{"id":269086,"date":"2022-05-31T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T19:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=269086"},"modified":"2024-01-02T16:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:39:44","slug":"mentally-challenged-gang-rape-survivor-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mentally-challenged-gang-rape-survivor-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Born to a mentally challenged survivor of gang rape, he now shares a message of life and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As an author, recording artist, national pro-life speaker, and founder of Broken Not Dead Ministries<\/a><\/span>, Steventhen Holland knew his inherent value as a child of God. But he was also the child of an 18-year-old mentally challenged mother who became pregnant with him when she was gang raped by five men while walking to her job from the Tennessee mental institution where she lived. His mother kept quiet about the rape until she was visibly pregnant, but no police report was ever filed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite mounting pressure to abort her child, the woman with the mental capacity of an 11-year-old fought to give him life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born to a mother in difficult circumstances<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holland told Live Action News, \u201cMy mother, Glenda Sue, faced unsurmountable obstacles. She knew my life had purpose, but she had no access to resources and no support. So, she traveled alone to Chattanooga to get assistance from a woman\u2019s home but eventually ran away and ended up living in a cardboard box, nine months pregnant and homeless. But she didn\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, a 16-year-old boy wandered by the dilapidated cardboard box and saw it move. Peeking inside, he discovered a frightened woman in advanced stages of pregnancy. He took her home where he and his parents nurtured her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat young man was a God-send,\u201d Holland said. \u201cHe tried to help my mother care for me when she came home from the hospital, but his family was impoverished and couldn\u2019t afford to feed me adequately. So, with my mother\u2019s permission, this 16-year-old boy took me to Human Services where I could get the assistance I needed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nursed back to health by foster family<\/b><\/p>\n

Human Services eventually placed a malnourished Holland with a foster family who had to squeeze milk into his mouth to nurse him. When they later expressed interest in adopting him, Human Services resisted, telling them that because Holland was bi-racial and they were Caucasian, he needed to be placed with an African-American family. But the family\u2019s community sent more than 200 petitions to Human Services requesting the adoption be allowed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole community fought hard to keep me in the only home I had ever known,\u201d Holland said. \u201cOur voices matter. When we come together as this community did, we can move mountains.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Holland found out he was adopted when he was eight years old. It was obvious, given the different race of his parents, but the revelation prompted him to seek information about his background, specifically his medical history. The timing to conduct a search never seemed right.<\/span><\/p>\n