Let Freedom Rain

By Dianna Bautista

Let Freedom Rain

Free people free people.  

"What if finding your freedom could bring liberation to others?"             

Co-founder of Free Rain International, Dianna Bautista, isn't only on a mission to help survivo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Free Rain International
• Release date: Apr 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088104392

Book preview

1

RIPPLES INTO WAVES

Freedom comes in many forms. In your own life, think of the ways you have experienced freedom…

Freedom to live where you want.

Freedom to work where you want.

Freedom to eat what you want.

Freedom to love who you want.

Freedom to say yes.

Freedom to say no.

We in the western world take many of these freedoms for granted. We are so busy and stuck in the hustle and bustle of daily life that we forget the small things we get to choose. These are often freedoms the majority of the world does not have.

In rural Africa, you eat what grows near your hut.

In the barrios of Mexico, you work where you get hired.

In the deserts of the Middle East, you love and marry who your parents tell you to.

In the favelas of Brazil, you live where there is space.

In the red light districts of Thailand, ‘no’ is not an option.

For those of you that that have been with me since my first book, Faith, Hope, and Shear Love ¹, thanks for waiting in line for the next loopty loop roller coaster of my wild adventures in the sex trafficking capital of the world! There are many more stories to be told, and I’m excited to dig into them with you.

For those of you that are new, welcome brave reader! I’ve lived eight years in Pattaya, Thailand. Every day here could be its own chapter of this book, however, I’ve stuck to specific stories. Special stories. Stories of freedom. Mine, and of those I serve. Some of these accounts are very unconventional, but they will all make sense in the end.

Here, we will explore many different journeys to freedom. All the stories are set in Thailand, but belong to people from all over the globe. Pattaya, the world capital of sex tourism and trafficking, has been a place of torment, exploitation, abuse, and darkness. However, to some, it has been the starting place of healing, growth, repatriation, and freedom.

It was hard to narrow down the stories I would share in this book. I mean, I have thousands, and they all overlap! There are many stories within stories and you will witness them intertwine, some even crossing over from my last book.

You’ll say Hi to some friends from before. My lame little brother Vince, my BFFs and co-founders Kaylie and Stephanie, mentors like Lisa and Pam, homies for life Julianne and Kelli, graduates like Dee Jai, and all our Thai staff members.

You’ll meet new friends like Jesse, Ping, and Nak Su, all of whom you will come to love as much as I do.

All these friends, new and old, whether they expected to or not, found freedom in the most unlikely ways, and in the most unlikely place. That is why I want to share their stories with you!

Because when you become free, you can stand up for others who need to be set free. One of my absolute favorite quotes is from Mother Teresa. . .

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.

You never know what you are capable of until you cast your stone. Once you do, you will be shocked when you see how quickly your ripples become waves. I hope you are able to notice ripples and waves throughout this book.

When you read about the survivors our organization has worked with, know I have changed their names to protect their identity. Our goal is to ensure the safety of every person we come in contact with and leave space for them to heal in their own time. While they know I am sharing these stories, it is their choice whether or not to bring their identity into frame. They get to choose when to attach to their story and make it public. Many of them never will, and that's ok.

You may have seen our series of short films, Freedom Found. If not, what are you waiting for?! Do it now! ² This series was filmed and edited by the incredible Dorothea Schulz a.k.a. Dodo a.k.a. Dorothesha a.k.a. homie for life. Each story was shared and narrated by the survivors themselves. They spoke their own words and each one of them signed off on the finished product before we published it. I think only a few may know, but there was actually one more story that I really wanted to share in this series. When I spoke to her and asked for permission to film and share her testimony, she paused and then firmly said no. Of course, I honored her decision and didn't ask why. The next day she came to me and told me why she said no. While she understood the importance of sharing what she has experienced in life, she wanted to wait until her children were old enough to fully comprehend it all. It was vital for her to have her kids be the first to hear her testimony in private. Then she would decide if she wanted to let the rest of the world know. It was very admirable she was protecting her testimony specifically for her children. She believed they should be the first to know, and I support her decision completely.

