The Inspiring Story of Sr. Marie Claude Naddaf

Today I read a blog written by Sr. Joan Chittister, who writes for the National Catholic Reporter. I receive her weekly blogs, but sometimes get too busy to follow them. This one was entitled "The Nun and Glenn Beck: a Standoff," and you can find it HERE. I haven't gotten into any of the Glenn Beck stuff (why patronize him?) , but the "nun" part got me. I thought that Sr. Joan was going to take him on, but instead it was a WONDERFUL story about Sr. Marie Claude Naddaf, a Christian in Syria, whose ministry led her to serve the victims in the sordid world of human trafficking. What a story! Here's a portion of the blog:

Sr. Marie Claude Naddaf is here to receive the U.S. State Department's "International Women of Courage Award." Given to 10 women around the globe who have shown "exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and advancement," the awards purpose is to support women who are working for the equality of women everywhere.

Trained to be a social worker, she and her sisters are also trained to see the special needs of women and then do something about them. So, though she began her community's ministry in a center for adolescent girls -- teaching life skills, self-esteem and personal development -- she was also beginning to see the needs under their needs. She began to see that the self-esteem and personal development that her community tried to build up in women were being systematically destroyed, even in the home.

The domestic abuse of women made women domestic property everywhere. Not just in Syria, we know, but with a special twist there: In an 'honor culture,' the nerve of a woman to complain about the situation -- to be a bad wife--"dishonors" her family as much as the beatings dishonor her. This means there's no support for her from her family either. Marie Claude's work was cut out for her -- for anyone "with eyes to see and ears to hear," in fact. But few did....

o she opened the first shelters for beaten women in all of Syria and stood alone in that work for years. She began the first "Oasis Listening Center Hotline" to provide support for women in danger. She began programs in the shelter not simply to protect women physically but to provide psychological counseling, personal development courses, legal help and child care for them, as well....

Then, in 1996, she took a step that changed things again. This time for everyone.
She began, with the permission of the government, to visit women's prisons. She discovered there what few, if anyone, had ever bothered to notice before. Most of the women in prison for 'prostitution' or 'illegal entry' into the country were not prostitutes or border breakers at all. They were 'trafficked women.' They were women and girls who had been sold across national borders into the sex slave trade or seduced into it on the promise of a job or simply abducted into it off the streets as children.

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that every year anywhere from two to four million women or girls are sold across borders for the sake of commercial sex, abused laborers or servants. Of that number, 50,000 of them are brought to the United States where they are exploited, enslaved or physically violated. All of them without medical care or legal help.

Marie Claude won the right to have trafficked women in police custody released to a shelter rather than kept in prison. One month ago, thanks to the work of Marie Claude, Syria enacted its first law against the trafficking of human beings.

Of course, the trafficking of human beings goes on in our country too, and it takes many forms, in many places across the globe: • Forced Labor • Involuntary Domestic Servitude • Sex Trafficking • Child Sex Trafficking • Bonded Labor • Forced Child Labor • Child Soldiers • Debt Bondage Among Migrant Laborers. The U.S. State Department puts out an annual report that you can find HERE.

And the reference to Glenn Beck? If you're interested, check out Sr. Joan's blog.