Comments on: Clemmie

By: tori

tori — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:47:30 +0000

Aww… I love that you all love Clemmie! That makes me so happy! She IS remarkable, thank you for acknowledging that.

By: auburn60

auburn60 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:44:11 +0000

When I worked at a downtown shelter for kids I saw a lot of kids–both male and female–turn to prostitution. Some as a way to get by on the streets when they were underage and runaways, and some simply walked out the door,away from ‘the system’ when they turned eighteen, directly into the mean streets and whatever they had to do to survive.
A few times,driving down the streets,I would see some girl I recognized from a facility I worked in or a caseload I had carried and I would jump out of my car to try to talk to her.(I was younger,dumber and could sprint faster then.)Always,always I was told that they could see no other way of survival at the time.The saddest thing I ever saw was a girl I knew who had been in foster care, carrying her baby in a carrier,tottering home on her high heels at 3:00am after a night ‘on the streets’. She wasn’t even 19 yo. I could watch out the window of the shelter and see kids I knew ‘working the streets’. Sometimes there would be a ‘sweep’ and the police would pick up 10-20 prostitutes at a time,arrest them and turn them loose on the streets again. What purpose did that serve? They were rarely offered any help of any kind and probably would not have taken it,anyway.
I wish some of the kids I have known had access to someone like Clemmie. Someone who has ‘been there’ and faced down the obstacles
and lived to tell about it.I hope I knew some survivors.

By: Ben Jones

Ben Jones — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:53:04 +0000

Tori,
My first impression of this photo is the look on your face says how much you admire this woman and her courage. It looks like while Clemmie is talking you are soaking it all in and seeing Jesus through her testimony. Love it.
Ben

By: meb

meb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:53:54 +0000

What an amazing story she has. Hopefully more people will hear it and become aware of this other world that exists out there. And then go do something to help too.

By: kwr221

kwr221 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:21:17 +0000

great photo! And – you’re both color -coordinated! nice tops.

oh, yeah – and it’s a great story, too, of course.

By: LindaB

LindaB — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:57:03 +0000

Well, bless her heart——Clemmie is absolutely awesome! My heart ached for her losing her son. And I was actually moved to tears by her mother putting buckets of water, soap, and washrags on the step where her two oldest children lived in squalor so they could bathe!

She certainly is an amazing survivor of that horrific world of drugs, prostitution, and violence! And her passion to go back into that dark and dangerous place to rescue others stuck in that lifestyle——well, it makes me want to fall at her feet too, Tori! Hug her for me next time you see her, will ya?

By: rockin robyn

rockin robyn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:19:19 +0000

No criticism here… What a special picture! What I see in that picture is your heart.

I watched those YouTube interviews and what a special lady Clemmie is! Thank you for opening my eyes to a world/a lifestyle I wouldn’t normally be exposed to.

I had a very boring childhood. My parents raised 6 children on a printers salary and a stay-at-home mom – we weren’t rich and I’m sure we did without but I never knew it then. I never saw the ocean until I was in my 20’s… Looking back, I don’t know that I was ever, even a rebellious teen-ager… I’m sure I had my unperfect moments but mostly I just grew up naive, just very ignorant to the world of drugs and alcohol only because it just wasn’t around. So I always had a fear of it all. It just wasn’t my parents lifestyle and to this day I thank them and praise God that I don’t know that part of life.

I wouldn’t trade that boring childhood for anything – because, at least I could be a “kid”… Clemmie had no choice. She grew up fast in a dark world that no child should ever have to be exposed to. Now she is a light to that world and making a difference. Awesome!