Help! I want out!

CALL NOW:    Bulgaria hotline #: 0800 20 100

Are you in Amsterdam? Click here for assistance.

Are you in Athens? Click here for assistance.

 

We are there for you, if you…

  • Work in prostitution and have questions.
  • Have worked or are working in prostitution and want to talk about it.
  • Are working in prostitution and are looking for another option.
  • Have been forced into prostitution or know someone who has been.

How we can help…

  • We offer individualized counsel and care, as individual as each life story.
  • We can assist you in accessing medical care.
  • We are available to accompany you when you go to official appointments.
  • We can help you look for a job.
  • We are happy to advise you regarding and connecting you with other organizations that could be of help.
  • We can guide you in how to secure social insurance.
  • We are glad to listen to you when things don’t go as they should or when they have not gone well.
  • We are ready to support you in your efforts to overcome problems from the past if you would like that.

Showing Up with Care

Tens of thousands of women, men and youth are trapped and enslaved in the global commercial sex industry that is worth almost $50 billion/year. As drug dealers declare, “You sell drugs once; you sell a woman over and over again. Just think of the profits!” The actual statistics are difficult to come by and are almost always underreported. We believe that prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation often involved in all forms of human trafficking are destructive to all of the individuals involved as well as to the communities and societies where it is happening.

Bulgarian women frequently are lured into the commercial sex trade and trafficked within Bulgaria and also into Western Europe with promises of employment and a bright future. And then they find themselves enslaved and in debt to their “employers”. Many are caught in the web of organized crime, but many are also recruited and deceived by their relatives and friends.

  • We know 1000s of Bulgarian daughters are enslaved in commercial sexual exploitation within our own borders as well as within every country in Western Europe.
  • We know because our network of organizations tell us so.
  • We know because the prostituted women themselves tell us so.
  • We know because their relatives are searching for them.
  • We know because some few have escaped and they know where they have been.

Do you want to help?

God often calls people to respond either to “the women” or to “the issue” - “What can I do? How can I help?”

When our hearts and minds are stirred to respond with anger and compassion, ask yourself: “Is my passion to develop relationships with those who are caught and enslaved in prostitution and am I committed to walk with them towards freedom and wholeness? Or, is my passion to see the issue of sexual exploitation and human trafficking addressed so that my society wrestles effectively with the issues of prevention, and raising awareness, intervention, and recovery/rehabilitation?”

Outreach Intervention Teams

For information regarding Outreach Intervention teams in Bulgaria, please contact us at: info@daughtersofbulgaria.org

Our teams are made up of both men and women volunteers with different roles and responsibilities. As we visit the streets and places where sex is traded for money and favors, we offer free hot coffee and a snack cake, listening ears, a smile, a hug…simply to connect and demonstrate God’s love just as he has shown his love, mercy and grace to us. We give emotional support and information about services for prostituted women that are available through service providers, both governmental and private. We distribute audio and printed material to remind and inform the women being exploited of physical self-care, of pregnancy prevention, to challenge, and to encourage them that they can dream, that there is hope for a different way of life, should they choose to move and work towards it. We want them to know that God loves them and has a better plan for their lives.

We are against the commercial sexual exploitation of women, men and youth. Even so, we respect every individual’s right to make their own choices. We respect the cultural, social, and religious differences of those with whom we interact, and we do not discriminate based on these differences. We believe in the intrinsic value of people and human dignity who thrive the most when they are in good relationships with God and other people. These relationships are the basis for recovery and restoration from abuse and violence.

We network with responsible private or government agencies that offer specialized professional, legal, or medical help to those women who request it, and if there are immediate needs of shelter, food, clothing, and personal items we do what we are able to help.

We look for opportunities and special occasions to demonstrate the love of Christ such as holidays and birthdays when we have good reason to give a small gift and a portion of scripture to remind them that God has not forgotten them in the middle of their brokenness. We desire to build trust relationships that will lead to the possibility of their escaping being sexually exploited and finding both physical and spiritual freedom.

We train and screen volunteers before they are invited to join an outreach intervention team.

We pray desperately for more outreach intervention teams throughout Bulgaria. We are excited to have a new tool for training and equipping volunteers to reach out into their communities. This is The Intervention Manual written by Exodus Cry and is now available in Bulgarian. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more.

We coordinate with direct intervention teams, a network of social workers, and the Commission on Anti-Trafficking for emergency responses, and we encourage the women to call the national hot-line number if at all possible.