Jamie Scroggs, Kristen Hendricks, and Jessica Goodrum with Jimmy W.L. Kinobe MP Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs in Uganda

Purse of a Hope was set forth in 2007 to provide aftercare for women and children exploited in the commercial sex industry. Founder Kristen Hendricks was impelled to act once aware of the ever-growing calamity of children being forced into prostitution.

“The issue of trafficking is no doubt a daunting one—there’s just no easy fix,” explains Hendricks, “but to do nothing seems entirely unimaginable.”

In the spring of 2008, Team Purse of Hope traveled to Uganda. They listened as a group of rescued girls described their harrowing experiences in the sex industry. The once seemingly abstract reality of trafficking became more real with each girl describing her cruel induction into prostitution. The stories were heart-breaking, but not nearly as sad as the subsequent affect it’s had on their vulnerable, young lives. It was during that visit, Purse of Hope committed to institute aftercare programs for victims in Uganda. Now, the stories that were once filled with pain and despondency are gradually being replaced by hope and the ability to conceive of a real future.

Psalm 82:3-4 “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”