The above picture is of my new FAVORITE Christian singer - Nicole C. Mullen. We were blessed to see her perform at the Women of Faith Conference this past May and also to meet her. She is an amazing lady. One of the things she is involved in, I wanted to tell you about. She works with an organization called the International Needs Ghana (there is a link to their website on the left). They work with Trokosi slaves in Ghana. These are women who have been enslaved since they were little girls. Nicole says that what happens is a "fetish prist" in the villiage will come to a family and say, "Your ancestors have sinned against the gods. The only way to appease them and keep the spirit of death from coming to your house is for you to give up one of your virgin daughters." So, the family gives up one of their girls - she may be 5 or 6 years old. They send her away with the priest. She stays there until she dies. Most of the women bear children for the priest; they're his property. He can rape them, he can beat them, he can starve them. the IN Network goes in and negotiates with the priest. Once he releases them, they are free." The IN Network has a school that teaches these women to provide for themselves. They learn to sew and bake, make soap, and other things. Nicole says that when she heard of the plight of these women, she thought, "How dare I remain silent?" She says, "I can't do everything but I can do something. And my something is to make people aware and send them to where they can be of help to other people across the globe."

God has connected our family to Ghana in many ways over the past several months. This is one of the ministries that is dear to my heart, and I wanted to tell you all about it. Again, you can find out more about it at the IN Network website or at nicolecmullen.com. On Nicole's website you can see the video for her song, "Freedom" which was filmed in Ghana with the Trokosi women who have been freed. Check it out - it's such an awesome song! I want to play African drums like they do!