The 50th-annual RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) saw 20,000+ cyclists ride their bicycles across the great state of Iowa, from West to East, 400+ miles. This July 2023 event served as an opportunity to Ends of the Earth Cycling to send a Christ-centered team to join alongside the myriad of riders from all across the world. Twenty-eight cyclists and 5 support staff spent 7, hot days on course, and made much of Jesus together. They were not simply riding on their own accord, but for young people that She is Safe works with. She is Safe founder, Michele R. joined the team as Support Staff and talked with us each night about the work She is Safe is doing. Our prayer focus was primarily on Nepal, but we also learned about their work in India and beyond.
Recently, we received a powerful update from She is Safe about a young girl named Zoya* and how her life was and is being transformed. We invite you to read her story below. We invite you to pray for her and the countless other “Zoyas” that She is Safe is trying to help. We invite you to #PrayPedalRepeat with us a future tour to help transform the lives of global youth, in Jesus’ Name.
Zoya* narrowly escaped being trafficked when her parents were approached with a proposition: a couple was looking to purchase a girl to be their daughter. Traffickers frequently use tactics like these to prey upon desperate families. They trick girls and their parents and then sell those girls into slavery.
Families like hers who live in tea picker communities in India and Nepal are on the fringe, subsisting on little or no pay – without hope of any options other than putting their daughters to work in the fields. Their managers may also be their landlords who frequently refuse to pay them, essentially making them slaves. Young girls like Zoya are vulnerable to being sexually assaulted while they are working.
Zoya began working in a tea plantation at 15 years old, so instead of going to school, she would wake up early and work 15-hour days harvesting tea leaves. “If we did not work, we did not eat,” Zoya said. After working long days in dangerous conditions and brutal heat, she would return home and try to educate herself.
Through her connection with our co-workers, Zoya learned of an opportunity to work at the She Is Safe-sponsored Girls Home where she invests her life into rescued girls and experiences the light of Christ daily. She is in 12th grade and able to save money for herself. She has a safe and loving environment where she can grow and thrive.
Besides her internship, Zoya is able to attend school and is supported in her education. She is leveraging her unique talents and abilities to bless others. Her path to slavery has been prevented, and for the first time, she envisions a lifetime of freedom.
*She Is Safe uses representative names and photos to protect the dignity and security
of those we serve.
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Because
We are an active bicycling community impacting youth globally. We give people who want to change the world opportunities to use cycling to bring the hope of the Gospel to global youth through multi-day, Christ-centered bicycling tours.
New International
Attn: Ends of the Earth Cycling
2701 Cleveland Ave. #200
Fort Myers, FL 33901
