| Most people who come to “Women’s
Shelter HELP” are either foreign women who are victims of
human trafficking and have been forced to prostitute themselves
and who have run away for help to their respective embassies,
or women (many of them with their children) who have run away
from their abusive husbands. But recently there has been an increase
in Japanese women in their 50s and 60s who have suddenly lost
their home or have been living out on the streets. Perhaps it’s
the effect of the depressed economy, and though of course each
person has a different story, I am reminded that it is a reality
that could happen to anyone at any time. There are even some young
women who have been emotionally and psychologically traumatized
and are unable to adapt and return to society and thus have resorted
to street life.
HELP is a emergency shelter, so in principle the women do not
stay long. Appropriate arrangements are made either by helping
them return to their own country or by helping them achieve their
own independence by finding them apartments or moving them to
a facility where they can stay longer to get back on their own
feet. When the women are feeling much more positive about life
than when they first came to the facility and leave to start their
new life with a smile, we staff members always have mixed feelings
of happiness for their new life but a touch of loneliness that
they are leaving when we exchange our goodbyes.
In the background of all this, there are many women who are actually
held hostage because of their illegal immigration status in Japan;
these women are being sold and exploited like slaves. Despite
the fact that the organization or the individuals who are involved
in their trafficking trample on these women’s human rights,
their illegal actions continue to go unpunished, because in Japan
there is no law that restricts or punishes human trafficking.
In fact, it is these organizations and individuals who are putting
these women’s immigration status in jeopardy; yet even when
they are arrested, they are only punished for “employing
individuals of illegal immigration status” and nothing else.
Since HELP is an NGO, we are able to handle women who are rejected
from the state-funded institutions as well as those foreigners
who are reported to the immigration office because of having overstayed
their visa. Despite the destiny of an NGO to have limited funds,
the staff here are all giving their best to help these women.
Any and all contributions are always welcome and appreciated.
I appreciate your faithful support which allows me to continue
my ministry with my work at HELP for women facing many difficult
problems.
Yukiko Altman
(translated by Erin Altman)
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 92 |
