Last Thursday Missouri Southern group Koinonia partnered with local organization Rapha House to feed Southern students ice cream and to grow awareness about a huge problem all around the world; sex trafficking. 

“We’re just trying to get word out about Koinonia, a lot of the things we’ve got coming up, and getting the word out about Rapha House.” Said Randall Moss, President of Koinonia, current senior and Health Promotion and Wellness major.

Rapha house began when one local Joplin woman, Stephanie Freed, decided that she had to do something about a continually growing problem, thus Rapha House was created. We talked to current director of Philanthropy, David Conrad, who was in attendance at the event Thursday.

Rapha itself means healing; in the Bible it’s referred to as relational healing, healing through relationships, which is what the Rapha House sets out to do. Not only do they provide a safe place for women, they provide three different types of healing; physical, spiritual and emotional. 

Physical providing medical care for any ailment they may have.

Spiritual, providing healing through relationships. “teaching them the love of the Father and the love of our staff,” said David Weaver.

Emotional healing through providing counseling. They now have “State of the art first world counseling program in a third world country.” Not only do they work with the girls, they also provide counseling for their families, working to get the girls back into their homes safely with their families. They work to help them have a steady income as well, providing a way to jobs, and/or education.

“In fact many of our girls want to become counselors or social workers because the impact that those people had on them during their time with Rapha House,” Weaver said.

The biggest program Rapha House has in place to raise money for these ladies is the products these girls make that you can purchase. Items that range from purses and wallets to stuffed elephants and jewelry. 

Purchasing some hand-made items from their online store or local store here in Joplin is just one way you can help Rapha House. You can volunteer, donate, or simply speak up about sex trafficking.

For more information about Rapha House or sex trafficking you can visit their website at raphahouse.org call them at (417)-621-0373 or you can visit their office and shop located at 523 N Schifferdecker Ave, Joplin, MO 64801.

You can also get information about Rapha House through the school organization Koinonia: a Christian based organization that has partnered with Rapha House to raise awareness.

If you are looking for a faith based organization on campus to join that works toward bettering our community and lives check out Koinonia. 

You can find them on facebook or attend one of their meeting which are held every Thursday in the Lions Den at 7pm.