Star Wars had arrived in Bratislava! My friend, Daniel, and Mom purchased tickets for us to watch it in English. Another family had also purchased tickets, and we decided that we would go together in our van. When we arrived at the cinema at 3:00 p.m., and had gotten our seats, the movie started. Czech, instead of English, blared out at us, much to our surprise. Mom left, and upon her return a few minutes later, all of us left the cinema. After some searching, we finally found a cinema that showed Star Wars in English, at 6 PM. However, because we had so much extra time on our hands, our two families walked around the city, ate supper; and met up with Daniel, when he arrived from school. We then returned and watched the movie.

I really liked Star Wars. All of us really enjoyed seeing it in English, and at a theatre. On the drive home, we all discussed the movie, and our afternoon. As we pulled up to a stoplight, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young woman holding a small suitcase fall onto the road. Then, I noticed, in the shadows of a tree, a short, stocky man wearing street-working clothes. He shoved the girl again, and appeared to slap her. Mom apparently had also seen what had happened, because when I cried out, she understood. Immediately, our van became silent, as everyone watched. Getting up off the road, the girl picked up her suitcase and ran across the street right in front of our van, all the while cradling her hand and then gently touching her head.

After following her a short distance, and yelling at her, the man left. We drove through our now green-light, then pulled over to the side of the road. Mom and Daniel rushed over to the girl, and after speaking with her for a few moments, led her to our van. While Mom navigated through the unfamiliar streets she asked me to speak to the girl in Slovak to find out what had happened, and where she wanted us to take her. Then we headed in the direction of the bus station. Along the way, I asked questions, and her story began to come out very slowly. From Brno, in the Czech Republic, this girl had come to Bratislava to work.. As she walked to catch her tram, the man we saw had attacked her.

Upon entering the bus station with the girl, Daniel and I found out that not only had the man pushed her around, he had stolen every last cent that she had, and even worse, he had stolen her keys, her identification papers, and her passport. Daniel quickly reached into his pocket and gave her as much money as he could, and a phone card, so that she could call her mother. She refused the money, but used the phone card to try to call her mom, without success. Once again Daniel tried to give her the money, but she would not accept it. Crying and obviously in pain and shock, the girl kept wandering around, not sure what to do. Mom arrived after parking the van, and finally, we convinced the girl that we did not want her to repay us, and got her to take the money. After we had given her our office and mobile phone numbers, in case she ran into trouble, she thanked us. It shocked her that we, total strangers, would give our money, phone card, phone number, and help to her. In a move that surprised me, the girl hugged me. Then Mom quickly hugged her. As we turned and walked to our van, the girl watched us leave, then reentered the station. I have never seen nor heard from that girl again.

When we arrived home, my sisters cried, and I could not do anything but sit, lost in thought. I do not know what happened to that girl. Some people, upon hearing our story, told us that the girl (possibly one of Bratislava’s many prostitutes), may have put on an act to get our sympathy and money. We will probably never know the truth about her. But it does not really matter to me. Yes, we gave her money, among other things, and maybe she did trick us, but when I think about it, it really had shocked the girl when we helped her. That girl has something to think about. Maybe through out actions that night, God has brought that girl another step closer to him. As for myself, I feel that God will use every cent and every thing that we did that night for His glory. To have had the honor to share in reaching out to another by far exceeds the money and time we gave to her that night. Because we had not seen Star Wars in English that afternoon, but had seen it that night, we had the opportunity to help that girl. Our little group had the opportunity to make a difference.