Project Rescue's journey began in 1997 when K.K. Devaraj and members of his Bombay Teen Challenge team went into the Falkland Road red-light district in Mumbai, India with a passion to reach the young generation that was ensnared in drugs, gangs, and prostitution. The task force was stunned by what was there: a tragic city of over 100,000 women and girls, many of whom had been sold into sexual slavery by their impoverished families in North India and Nepal.

In that first encounter, they inspired over 100 young women to escape and find a new life in Jesus Christ. They were also given an additional 32 little girls by women enslaved as sex workers who hoped to prevent their young daughters from sharing their dark fate.

The children urgently needed a safe place to stay. So Bombay Teen Challenge and Project Rescue created a safe house they lovingly referred to as a Home of Hope. The shelter became a secure environment where meals were eaten, homework completed, clean beds provided, and childhood innocence restored.

Today, Project Rescue's presence has expanded to include eleven such havens where young daughters of prostituted women find compassion, transformation, and a new meaning in life. Through these shelters and other efforts, our multi-dimensional rescue ministry has brought freedom to over 1,000 young women and girls in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Moldova and Tajikistan. Afterare homes give refuge to women and children children in eleven Southern Asian and Eastern European cities.

Long term, we are working to establish many more such shelters. Our ultimate goal is to eradicate all forms of child exploitation. We are confident that with the help of our partners and local authorities, this dream will eventually become a reality. In the meantime, we will continue to rescue victims of sexual slavery; restore their sense of self through the application of Biblical principles; and prepare them for rewarding service in the local church and community.