Keeping Ukrainians Free from Traffickers

You have probably heard that over 1 million Ukrainian people have fled their country since the war began. Thousands of these precious souls have been pouring across the border in Romania. Just days after the violence began, our team at the border estimated that 400 people were crossing through the checkpoint every hour.

Young moms are crossing with strollers and everything they can carry. Their sons and husbands, ages 18-60, are being asked to stay behind and fight the war. Members of our team were able to hand out food at the border to some of these young families.

We were horrified to witness traffickers preparing to take advantage. At the border, one of our team members saw a line of cars waiting to transport Refugees. Many of them had good intentions. Many of them did not. How do we know? We worked with law enforcement to implement a few simple protocols to weed out traffickers. Once we did, many of the cars departed without picking anyone up!

We have already successfully protected hundreds of women and children by implementing the first phase of our strategy. These have included a few simple protocols to keep traffickers away from women and children. Our team is continuing to adapt to keep these women safe in this dynamic situation.

Now, we are also turning our eyes to supporting efforts deeper in Romania.As the refugees move into the country, we have been able to come alongside local efforts. We opened our storage at the Sanctuary to supply officials with extra food and furnishings to assist the refugees. Sharing these items has actually made more space for us to prepare the facilities for survivors!

These events remind us that the Sanctuary is already a beacon of hope and healing. Keep praying for our team as they press on, both at the border and at the Sanctuary.

Your support is the key that allows us to show up for vulnerable women and children in Romania and beyond. Together, we are swinging the door to freedom and restoration wide.

The Sanctuary is Getting Ready

A comfortable temperature may seem small to us, but to a survivor, it can be a miracle.

Just this winter, one survivor had to make a daring escape through freezing winter weather wearing rags. She was freezing and hungry when our team took her to safety. Other survivors have been left exposed in the heat or the winter with little care from their traffickers.

Because of these experiences, something as simple as extreme temperatures in the Sanctuary facility could be reminiscent of slavery to a survivor. As part of our trauma-informed approach, we want to make every effort to avoid that. That’s why our team has been making upgrades to the Sanctuary. We want each survivor to feel hope on her very skin when she arrives at the Sanctuary. This picture was in my mind when we recently installed the new HVAC equipment across the property. Click here to watch it happen!

Your support is making essential upgrades like these to the Sanctuary possible. Will you join us in preparing this place of hope and healing today?

Founder Featured on Truth Talk with Wendi

Our founder Kim Westfall was recently featured on the podcast Truth Talk with Wendi. In it, she discusses one of the urgent needs that inspired Uncaged.

"Experts kept coming up to me telling that they had just rescued 10, 12, even 20 survivors but then would pause and say, 'we could only find housing for half, the rest went back into trafficking.' I realized we could do so much better."

We are proud to say that we are doing better with support from people like you. Listen to the podcast to learn about our trauma-informed approach and Sanctuary model.