"I started crying because these women, after all they went through, still had love left to worry about what had happened to us."

In March 2012, I attended an International Women's Day event at Webster University, in Leiden NL. The guest speakers were Dr. Sheetal Shah and Pastor Tom Marfo. Both were experienced in treating survivors of human trafficking in the neighborhood of Amsterdam called The Bijlmer. To say it was a shocking eye-opener is an understatement. Later that day, I attended a dinner where the guest speaker was the author of the book The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice.

After a delicious dinner, heading home in a warm, comfortable car and knowing I would soon be safe in a warm, comfortable bed, I made a decision. What I had heard that day had turned my world upside down. I decided to put my energy and time, if not my money, into where my heart told me to go.

In May 2012, a group of Canadian women living in the Netherlands organized a Canadian-style barbecue with more than 100 guests. Dr. Shah was our eloquent guest speaker. We raised 550 euros to fund the research phase of her project, which would later become Stichting Bridge2Hope. Since that day, I have been involved. I have watched the foundation grow and decline, and then grow again. But through it all, the idea that even one life can be changed motivated every one of us involved in the foundation.

The day I met the women of our first cohort was the day before my husband underwent major cancer surgery. They began a singing prayer that he would get through the surgery. I started crying because after all they had been through, these women still had love left to worry about what had happened to us. Privately, I call them my resilient queens. Anyone who can endure the trauma they have and still have love for others has the highest regard in my eyes.