Every donation before March 31st is doubled. Your gift funds long-term, trauma-informed care that restores lives.
*Name changed for privacy
She had no idea what was coming…
Linh wasn’t taken off the street. She was a devoted mother, a professional, a woman with ambition for her future.
But abandoned by her husband far from home — with no money, no language, and no one to call — she became exactly what traffickers look for.
She dreamed of opportunity and adventure – instead she found herself trapped, alone, and desperate to survive.
Finding exploited women and children and bringing traffickers to justice.
Comprehensive survivor care including safe housing, trauma counselling, and love that restores dignity.
Prevention training with communities to stop exploitation before it starts.
Linh was educated, professionally accomplished, and building a life she was proud of. She was raising her young son with her husband in Vietnam, and when he suggested they move abroad for new opportunities, she said yes without hesitation.
She believed in their future together. She believed it would be an adventure. She couldn’t have been more wrong.
In a country where she didn’t speak the language and had no support network, Linh’s husband changed and one day, he simply vanished — taking their son with him. Linh was alone in a foreign country with no legal status, no savings, and no one to call.
Desperate to survive and desperate to find her son, Linh took the first job she could find. Her employer used her vulnerability against her. He withheld her wages. He isolated her. And then he used her terror of losing her son to sexually exploit her.
Linh was held hostage.
Not with locked doors or literal chains, but with leverage. Without the job — and whatever it took to keep it — she would lose her visa and any chance of staying in the country to fight for her child.
This is what human trafficking actually looks like.
It hides in plain sight. It exploits the people already on the edge. And it’s often not a stranger — it’s an employer, a partner, someone in a position of power.
Linh pictured above (left) with her counsellor.
Restoration isn’t a single breakthrough moment
Linh eventually fled and returned to Vietnam carrying trauma she could barely name. The confident, capable woman she had once been felt like a stranger to her. That’s when she was referred to Hagar.
Over two years, Linh received specialized, trauma-informed care through Hagar. No one judged her past. For the first time in years, she had a safe place to slowly reclaim her future.
Today, Linh is working again. And she has been able to reconnect with her son through phone and video calls.
“I no longer see myself as a complete failure. I have rediscovered the independent, hardworking person I once was. When I think about the past, it no longer controls my present.”
Recovery is the careful, steady rebuilding of dignity with people who show up and consistently stay through the long, quiet work of healing.Right now, other women are still inside the silence, still believing they have no way out.
Every dollar you give funds the kind of sustained care that actually changes lives.
Please make Canadian cheques payable to The Great Commission Foundation. In the memo line indicate 1266 Hagar USA.
Mailing Address:
The Great Commission Foundation
PO Box 14006
Abbotsford, B.C. V2T 0B4
We are grateful for your support! Hagar USA is a ministry of The Great Commission Foundation (the “Foundation”). The Foundation operates on the basis of Donor-Advised Funding. This means donors let the Foundation know which ministry they would like to support, especially if there is a specific ministry donors are passionate about. While the Foundation tries to fulfil donor’s wishes , final decisions about how funds are used are made by the Foundation. The Foundation is required to ensure that all funds are used to support charitable activities and meet applicable compliance requirements. If the Foundation is unable to use the donation in the manner preferred by the donor, the donation will not be refunded and used at the Foundation’s discretion.