dreams like cloth

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly..."

~Yeats

       My dear friend Corri once spoke to me about how some dreams are ours because there is something in them that makes our hearts sing,  and how other dreams develop from some type of burden, dreams that we never chose to have, but that we have come to carry nonetheless. When I think of the thousands and thousands of survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking everyday,  I am reminded of Fredrich Beuchner, who once compared faith to a lump in the throat.

     Here are two places that have been the result of dreams to restore survivors, that took shape organically and through communities of people who dared to push through the thick of what is so often an elusive and intangible battle.  In the early stages, like any dream,  I imagine it took some very soft treading on the grounds they were laid.  

  

Therapy tree house in the Round Home in the Philipines. Dr. Gundelina Velazco is a psychiatrist whose vision and approach to aftercare of human-trafficking victims, in cooperation with Love146, creates an environment that promotes healing of body, heart, mind, soul.

Hope House (Asha Niwas) near Calcutta's red-light district. A safe environment providing girls who have been "born into brothels," with education, psychological and physical health care, and employment opportunities to   help them find the strength to change their circumstances. This all started, with a woman teaching some children how to take pictures.