helping Destiny Rescue in Thailand and Cambodia, I am no longer oblivious to the issue of human trafficking. It is real, it is horrific, and it is happening at our doorsteps.
But there is hope.
Three years ago, Destiny Rescue was just a website I stumbled across when I was looking for charities to support in Australia. Now, I’ve seen firsthand how Destiny Rescue is bringing light into a very dark situation. And I need to do my part – however small – to help that light shine brighter and brighter each day.
Written by Grace Gabriel