TALITHA KUM SISTER

Talitha Kum Sister –  Sister Téodora Rose Bakhita, T.K.                                                                                            † A global network of salvation changing the landscape of human trafficking †                                “Human trafficking injures humanity with brutal violence.”     –  Pope Francis                                     “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.”   –  an Ethiopian proverb                                                                                      “Love gives life.”

Foundresses:  Sister Estrella Castalone, F.M.A.  (Philippines)                                                                                         Sister Gabriella Bottani, S.M.C.  (Italy)

Place:  Rome, Italy

Year:  2009 A.D.

Her Charism:  This “Disciple of Hope” belongs to a network of over 2,000 women religious throughout the world who devote their lives to the victims and survivors of human trafficking.  Talitha Kum’s aim is to combat the scourge of this enslavement which is one of the greatest moral challenges of our time.  This “inter-congregational army of fearless nuns” gets its name from a passage in the Gospel of Mark when Jesus takes the hand of Jairus’ daughter who was thought to be dead.  Jesus speaks to her in Aramaic and affectionately calls her “Daughter.”  Jesus says, “Talitha Kum”- “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”  This passage demonstrates that healing, hope, and new life come through a relationship with Jesus.  He is not only the God Who goes in search of the lost lambs;  He is the the God Who steps through the fabric of eternity to save His children, to hold them in His grasp, and breathe back life into them.  It also demonstrates that the little girl’s “death” was a temporary state and that compassion and mercy have the transformative powers which “awaken” the deep desire for dignity and life which may lie dormant and injured by the many forms of exploitation.  While the Sisters live and work on the ground in the very communities where trafficking takes place, each Sister shares one mission:  to rid the world of this evil through a sustained focus on Prevention, Protection, and Social Rehabilitation.  Her work is to keep abusers from trampling on people’s God-given dignity and worth and depriving them of their liberty by treating them as objects, merchandise, cheap labor, or commodities.  This Sister is out on the street raising awareness, making contact with victims, providing refuges for women fleeing their captors, offering safe houses for women and children, counseling, legal assistance, and advocacy services, as well as training in vocational skills.  Her mission is to stand beside those with wounded dignity and let them know they are not forgotten.  This goes for the young fishermen in Thailand and the children working in the mines of Ghana as well as for the “ladies of the night.”  It is her small gestures of tenderness and compassion, private conversations, and whispered prayers that have the power to usher meaningful change with an ancient form of slavery in modern disguise.  This Sister assists in helping survivors journey toward freedom, recover from and rise above the horrors they have suffered trying to flee from poverty and hunger, and achieve a fulfilling life as they re-enter society.