This is much of the reason why we don't share any of our student’s stories while they're still in school with us. They are still deep within the healing process and need time. All of the short films from the Freedom Found series were published after they had graduated. We aim to uphold ethical storytelling ³ as an organization for the protection and integrity of those we serve. The same standards for storytelling were used in the writing of this book.

This time we spend together is sure to make you gasp, cry, yell, and possibly even throw this book across the room in anger. Just be careful you don’t hit anyone with it. It will definitely leave a mark, and not a good one! We will journal together and hopefully let go of some deep rooted fears and harbored feelings. I know it will also make you smile and cry tears of joy and I look forward to those special moments. I want you to underline, highlight, and write notes on the things that spark your heart. This book should be a hot mess by the time you're done with it!

Now… go grab a Fair Trade cup of coffee (preferably from a locally-owned cafe), snuggle up with a Sew Free blankie, and relish in the bravery of the most unlikely of people.

(Oh, did I just trick you into reading the introduction as Chapter 1… I sure did!!!! Now, let’s gooooo!!)

2

FREE YOU

This seems like a solid place to start, right? Let’s free you first! I learned this very early on in my life, long before I left the states and moved to Southeast Asia. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even know I needed to be freed from anything. I myself have never been trafficked, so why did I need to be freed?

I did know that I wanted to serve others, but something very huge was stopping me. And I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. I was stuck in a way I couldn’t describe. A new opportunity would come my way, I would find some excuse to ignore it. I’m too busy. I have to work. I already have plans.

But my sister-in-law, Ashley, convinced me it was time to stop making excuses and get out of my comfort zone. Getting on that first flight to serve in the slums of Kenya was the most terrifying thing ever. I got so many vaccinations that my right arm didn’t work for 24 hours, the poorest place I’d ever been to was Tijuana, and I was headed to the most impoverished part of the globe. When we landed in Nairobi, I looked out the window and there was literally a giraffe walking just off the runway. Immediately, I thought what am I doing here?! Little did I know I was on the pathway to finding my own freedom. Freedom from trauma and abuse that riddled my childhood and then lingered into adulthood. It was the first step into my forest and it was a scary step! It’s a step that I would take a bajillion times over again to be exactly where I’m at now.

If you want to help others find freedom, you yourself must be free from the pain of your past. Although I did, you don’t need to leave your hometown to help people find freedom. You only need to be willing and ready to take on all that God places in front of you.

Many people in our lives stay in bondage to things they shouldn’t. Bondage to food. Bondage to an unhealthy relationship. Bondage to past traumas. Bondage to hatred. Bondage to money. Bondage to daddy issues. Bondage to mommy issues. Bondage to politics. Bondage to (insert here). I’m sure you are thinking of someone right now with bondage to something. But point the finger back to you. What are YOU in bondage to?

Bondage keeps us stuck. I would never be able to do my work today without becoming unstuck from the trauma of early childhood and the abuse of relationships in my adulthood. Freedom from all this nasty stuff allowed me to help start a global non-profit that is helping people out of trafficking, exploitation, and domestic violence and giving them a real future. That’s pretty massive! God might be calling you to a different type of ministry but regardless of the task you’re facing after this book, it’s still most important that you free YOU.

I was 30-years-old when God placed a calling on my life. Wait… what I should say is, I was 30-years-old when I recognized what the calling God had on my life was. If you remember from Faith, Hope, and Shear Love, I didn’t go to college. I didn’t know how to write a business plan or create a budget. To be perfectly candid, creating a budget is still questionable. At that point in life, my mom was still helping me do my taxes. (Wow, did I just admit that?!) But I saw people in need and I knew that I could help them. Sure, I lived in Southern California, and the people I wanted to help lived in developing countries thousands of miles away. But those little details weren’t going to stop me!

As a hairstylist, I knew I had practical skills that I could teach women who needed a job to provide a dignified living for their families. To me, it was just that simple. Go and put the right tools in their hands, insert the correct information into their brains, and then everything would work out. Of course, looking back now, I see there’s much more to it than just handing someone a pair of shears. However, I had the passion inside of me and I was ready to do whatever it took to give these women the same opportunities that I had living in the U.S.

In venturing to developing nations all over the world, I