What is your greatest dream? 

When survivors of human trafficking are welcomed into the shelter of the Open Door Foundation in Bucharest, Romania, the staff often ask, “What is your greatest dream?”

The women who enter Open Door are greeted by the aroma of delicious homemade meals and the assurance of a safe place to sleep. The hospitality of current residents, the laughter of young children playing, and the care of an incredible team of social workers, guards, lawyers, and psychologists who comprise the ministry’s staff inspire hope in the women. When team members hear each survivor’s dreams, they earnestly look for answers God provides to fulfill these dreams. One answer is a promise to each survivor that Open Door will do two things: throw them a graduation party when they complete their schooling and buy their wedding dress if they decide to get married in the future.

Beauty from Brokenness

Since 2012, the Open Door Foundation has worked with survivors of human trafficking in Romania by providing the one and only emergency shelter in the country, in addition to long-term care and transitional programming for men, women, and children. Residents of the shelter are provided with holistic services that are contextualized to help them recover and heal from being trafficked.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that enables perpetrators to profit from the control and exploitation of others, and it is often perpetuated through emotional, physical, and psychological manipulation. Currently, an estimated 50 million men, women, and children are trafficked around the world. Many of the survivors at Open Door were trafficked and enslaved through faked relationships (often called the “lover boy” scheme, where traffickers gain trust through a false romantic pretense) or by threats of violence to family members. Such tactics make modern-day slavery harder to identify since individuals are enslaved through fear and manipulation rather than with chains.

The Open Door Foundation began serving human trafficking survivors because of this specific reality of modern-day slavery. Without an emergency shelter in Romania, law enforcement officials lacked a safe place to house women and children who were attempting to escape trafficking, which significantly increased the chances of being trafficked again. By providing a safe and stable home, Open Door has helped reduce the instances of being trafficked again, as well as increasing the number of criminal convictions of traffickers with Open Door’s incredible team of lawyers.

As a part of the ministry’s 18-month residential program, women are provided with therapy, medical care, legal assistance, and support in learning how to engage in everyday life activities such as parenting, conflict resolution, cooking, and laundry. They are also provided with a weekly allowance to support their growth in independence and the time and space to heal before finding a job. Additionally, each woman is supported in pursuing her “greatest dreams” through enrollment in programs such as flight attendant school, public speaking, hair styling, photography, and the culinary arts.

Ana*, a graduate of Open Door and survivor of human trafficking, now actively fights against this injustice. Through the support of Open Door and a Nazarene Missions Team, Ana received vocational training to work as a flight attendant, and she is now a trainer for law enforcement agencies in identifying signs of human trafficking. Ana, in pursuing her own dreams for justice and life transformation, is also bringing about justice and transformation in the lives of other survivors.

Monica Boseff, executive director of the Open Door Foundation, describes the ministry as an embodiment of the Japanese art of kintsugi, where liquid gold is used to repair broken pottery. Just as the gold brings beauty from the brokenness of the teapot or cup in kintsugi, God has been at work bringing beauty from brokenness in each of the over 1,240 women, men, and children that have been served by Open Door since 2012.

“At the end of the program,” said Monica, “we want each survivor to walk out that front door knowing who she is in Christ, how beautiful she is, and with her dignity and independence restored. We want survivors to remember that they are loved for who they are.”

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Radical Generosity

A beautiful example of the life change that happens at Open Door is exemplified in how new survivors are welcomed into the shelter. Along with a welcome pack of essential toiletries and clothes, a new resident is welcomed with a gift of three items from every other resident—a gift for the body, one for the mind, and one for the soul. The goal? To empower each woman in her independence and generosity as she selects three of her own belongings with which to bless the new resident.

Susan* was a recipient of this hospitality when she entered the emergency shelter, and she initially found it difficult to accept such radical generosity from the staff and residents. She experienced this generosity further when, at Christmas, she was gifted a beautiful new set of pajamas. Susan quickly fell in love with this Christmas gift, so much so that she barely wore this treasured gift in order to keep it in pristine condition. Because of her meticulous care for her pajamas, Susan surprised everyone a few months later when she gifted them as part of her welcome gift to a new survivor entering Open Door. When asked why she would give away one of her most treasured belongings, Susan explained to the others, “Do you remember how I was when I got here? I had nothing, and you all gave me so much. I want to do the same.”

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Answered Prayers

Inside their shelter sits a basket filled with river stones. Each features a message written by a resident or staff member to represent an answered prayer or miracle. Open Door is a ministry built firmly on a foundation of prayer. God has proven his faithfulness through the life transformation of individual survivors and in the amazing ways he has tangibly answered prayers at the ministry throughout the years. One of those answered prayers has a well-known name: IKEA.

When Ukraine was invaded by Russia in 2022, Open Door immediately responded by helping house 66 at-risk refugees from Ukraine in a local Nazarene church in Bucharest. The women in the ministry’s residential shelter offered up their own beds to help the Ukrainians fleeing war. God showed up unexpectedly when the leadership team at IKEA offered to support their refugee response.

“From napkins to the beds,” remembered Monica, “IKEA provided everything we needed to house these refugees, including a washer, dryer, and refrigerator.”

Answered prayers also include the 19 babies born to mothers in Open Door’s programming and the numerous salvations and baptisms they have witnessed as survivors. . .“embrace God and God’s love so fiercely,” said Monica. “Those who have been rescued from the pit of hell by God’s grace and mercy know how to shout at their baptisms, ‘I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God.’”

Survivors receiving new life in Christ.

New babies are born outside the cycle of human trafficking.

Refugees find a safe community of support in a foreign country.

This is the “kintsugi” work of God’s kingdom, as beauty is forged out of brokenness, and the Holy Spirit breathes new life and healing into the women, men, and children who participate in Open Door’s residential and non-residential programming every day.

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Future Dreams

Monica said her greatest dream for Open Door is a farm.

A farm would allow their future residents to grow and raise their own food while also providing sustainability for the compassionate ministry. Other hopes and dreams for the ministry include solar panels to decrease utility costs for their residential and transitional housing and partnerships with new Nazarene Missions Teams in the coming years. Each of these would help solidify the future of their ministry and the survivors they serve.

They are focused on the future as Open Door guides individuals, families, and communities beyond their past toward a new and beautiful future.

“From the moment they enter Open Door, we tell each person that the days of calling yourself a victim are over,” Monica said. “Here, you are a survivor. And you are tomorrow’s fighter.”

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Get Involved

Interested in learning more and partnering with anti-human trafficking efforts?

  • Journey with your church small group through this new Bible study on Human Trafficking from The Foundry Publishing
  • Memorize and share the National Human Trafficking Hotline phone number in your country.
  • NCM: https://ncm.org/antitrafficking
  • Plan a Nazarene missions trip to the Open Door Foundation.
  • Invite a member of Open Door’s staff to provide a training workshop for your church or district.
  • Pray for and support Open Door Foundation

* Names have been changed to protect the individual’s identity.

-article shared from the latest NCM Magazine and is written by Jeremy Height,