“Transformation is indeed possible,” I thought after seeing pictures of women doing livelihood projects together. Ate Deb Meyer, one of my spiritual mentors, told me and a few other UP Diliman Navigators students that these are women in transition from the streets and bars to a new life in Christ. It seemed an obscure but worthwhile endeavor to me at that time. I was encouraged by the hand of God in the women’s lives although I did not know exactly how I could take part in its movement. I prayed about it. This was my first encounter with the ministry of Samaritana.

The opportunity came in 2002 when I started as a part-time advocacy assistant and writer for Samaritana. When I began doing legislative advocacy work, I also had to facilitate some information sessions with the women in the center and go the streets at night to meet those who are still trapped in the flesh trade. I realized that transformation through God is not only necessary and possible for the women in prostitution but also for the structures and communities that surround them.

My task is to assist in mobilizing community leaders to be proactive in providing solutions to prostitution in their localities, networking with groups (from women’s groups to Christian groups) that have the same burden for women in prostitution, and in actively looking for venues to invite church leaders to partner with us as we do the work. I also get to share my skills to our women trainees and listen to their stories of faith in our daily activities at the center. The work is growing bigger after the passage of the Anti-Trafficking Law in 2003 and recently, the Quezon City Anti-Prostitution Ordinance that I decided to go full-time in 2004. Also, I started helping out in Samaritana’s resource development program, specifically in communications, late last year.

When I see glimpses of transformation in the vibrant and hopeful eyes of a woman and when a barangay leader, police officer or pastor commits to join us in the frontline, I am always encouraged to go on with my work. What sustains me most of all is knowing that I am only a vessel of clay that God uses to “make His light shine out of darkness.” This is “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from me.” (2 Cor. 4:6-7, NIV)