This month my team and I are in Pattaya, Thailand, which is the #1 city in the world for sex tourism. There are about 8 million sex tourists each year who come to Pattaya for one reason. Last week my team and I went to do a prayer walk down Walking Street, the busiest and most populated street in Pattaya for sex tourists. Essentially it is lined with bars and women who are available to purchase for an hour or so. It was a night that I was expecting and thought I was ready for but I came to discover that I was not nearly as prepared as I thought I was.
I walked into the street entrance and immediately felt the weight of the brokenness that resided there. I was approached by a number of people who were trying to bring business into bars from the streets by offering a menu of “options” and prices for the men, women and children…yes, children. Some women were sold for as low as 200 baht, about $6 USD and there was even a “special price” for services by young boys. Everywhere I looked, there were flashy, lit up signs that lured people in and enticed the customers of the night. I looked to my left and there were women with fake, plastered smiles lined up with numbers pinned on the little clothing that they were wearing so customers could easily make their selection. I looked to my right to see men bargaining with women for the lowest price to use their bodies for an hour, and upon looking up at another building there were women for sale dancing behind glass store fronts.
While passing through Walking Street everything started to look miserably similar, but my eye was caught as I walked by a small seafood market along the same street. There were lobsters for sale for almost eight times the price of a girl! You could purchase a woman for an hour at 200 baht but a large lobster was as much 1500 baht, about $47! It was about this point that I could no longer hold it in. It was horrifying. As my eyes sent streams of tears down my face, I walked with such a heaviness in my chest and a physical pain in my stomach. My heart was utterly broken for the women, men and children forced to make this their lifestyle. I felt a fire in my soul for the injustice I was experiencing. I felt the righteous anger that God feels when He sees the pain and brokenness of this place and this industry.
In that moment there was nothing I could do. I felt helpless. As I was walking through I just kept praying and it got to a point where I didn’t know what to pray for anymore, so I asked the Lord and He gave me some insight:
“Allison you’ve asked me to break your heart for what breaks mine. You’ve asked me to allow you to see these women, men and children as I see them. Now is your chance. These are my children and I see them individually as such. Look at them in that way, see them and love them in that way.”
This changed my view of whom I was seeing. As I continued to pass by women after women, He pointed each one out to me, “I love her, and I love her, and I love her too. These are my daughters.” Each one His precious creation, each one loved by Him. His love is real and unconditional, and it lasts infinitely longer than the “love” purchased on Walking Street.
I left Walking Street feeling that I wish there was something more I could have done. I wish there was some way that I could’ve communicated this love and hope to those women, if even only one, to let her know that she’s not worthless, she’s not used up or dirty, she is loved, valued and treasured by the One who created her. Along the street there were vendors selling roses and I so badly wanted to buy one or two for some of these women, but couldn’t bring myself to do so. I am sure they receive the same roses for much more perverse reasons throughout the evening and I felt that I couldn’t come up with the words to accompany the rose. But as I left I wish I had. However, the Lord knows my heart and what I needed after that evening.
The next night He gave me the opportunity I had missed. My team and I were along the beach and saw a woman out on the street where she works. We watched her turn away three different men. My teammate Kristen and I both noticed her and wanted to take up her time rather than one of those men so we left the Starbucks we were at and went out to offer her a cup of coffee. With a surprised look on her face and gratitude in her voice she agreed to a cup of coffee as long as she could stay on the street since she had to work. We agreed, went inside to get her cappuccino, and sat with her just talking, laughing and getting to know her. An hour and a half later I had met a new friend and heard a bit about her story. It was a beautiful hour and a half of her time spent without a customer, an hour and a half of genuine conversation, and an hour and a half of just a small peak into Christ’s love for her. I also don’t think it is a coincidence that my new friend’s name is Rose.
My time with Rose was redeeming of the evening before, it was what I needed and the Lord knew that. He wanted me to see those women as individuals and after seeing them this way through Walking Street I felt incredibly burdened. I left that night not being able to see what the Lord will do there. I was unable to see the hope, to see the fruit that He will bear there. My interaction with Rose was a picture of that hope, of the work that He is doing and will continue to do in Pattaya. Although I wanted to be able to gift roses to women on Walking Street, the Lord gifted me through my time with His treasured Rose, which I am so thankful for. The Lord is reminding me that although my heart breaks for these women, I can’t carry the weight of all of those burdens, but love is something that I can do and His perfect love is a powerful thing.
