Champion grad plans to battle human trafficking in Cambodia

CHAMPION -- She grew up in Champion, where she spiked volleyballs, marched in the high school band and played Aunt Eller in the school production of "Oklahoma!"

Now Rosie Holmes is preparing for yet another adventure -- moving to Cambodia. She plans to spend the next three years, maybe more, helping to end human trafficking.

It's a goal that's been growing since her first humanitarian trip to southeast Asia 13 years ago.

"I went on a mission trip and that trip was my first time realizing that young women in the world are sold into a life of prostitution," the 2002 Champion High School graduate said. "In some parts of the world, it is glorified and a blind eye is turned to this horrific crime.

"I believe sex trafficking in Cambodia will be eradicated one day and our ministry there will focus on populations most affected by, or at risk of, this horrible crime," Holmes said.

She is part of a team working through Community of Faith Christian Fellowship near Boston.

"Sex trafficking occurs everywhere, even in our communities here in Ohio," she said. "My church does have a stateside effort called UnBound that does work in the states focusing on anti-trafficking efforts. But as for me … I feel like my privilege in this life is meant to be used to give a voice to the voiceless in Cambodia.

"I know once someone breaks free from the sex trade, the real restoration of their soul is just beginning. I desire to walk alongside them and help them learn about a God that wants to, and has the power to, restore their heart, soul and life."

Holmes' parents, Tom and Ike Huggins Holmes, both 1973 Champion High grads, still live in the house where Rosie and her brother, TJ, a member of the Class of 2001, were raised.

"My involvement in high school allowed me the opportunity to get engaged in various community service activities that sparked my interest for humanitarian type of work at an early age," she said.

"In high school, two of my classmates invited me to youth group at Believers' Church (in Warren) and that was where I started exploring what I believed about God and the truth of the Gospel. It was through that Wednesday night youth group that I realized Jesus was real, alive and wanted to have a relationship with me.

"My first time out of the country was to China" as a sophomore in college, she said. "Our first hour in the country we were warned to not go in the buildings with 'pink lights' because the business is a facade for a brothel. I left that trip having seen people accept Christ and lives transformed, but that statement on our first night was the one thing that stuck with me as I left China."

After graduation from The Ohio State University, Holmes stayed another seven years coordinating student service teams that performed humanitarian work across the United States. In 2013, she became a fundraiser at Boston Children's Hospital. She joined Community of Faith Christian Fellowship in Boston and continued striking out on mission trips.

After two short trips to Cambodia, her heart was set on returning as a full-time missionary. She plans to leave Saturday.

For the first year, she'll be Phnom Penh, Cambodia, learning the Khmer language and building relationships with locals and other nonprofit workers. The next two years, she'll move to Siem Reap to foster friendships with women in the beer gardens.

"Hundreds of these bars exist in Cambodia. Women line the entrance, men choose their 'entertainer' for the evening and the women 'host' the table, eating and drinking whatever the customer places in front of them," she said. "Women work in this industry not out of passion but out of desperation.

"We discuss everything from family life, their dreams and their spiritual beliefs. As the women share, we share about ourselves, too. Being as open as they invite us to be about who we are, what motivates us, and how Jesus has changed our lives and (how he) desires to do the same for them."

As they did in the short trips, she and her team also plan to work with the people in the outlying villages.

"It's acceptable to approach a house and ask the residents if we can hang out and chat with them for a little while. A very similar conversation to what occurs in the beer gardens will take place: We start creating relationship with these families and having conversations about their lives. In return, they do the same with us.

"When we travel to a village and there is a group of mothers and children, we would do an education lesson on the dangers of traffickers."

Holmes' mother, Ike Holmes, organized a 40-plus households yard sale to raise the final support money Rosie needs to travel.

"Rosie has to earn all of her own money, $70,000 to $80,000, by next Friday. She had $28,000 left to go," Ike Holmes said.

The final day of the fundraiser is 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at the family homestead, 400 Earl Drive NW, Champion.

"As a mom, of course, I want her to stay right here. But you know she is being obedient to the Lord," Ike Holmes said.

Knowing that Cambodia is considered a safe country helps ease a mother's worries. "Nobody's fighting in Cambodia because they're poor. They don't have anything," she said.

"Rosie has always been an instrument of change everywhere she's gone and with everything she's done," she said. "She's a beautiful human being. I'm so lucky to have been chosen to be her mom."

bcole@tribtoday.com