Revi

Revi knew what to expect every day. Revi's mother was a prostitute and would leave Revi at a store entryway every day and go off to "work". Revi would beg for money and wait for her mother to return. Revi watched her mother wade into a sea of blaring taxis, black smoke-belching trucks, and expensive sports cars. Night after night, she waited while her mother was abused for money. Revi heeded her mother’s words not to talk to policemen or social workers. 

“They will take you from me,” she’d warned. But it was at that store entryway that our team met Revi, offering her food. The next day Revi was awakened by a polite knock on their door. She opened the door slowly to the smiling faces of her grandmother and the women from Project Rescue who had offered her food the day before.

“Revi, go wake your mother up and tell her I am here,” Revi’s grandmother ordered. Some 20 minutes passed before a dazed woman appeared.

Holding Revi to her side, the grandmother said, “This is Linda from Project Rescue, and I have asked her to take Revi to a home and school for children.”

“We’ll give her an education and take good care of her for you… we would love for you to come, too” Linda said. But Revi's mother wouldn't part with the little girl.

“I am her guardian,” her grandmother said. “The court says it’s my decision.”

“I am her mother!” Revi's mother yelled.

Linda attempted to turn down the volume of the dispute. “You are her mother,” she said calmly. “And, as a mother, I know you want what’s best for Revi. Please … let her come … so she can learn to read and write.” Again, Linda invites both mother and daughter to come to the safe home.

Revi's mother allowed Revi to come to the home and Revi adjusted quickly to her new
surroundings. She spent hours each day poring over books and learning to pronounce syllables. She loved to wade into the toy bx and play “tag” outside with the other children. For the first time in her life, she felt safe and valued. But her mother never came to visit her. She wanted to show off her reading skills and introduce her to her teachers and playmates but Revi's mother had fallen in with some powerful traffickers, and, without a miracle, it was unlikely the child would ever see her mother again.