Last month I was in Phuket Thailand with 4 out of the 6 teams on our squad. All 25 of us were working with SHE ministries. She goes in to the bars on the red light district of Phuket and gives the women and opportunity to learn English or train for a different job, so they can get out of their current lifestyles.
Prostitution is a regular occurrence for these girls. After meeting a lot of girls that work in that scene we found that many of them really don’t want to be there. They do choose to work at the bars, but they often feel trapped by lack of money or oppressive employers. There is also the problem of low self-esteem. After working in this atmosphere for a while, it is easy for the girls to believe that they are not good enough for anything better.
The atmosphere of the red light district was so overwhelming for me. In Phuket, sex has been made into a tourist industry. The strip looks like spring break vacation plus Las Vegas times 100. Everything is incredibly distracting and made to look much more fun and innocent that it actually is. The truth is that human beings are being bought like merchandise for sex.
It is demeaning. It is disgusting. And, it is heartbreaking.
It was such a privilege to get to know some of the girls in the bars of Phuket. I found them to be incredibly intelligent, kind, and full of life. They have dreams and aspirations just like the rest of us. What SHE is doing to help these dreams come true is absolutely amazing. They are actually in the middle of building a new ministry location and moving. This new location will allow for more staff members, more impact, and more opportunities to offer to the girls. Once the girls decide to leave the bars, and come train with SHE, they learn about the gospel. They are given the opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus and be discipled. There is also an English class that is available to the girls that is used as a ministry, too.
August was a wonderful, exhausting month. I am so blessed to have been there, and to see what SHE is doing in these girls’ lives, though. Once you see the way that these women live, and what their normal nights look like, your heart can’t help but break for them. Please keep all of the girls in Phuket’s red light district and the faithful workers at SHE in your prayers. The Lord is definitely working there. My prayer is that the girls have ears to hear the urgency of the truth that God’s servants at SHE are bringing to them!
