EDENMade
I moved to SF in 2013 with a dream to create paths of
healing friendship with women sex workers. I was drawn to the strip clubs and
massage parlors. Came to understand that the women I met on the streets and in
the single-room “apartments” scattered throughout the Tenderloin all had their
stories of exploitation.
Many had sold their bodies as the last, remaining “resource”
in a life where both safety and safety nets were non-existent. Some grew up in
families where their boundaries had never, ever been protected or respected.
How would they know their bodies were their Own? How would they understand that
NO is an answer? Children whose boundaries were violated grew into women
without boundaries.
Sex work was a means of survival.
I saw, in real time, that “sex trafficking” wasn’t just a
problem “over there” somewhere. It was – and IS – a current, RIGHT NOW crisis
for women on street corners and small town "gentlemen's clubs." In massage parlors and escort services and hotels and truck stops
and on college campuses. It is HERE and it is NOW.
Because Justice Matters is establishing the foundation for
EDENMade, our official ministry dedicated to reaching women in sex work through
relationship, resources and presence.
Our team – Lynae Byler (Nurse, leader, connector-of-people,
healer, one of 12 children in a Pennsylvania Mennonite family....a power house woman) and Karina Espina (a Venezuelan, bi-lingual, recovery-informed firebrand who lives on a
sail boat in Alameda harbor with her beloved husband and partner James).
We are nurturing a small group of volunteers. Developing a
training process. Collecting make-up for “outreach” gift bags. Praying a LOT.
We've been meeting monthly with volunteers to pray. Plan a training for folks ready to "sign on the dotted line" and other interested Bay Area folks this spring or early summer. By fall, we will start monthly, focused "getting to know you" outreach in one strip club - probably the New Century...about 5 blocks from the YWAM base at the corner of Larkin and O'Farrell.
This is an answer to prayer that began in 2010. It is a big
reason why I moved to San Francisco. It is HAPPENING and God is in it!
Want to know more? Want to come to San Francisco and join our team? Want to pray or send gift bag bling or support me financially? Let me know.
julia@becausejusticematters.org
608-332 6056
357 Ellis Street
San Francisco, California 94102
608-332 6056
357 Ellis Street
San Francisco, California 94102
