Another Peak Conquered

 How do you tell a person they should expose that which they fear most to expose? 

This is the situation we find ourselves at Theodora Ghana Virtual Assistants. We have verified over and over with those we are test marketing. The fact this is a Social Impact Enterprise helping Women OUT of Sex Work is a major reason why clients consider working with us. It is not the only reason. We still need to do good work. But it is a major competitive advantage in selling our services and it is a major inducement for donors to contribute to our umbrella organization, Theodora Africa.

YET, for our participants, this is the LAST thing they want known. They have spent their young lives hiding what they were doing. This is especially true here in their home country, Ghana. We have been struggling to find the answer.

At a Board Meeting a couple of weeks ago, this challenge came up. This Board has one of my participants on it and one of our largest donors. Our donor made this statement to our participant.

"You are not that person any more. That person is gone. You are the young woman I see who is a professional, who each day is building her future. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You should be proud of what you have accomplished and are accomplishing."

A number of others on the Board related things they had been ashamed of but had learn to over come that shame and the strength they thought they had developed as a result.

 Fast forward to this week. I am working the Accra, Ghana Rotary system hard for support of the project. I went with this participant to an in-person Club meeting as she is a member of our Club to End Human Trafficking. We were meeting with the Club President. As we sat down with him, he began to focus his questions on my colleague. This was a moment of truth. How would she respond?

It was amazing. She looked him in the eye. She talked about the transformation she had undergone and others were going through. She did not shy away. She was courageous.

Another peak overcome.