One of our VMC pastors is a consultant for mission organizations, helping them deal with extreme situations (hostage negotiations, sudden civil wars, etc.) Here is a dispatch from June 13:

“Today, in South Asia, I met a 16 year old girl. Actually, I’m not sure ‘met’ is the right word. She was terrified of me and barely acknowledged me. It was the first time she’d ever seen me. Today was also the first day she’d seen many things: A bicycle. A motorbike. A car. Glass windows. Indoor plumbing. A toilet. Paved streets. Electricity. A telephone. A helicopter (even though today was the first day she had seen any of these things, she also flew on a helicopter today). The list goes on and on…

I don’t know her name because she was afraid and my host didn’t want to scare her further. But I do know something of her story…

As I said, she is 16 (the same age as my daughter). She is shy, slight of build and attractive. Her home is a village about half a day’s walk from the China border. Three months ago, she was kidnapped by Maoist rebels. She was held as a sex slave until she escaped and fled a week or so ago. When she got back to her village, soldiers heard her story and since she was “damaged goods”, they gang-raped her.

An evangelical missionary agency rescued and evacuated this girl yesterday. That’s when she flew in a helicopter, and when she began seeing, for the first time, all the accoutrements of civilization we take for granted. Last night, she ate a meal in a missionary’s home while, for the first time ever, sitting at a table. She was taught how to use a toilet. Tomorrow, another evangelical missionary agency will assume the care of this child, providing shelter, etc. They will also assist her in accessing the resources of a thing called the Center for Victims of Torture that exists in this country.

I was told by the missionary who rescued and evacuated this girl that the child’s only goals in life right now are to have an abortion (yes, she is pregnant as a result of her captivity) and never, ever to return to her home village where these awful events happened (even though this means she will never see her family again).

I admit that I have had great difficulty assimilating all of this. Part of that is the fact that this girl is the same age as my own daughter and even shares some physical characteristics with her. But the differences between my daughter’s life to date, and what she can reasonably expect her future to hold; and those of this Nepali child are as different as day and night; or, as far apart as are good and evil. I confess that I do not fully understand how and why God allows such differences, and right now I don’t know how to ask Him. I pray that I will be able to in time…”

I don’t even know how to respond. God help us help her.