Intervention

These are the ministries that we have created in order to INTERVENE where sex trafficking and sexual exploitation already exist, to bring God’s love and light to a world in deep need.

Hope
House

Hope House is our day-time refuge located in the Red Light District of San José. We acquired a building that we use as a day-time refuge for women in prostitution there. Our main objectives there are:

  1. To create an escape from the tumultuous environment of the Red Light District, even if only for a cup of coffee, a prayer and a shower.
  2. To house the Free the Girls project (see below) and train women who are in prostitution skills and character qualities required to keep jobs, in order for them to have the opportunity to leave prostitution.
  3. To be a refuge of hope within a community of darkness, and present the gospel to those who may never be in a place where they can hear it.

Face of Justice is bringing Free the Girls job training program to Costa Rica to empower victimized women and teen girls to start a new life for themselves by establishing their own micro-enterprise selling bras. Each woman is offered the initial inventory of bras to start her own small business in a local second-hand clothing market. Bras are considered a luxury and command the highest price of any second-hand clothing item. The program allows women to begin to leave the streets and avoid contact with men through the sale of bras.

Our jewelry project, also called aretesperanza gives the women in the Red Zone a holistic business opportunity to escape the otherwise forced situation of prostitution. We strive to give our women a hope for a more advantageous future – economically, relationally, spiritually, and emotionally. 

When our women come to jewelry class, they have an incentive to arrive on time and work efficiently. They are allowed to keep 40% of their own handiwork to sell in their own creative ways, while the other 60%, we keep in our stock for purchase. Our proceeds go towards material and program costs, to keep the profit margin for the women high. Our business model is teaching them the values of responsibility, commitment, consistency, quality, ownership, and professionalism.

In addition to the job training provided in our partnership with Free the Girls and our Jewelry Project, our heart is to teach the women in the Red Light District that they were created to create. We want to empower the women with life skills that include sewing classes with varying skill-levels to accomplish, art therapy, bible studies, group therapy and personal counseling. The objective is to teach these women that there is hope and also a possibility for other avenues of having an income.

Street Ministry

The fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation can be overwhelming. The method that we have chosen to encounter the problem head on is to build relationships with the victims and the people who are most vulnerable to it. Face of Justice is committed to going to the streets of downtown San José where we build relationships with the prostituted men, women and children there. Almost every other part of our ministry stems from taking 15 staff and volunteers to roam the streets of San José and serve coffee and cookies twice a week into the late hours of the night when our friends are on the streets the most. A hot cup of coffee, a good hug from a friend and a prayer from a powerful God is often all these men and women need to invite them out of the darkness in which they live.

1 +
cookies distributed

Ágape
House

Casa Agape is a home where everyone from the streets is welcomed to experience the unconditional love of God.

When we encounter people in prostitution on the streets (during the ministry previously mentioned), we only have about ten minutes to have a conversation with them. For most of them, our prayer for them on the streets is the only time they are consciously in the presence of God. Most are not comfortable walking into traditional churches, so we have a “street church” service twice a month that is open and inviting to anyone and everyone: people in prostitution, transvestites, homeless people, their families, street kids, etc. Anyone can come and will be loved fully. With the help of local pastors, a local church building, local worship leaders and local volunteers, we put on this service including worship, a short talk, and dinner together. The idea is to give them a longer opportunity to be submersed in the presence of God, and learn what it means to be a part of a community of believers who love one another sacrificially.

There is one park in San José with over 100 boys and men who prostitute themselves every night. Many of them are addicted to drugs, trapped in the street culture, or are homeless and haven’t been able to get out of prostitution for that reason. Our volunteer-led Bible Study meets at one of our staff members’ homes every Thursday night, encouraging the men in what true biblical manhood looks like and walking alongside them in order to help them in life-altering decisions.