INDIA
in song
BY HILLARY KELLEY
listen online
MISSIONS
Her team also worked with women who were commercial sex
workers (CSW) at the time of their mission by putting on programs and singing songs. “It was really hard...it was always like
there was this elephant in the room—just knowing we were all
laughing and having a good time, but also knowing that evening,
they were most likely going to have to work on the streets,” said
Dobbelmann. “It was almost to the point of bringing me to tears
right there, but we gotta keep our composure and just love on
these women.”
Dobbelmann had worked with young girls caught up in the bonds
of prostitution before in the U.S., but she admitted that this trip
stretched her much further than before, and God helped her get
through all of the emotions so she could do His work through her.
“I had very strong feelings of just abandoning my life in America,
moving to India and devoting my life to fighting for these women.
God had to do a lot of realigning my thought processes, reminding me that I am called to be a voice for the voiceless in America
in this season. None of that is trivial as long as we are following
the heart of God for His direction in our lives,” wrote Dobbelmann on her blog.
Mandy Dobbelmann, a singer/songwriter who calls Los Angeles her
home, traveled to India with Rahab’s Rope this past year. As a child,
she visited many countries on lengthy mission trips with her family,
who is filled to the brim with musical talent. Dobbleman has
continued to have a heart for helping others ever since.
“As I get older, I see the importance of going in and establishing
roots and disciplining, training, making sure [those in need] are
plugged in with local churches,” Dobbleman says.
She knew that God had called her for a season to India specifically, so Mandy logged onto Google, searched for organizations she
could connect with, and found Rahab’s Rope, a missions organization based in Gainesville, Ga. Once she talked with the founder,
Vicki Moore, she decided to become a part of the ministry. In the
beginning, she thought she would hear all the stories from women
and write songs about the experiences. “But God turned that on
its head in a really awesome way,” said Dobbelmann.
Dobbelmann connected with a young girl around 12, who was at
high risk for being trafficked.
“Meeting her and putting a face to a statistic that we usually just
see as a number was really amazing,” said Dobbelmann.
When she came back to Los Angeles, Dobbelmann picked up her
guitar and prayed about the writing process of her song, “Kimti
Laraki” The song, its title Hindi for “precious one,” was influenced
by the story of a girl who was sold into trafficking at age 17 by her
own aunt.
“On the first night, she was raped and beaten and left naked, lying
in a field...and went back to her family, [who] rejected her and
she ended up on the streets, pregnant and alone, and that’s when
Rahab’s Rope found her,” said Dobbelmann.
“That was one of the nights, after I heard the story, where I went
to bed and was just really broken for her.”
Dobbelmann wanted desperately to be able to share this girl’s tragic story in a way that wouldn’t be for her own benefit as a singer/
songwriter, but would open people’s eyes to the struggle and
suffering of others.
“[Kimit Laraki] is not even specifically about her story,” said Dobbelmann. “It’s more of me trying to speak God’s heart to culture.”
Though she has not recorded the song in the studio just yet, you
can here her rough cut on her website at www.mandydmusic.com/
the-uspoken-stories/.
Hillary served as an intern for Rahab’s Rope, a missions organization
focused on helping sex trafficking victims. She wrote this piece while
working for the organization.
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