Exhausted. Oppressed. Desperate.
When you tell the Christmas story, are these words that you would use to describe Mary? They jar with the traditional Nativity on Christmas cards. Classic depictions of the scene are worlds away from the desperation of trying to find a safe place to have a baby, of exhausting journeys or becoming refugees – they instead suggest a serene invitation to turn inwards towards the glowing Christ child, to leave the harsh realities outside.
For many of us, Christmas is a time for turning inwards to savour the blessings we are fortunate to have. But if this is all I glean from Christmas, I'm doing God's audacity a disservice. When we look at the Nativity, we're looking at a God who has gone out into a harsh world.
Around the world there are millions of mothers just as desperate as Mary was – many facing even harsher circumstances. Thaiyamma was one of them. Like Mary, her pregnancy was fraught with challenges, and like Mary, at nine months pregnant she was desperate for her child to be born somewhere safe.
But Thaiyamma was a slave.
Tricked into taking a loan of £12 to pay for their daughter's medical treatment, Thaiyamma and her husband had been trapped for three years in a woodcutting facility in South Asia.
After years in slavery, she says they began to live 'like zombies,' no longer able to care about their hygiene, food, or dreams for the future. During the day, they kept Lavanya, their young daughter, in a makeshift swing made out of an old sari. Lavanya had to watch as they toiled and were beaten.
Then Thaiyamma realised she was pregnant.
The slave-owner's abuse only got worse. Thaiyamma was exhausted and nauseous all the time, unable to rest or eat anything other than the fermented rice that was their only food. For the final six months of her pregnancy, she didn't feel her baby move once.
She knew that if she didn't act, her baby would die. Thaiyamma remembered how, years earlier, someone had seen their suffering and gave her the phone number of an International Justice Mission (IJM) investigator. At that time, the other labourers persuaded her to not risk upsetting the slave master. They were too terrified to speak up. Now things were different. Desperate, Thaiyamma found a way to contact IJM and begged for release.
IJM and local government officials arrived to the worksite and it was the heavily pregnant Thaiyamma who boldly stepped forward to describe all they had endured. Local authorities rescued the families and arrested the slave owner that same day. They were free at last.
Their son, Bablu, was born soon after, safe in a hospital bed. As she held him for the first time, Thaiyamma whispered in awe, 'I never knew I was going to see you. I never knew that I would meet you in freedom, and here you are.'
When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating the incredible compassion of a God who came to bring freedom, joy and peace.
Christmas is, in fact, an invitation – not to turn inward, away from the cold and suffering world outside - but to go out into the world and be part of bringing hope and freedom to those who need it most. We were all born for freedom. Some – like Thaiyamma – need it more literally than others.
This Christmas, will you send rescue to the millions of people around the world who are trapped in slavery and oppression?
Isabel Crawley is a communications assistant for IJM.
