Conifer resident Jeff Brodsky has spent a fair amount of time rescuing child sex workers from brothels in Third World countries.
Brodsky, founder of the Conifer-based nonprofit organization Joy International, sometimes finds himself in brothels, talking to the men who traffic in young girls to be used as sex slaves. He will candidly talk about the horrors that are visited upon these young girls, who are sometimes sold by their parents for as little as $50 on a promise of a better life.
Joy International is one of a few organizations that does rescues, he said. He said there are a couple of fundraisers planned for this coming summer that will help fund the work of Joy International.
Prior to that, there was a story on 9News about a kid who decided to go barefoot after listening to Dr. Brodsky give a presentation at this school. What was neat was to listen to Dr. Brodsky describe his experience at this school - as he was talking, the teachers started challenging the students to follow his example and go barefoot for at least 24 hours, then 2 days, then three days. As he kept giving his presentation, kids were taking their socks and shoes off right there in the school, and one student pledged to go for even longer. 9News interviewed him - see the video at the link below!
A few weeks ago, Cobi's school brought in a guest speaker - the founder of an organization that fights child sex trafficking across the globe. He challenged students to go barefoot for three days. Cobi felt a calling.
"This is a message between me and God now, saying, 'You can do hard things,'" he said. "Do Hard Things" is a theme at the school.
"I think in our culture, talk is cheap," Brent Glossinger, the school's director of discipleship, said.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill