With no husband, but several children as a result of being sexually exploited many times, life has been difficult for Saffi.  Not long ago Saffi was fortunate to receive a microcredit loan from another non-governmental organization (NGO) that had an economic development program for people with disabilities.  She purchased her market food items and set up her small selling table near her “home” – a small room she rents from an ill-tempered landlord.  Her landlord came by her table each day to demand some of her market items from her.  She complied, afraid of eviction if she refused him.  The landlord, however, became more and more demanding, until she knew that her business would completely fail if she continued to give away her market and she would be forced to default on her loan.  Oone day she worked up the courage to refuse.  The angry landlord told her that she would pay for her refusal. 

A few days later, Saffi’s 12-year-old daughter was playing with the landlord’s preschool-aged son.  The little boy fell and cut his eyebrow on a stone while they were playing, so Saffi’s daughter picked him up and carried him on piggy-back to his father and explained what had happened.  The landlord became incensed at the girl, jerked the boy off of her back and threw the girl on the ground.  He proceeded to stomp on the girl with his feet, until she was bruised and bleeding.  She limped to her mother and explained what happened.  Saffi couldn’t afford any medical care for her daughter, so she treated her at home, but the girl had been permanently crippled by the severity of her injuries.

 
As Saffi related the recent incident to us, silent tears made their way down her haggard face.  When one of our staff asked for her address so that the landlord could be confronted and justice brought about, Saffi cried harder.  “No!” she yelled.  “Please don’t come to my house or do anything to my landlord.  He will drive us out of the house and we’ll have nowhere to live!  Or he may do something worse!  Please don’t!” 

Her impassioned pleas only made us more certain that something must be done, but she became so upset that we let it go for the moment.  Our staff will continue to pursue options for her and her children.  Without recourse and with no one to advocate for them, Saffi and other women like her are at the mercy of cruel landlords or others who would choose to exploit them financially, sexually and emotionally. 

Psalm 82:3 tells us to “defend the cause of the weak and fatherless and maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.”  This is a call we must answer – for Saffi, and for hundreds of others like her and her daughter.  Will you join us as we advocate for women like Saffi and her daughter, who will now grow up to be a woman with a disability as well?

Back