by Wade Landers
Executive Director
Working with boys who were trafficked for sex means we have to deal with a lot of issues. There is often physical abuse, mental abuse and of course sexual abuse. The technical word is trauma, and the boys often arrive to our Blackbox home having never dealt with any of their painful experiences. There is fear, denial and anger. A lot of anger.
But what makes restoration work most difficult is the shame involved in what has happened. That shame seems to always be present. At Blackbox, we work hard to protect the identity of the boys to not expose them to even more shame.
Because of that, here’s what I can’t tell you: their names.
But I can tell you that they each have a story, and that the story is changing. I can tell you they are finding hope. I can tell you they have a future, and that the shame they feel now is being replaced by understanding the honor they have as one created by the Creator of the universe!
Still, everybody needs a name, so I have a name I use each time I think about the boys. I hear it pronounced in Spanish, which is fitting since our first home is located in a Spanish-speaking country. It is a common name in the Dominican Republic.
And yet, it’s the most important name that can come to mind when thinking about the boys.
It’s the name that brings healing from trauma and freedom from shame.
Jesús.