The Art of Healing
By Rebecca Grant
In February, 1998, I was 17 in Bombay, India. I walked down an alley in the heart of the city with my parents, and stepped into an apartment where a group of 12 girls awaited us. I remember these girls all being around my age—the youngest was 11 and the oldest was probably 20. We were welcomed with smiling faces and an atmosphere that is hard to describe. Peace. But with a quiet joy that I like to think comes from finding real love after a life of Hell. These twelve girls were all former prostitutes or their daughters, and had been rescued by members of Bombay Teen Challenge.
I grew up as an MK in both India and Belgium. I was always a creative kid who didn’t fit any sort of mold. I pestered my parents with “why” questions about God from the time I could talk, drew artistic “masterpieces” on restaurant placemats, wrote agonizing songs on my guitar in the middle of the night, loved modern dance, and had a serious case of wanderlust. I was an artist. But if I ever thought that being an artist meant I didn’t have a place in ministry, my parents promptly squelched that idea. In what seemed like the life–defining decision of what to major in, my parents didn’t lean toward the safe. I don’t know how many people stuttered, “…A theatre degree? Wow … so … what are you going to do with that?” But my mom would tell me, “Rebecca, don’t worry about a job title. Get trained in what you love, then let God decide how to use it.” So that’s what I did. I completed my degree in Drama–Speech Education in Theatre at Evangel University and then went on to earn my Master of Arts in Theatre at Missouri State University. All that while I vacillated between plans to teach and plans to direct professional theatre, often wondering, “What about Project Rescue?” Every time I saw Anderson Cooper or Oprah Winfrey tell the American public about the horrendous issue of human trafficking around the world I itched—and chaffed—to go. I wanted to be involved, yet I didn’t have a degree in counseling and I wasn’t a minister. What could I do?
I traveled to Ukraine in November 2005 to meet with Sergey Ostrenko, a theatre director who conducts workshops using theatre for psychological healing. After witnessing the powerful impact that rehearsal and performance could have, I was stunned to find few Christians working in this manner anywhere in the world. How much more can be done for a damaged life through performance therapy that incorporates the healing power of Christ?
Through my masters thesis I developed a project with teenage victims of serious abuse entitled “Project Impression”, using creativity and performance as a vehicle for healing and growth. This year I will tailor the same project to serve with five different prostitutes and their daughters, writing poetry and scripts, creating song and movement, and working as an ensemble to express past experiences as well as who those young women are now — in Christ!
My work in performance therapy will be part of the restoration process for girls who have been rescued and live in our Homes of Hope. The project is designed to foster expression, creativity and the development of stronger relationships with one another. I hope through each project that these courageous girls will develop the ability to express themselves, work through their personal, emotional and psychological struggles, and develop a strong, supportive environment with one another.
You’ve heard it before, but God truly made you with specific talents and passions for a reason. I could never have known that I could use my theatre training in such a meaningful and relevant way in missions! Only through my research and directing experience have I discovered a unique method of using the arts with victims of abuse and trafficking. Working in sensitive countries and in such a unique field, it is so important that I have this experience and education to back up what we do. The most profound discovery of my life has been the recent realization that God has not asked me to deny who I am, but to embrace it, and then to surrender myself to him. Nothing could bring me greater joy. Nothing.
Rebecca Grant grew up as a missionary kid in Belgium and India. She moved back to the U.S. after graduating high school, and received her B.S. in Drama-Speech Education from Evangel University. After substitute teaching and working for the Conference for Women in Ministry, Rebecca earned her Masters in Theatre Arts from Missouri State University. In 2006 she began working with Project Rescue, a ministry to girl victims of forced prostitution. She currently resides in India, where she works with Project Rescue, using the arts as a tool for healing for young girls who have been rescued from the Red Light District. She feels closest to her parents, David and Beth, sister, Jennifer, and dog, Bernie. Rebecca’s parents David and Beth Grant served hand in hand with K.K. Devaraj as the founders and visionaries of Project Rescue. You may contact Rebecca at rebeccagrant@pactec.net. Follow along with Rebecca through her online journal. Rescue Arts.
Did You Know…
90 percent of the 100,000 women in prostitution in Bombay are indentured slaves. There are 300,000 – 500,000 children in prostitution in India. The U.S. State Department estimates that as many as 20,000 men, women and children are trafficked into the nation each year, many for sexual exploitation.