Note: This interview took place on February 8, 2022, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine
Surviving a string of atrocities, Lena Cebula tells her story of life in Ukraine after the Soviet Union collapsed and with it, her country’s economic and social systems, normalizing addiction, rape and abuse. Her story is one of hope when there’s none in sight.
She no longer feels like she could be roadkill, passed by with no one looking for her or coming to bury her. Starting from age 11, her life mimicked her country — total chaos. And part of that included being imprisoned in a brothel in Israel that was better than living in her own home. At age 40, she finally felt like herself again, and after not telling anyone about her ordeals for 20 years, she’s on a mission to stop human trafficking.
Talking points
Generic trends in a collapsed country.
The three most common risk factors increasing the odds of getting trafficked.
The benefits of addiction.
What red flags may indicate human trafficking?
What to expect when a person is broken.
The internal attitude you need to heal.
The importance of a good beginning in life.
The indignity of being bought and sold as a human and held as a prisoner and slave.
The magic of giving grace to yourself and others.
The benefit of not surrendering to a victim mindset.
Lena Cebula is a wife and mother of three beautiful children, drug addiction and human trafficking survivor and author of a spiritual autobiography — Miraculous. She was raped numerous times and had a baby at 14 who she had to give up and died 3 months laters. Today she’s a Christian, social justice advocate, blogger, speaker and host of Love&BLoved podcast. Her mission is to encourage, inspire and to give hope that there’s a chance to have love, joy, peace and wholeness again after everything you’ve seen and done! She does this by sharing the good news of God’s love and creating awareness about the reality of human sex trafficking.
Lena’s Info.
Podcast — Love&Blood
Book — Miraculous: Journey from Hell to Heaven
Website — www.Loveandbloved.com
Email — LenaCebula@gmail.com
Sex Traffiking info — www.fight4freedom.ca
Julie’s Info.
Workshop — Tough Stories Workshop https://www.courage-ignite.com/Tough_Stories_Workshop_waitlist
Facebook — Bold Becoming private Facebook group https://www.courage-ignite.com/Bold_Becoming_FB -
Instagram — https://instagram.com/juliebrownecourageignite
Email — Julie@courage-ignite.com
Music - Happy African Village by John Bartmann
