Red Carpet Centre for Women at Risk: “When we first noticed Nadya, she sat on the sand covered in filth. It was evident that she had lived on the street for a long time. She and other girls beside her were visibly high on heroine. Under the influence of the drugs, Nadya wasn’t able to hold conversation. We noticed she wasn’t able to stop touching toes that were red and swollen with sores. She sat and continuously rubbed them due to the pain. Our team left feeling sad and helpless. As we walked away a vision was birthed to open a center where women like Nadya could receive help and a pedicure/manicure.”

Deep in the heart of Tel Aviv, many wounded women live in a parallel world of brothels and drug dealers. Trafficking of women is one of the major areas of international crime in Israel today. According to Rabbi Levi Li’or, director of Atzum, a local organization working to prevent trafficking in Israel, trafficking and prostitution in Israel began to be a problem in the late 90’s when a group of about 40 sex slavers made up of Arab Israelis, Russian Israelis, and people from local crime families established a sex trafficking ring. There is even a small brothel operating with 8-10 girls who are being sold for sex. 90% of the women in prostitution have been sexually and violently abused at a young age through incest and rape, or have faced other types of abuse. What these women and young girls are going through is horrific, traumatizing, degrading and inhumane. In the midst of the devastation of these precious women, the Red Carpet Centre offers help. Through this centre some prostitutes have managed to save their babies from abortion or begin the process of rehabilitation.

The Red Carpet Centre is a large facility that provides a safe place to sleep, shower and receive food, medical treatment, clothes, job training and counselling. At present, 20 – 30 prostitutes come for assistance when the Centre is open. The Centre also operates a 24/7 hotline for women in crisis. ICEJ Canada truly appreciates the opportunity we have to sponsor this Centre as a beacon of hope for broken women in Israel.