Refusing to Let Her Be Another Human Trafficking Statistic

I have been reading a lot of books lately, and one of my latest reads is the International Justice Mission book, Terrify No More by the founder of IJM, Gary Haugen. This book tells the story of the 2003 IJM team who by the power of God, rescued 40 children from brothels outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. While reading this epic adventure of the NGO’s undercover raid of the infamous community catering to pedophiles, Svay Pak, I thought to myself “If and when this injustice ever comes up on the Race I will be the first to respond.” I want to dedicate my life to stopping injustices like minor sex trafficking (following Psalm 10 and “defending the fatherless and the oppressed”) when I get done with the Race in September, but this book lit such a fire in my heart that I wanted to team up with the Holy Trinity and take down every brothel in the entire country of Cambodia. I told myself that I would do whatever it took to save even one child from the horrors of brothel-life and slave bondage.

Fast forward a few days to the Khmer New Year and the annual “Mango Party” our contacts throw for the entire church community. We helped our contact Carolin all day in the kitchen baking mango cookies, mango jam, mango bread, and mango crumble pie and I was excited to sit back and relax with a pile of delicious mango treats that night. God had other plans. I was delighted to find out that Jim, Joel and Carolin’s former team mate, Jean Marie, would be coming to the Mango Party. I had heard that she was one of the missionaries that led our Khmer friend, Ratina and his family to the Lord and I was overjoyed to get to meet her. When the two of us became acquainted I asked her all about Ratina and his family and how the entire process of sharing the Gospel with them went down. She became very serious and said, “If you could please pray for Ratina’s sister, I am very worried about her. I think she’s in danger.”

I didn’t know Ratina’s sister, Comsean, all that well. None of Ratina’s family spoke any English and so the only thing I knew about his younger 13 year old sister was the fact that she never smiled and it made me sad. The only person in the family we’d been really minstering to was Ratina and the only thing I really knew about his family’s situation was that they come from the poorest caste of Khmers, living in extreme poverty in the most desperate conditions. Ratina had told us that when they don’t have enough money to buy food, he gets his home made arrow gun and hunts in the jungle for snakes, lizards and other creatures to eat. “What is wrong with Comsean? Why is she in danger?” Jean Marie explained to me that a few years ago, when Jean Marie was leading the family to Christ, she came very close to loosing Comsean to distant family members who wanted to “…take her to Phnom Penh and pay for her school, clothes, books, etc. etc.” Jean Marie knew that people just don‘t do things out of the kindness of their hearts in most places, especially in Cambodia. These so called “relatives” are distant cousins from Phnom Penh who are extremely wealthy and until this proposal, have shown no interest in Ratina’s immediate family.

While Jean Marie was telling me this, I immediately thought of the one hundred and one stories just like Comsean’s in all the human trafficking books I’ve been reading lately. Her story is extremely standard, especially in southeast Asian countries includingCambodia. A young girl living in extreme impoverished conditions gets an offer from a distant relative or friend of the family to move from her tiny village to the big city, either being promised schooling or a job opportunity. Unfortunately none of these things end up happening for this girl and the once trusted friend or family member gets the girl away from the family and the village, they end up selling her to a brothel or using her as their own personal slave. This is why I knew what Jean Marie was going to say before she actually said it. “I had to convince Comsean, Ratina and their entire family that these people were promising Comsean the moon and the stars but they were never going to deliver any of these promises.” She finished by saying that at the end of her time in Preah Vihear, she was able to convince most of the family members that Comsean going with these strange relatives was a very bad idea and… glory to God, Comsean was safe from danger. That is, until about a week ago.

Jean Marie said she hadn’t visited this area since talking to Ratina’s family and the only reason she had come back into town now for a visit was to attend one of Ratina and Comsean’s family member’s weddings. At the wedding reception, she overheard Comsean’s mother discussing the possibility of Comsean moving down to Phnom Penh with the same relatives that had asked her to go years ago. Jean Marie quickly learned that the same distant relatives that had tried to take Comsean away a few years ago were at the wedding that day, and had approached Ratina’s entire family asking for permission to come get Comsean and bring her to Phnom Penh as soon as possible. Jean Marie left off where she ended a few years back and continued speaking truth into the family, saying that this type of thing happens all the time in Cambodia, and countless families are lied to and tricked by wealthy relatives or friends who want to make a quick buck so they find girls they can sell who are poor, easily munipulated, and uneducated. Ratina and Comsean’s mother confessed that a year ago, the distant relatives had contributed a sum of money towards the building of her wooden house, and now she felt obligated and in debt to them.

This is a cultural thing. Everyone wants to make sure they are debt free, always trying to “save face” and bring the family honor and respect. Comsean had moved out of her mother’s home a while ago and become under the legal guardianship of Ratina because their step father sexually molested Comsean on many occasions, so their mother legally had no right to say whether Comsean should stay in Preah Vihear or move to Phnom Penh. However, legal rights don’t mean as much here as they do in the States, and in this culture, being the mother gives you a lot of weight as far as decision making goes. At this point of story hour I was livid. I had been reading story after story of these helpless girls being tricked into the sex trade and I wanted more than anything to see just one of them spared from a life of bondage, and here I am with a thirteen year old girl in the same room as me, in danger of relatives giving her the same fate as millions of others and I wasn’t doing anything! I immediately thought, “what could we do to kick in the door, get the bad guys and save the day?”

“Let’s just keep her at our house for the weekend and meet the relatives ourselves,” I said. “We can tell them that we know their real plans and that we won’t let them have Comsean!” Jean Marie kindly reminded me that this is how things would be done in America, or in a John Wayne cowboy movie. However, in the Khmer culture, everything has to be done through winning the respect and trust of the family and the village head. Jean Marie said the best possible way to keep Comsean safe and in Preah Vihear with Ratina and his family would be to make the mother realize the truth and change her mind about wanting to send Comsean away. She also said that she would meet with the head of Ratina and Comsean’s village and try to make him see the truth in the situation (the village head has a lot of power in the Khmer culture and he is seen as the final judge in a lot of cases like these). “All you can do is pray, Angie.”

What?!?!?! Pray?!?!?! That’s it?!?!?! PRAY?!?!?!

I told Jean Marie that it was no coincidence she came back this very week to visit Preah Vihear. God used her a few years ago to divinely intervene and defend Comsean and now here she is being used by the Lord to defend her again. It was so encouraging for me to see this brave woman of God being used by our Heavenly Father in such a vital way and so inspiring to me to see the fruits of her work as a missionary in Preah Vihear. Jean Marie had been the hands and feet of Jesus to Comsean’s entire family and Ratina is one of the most passionate members at the church because of her and her team’s efforts bringing him to Christ. This time of discipling the entire family will now play a key tool in gaining the continued trust and respect of Ratina and Comsean’s mother. The mother knows Jean Marie very well, and knows that Jean Marie loves them. Romans 8:28 says, “God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” and it is evident to see how God has used all the situations in the past for Comsean’s battle today.

I have been praying for Comsean’s mother to soften her heart, and to have the revelation that Jean Marie is speaking the truth over the situation. I have been praying that the mother will change her mind, and no longer petition for Comsean to be taken away by the distant relatives to live the unthinkable life. I have also been praying for supernatural strength as Jean Marie goes before the village head and asks that he see her side in the matter. I’ve been praying an army of angels to come over Comsean and protect her continually through this fight for her life. Isaiah 1:17 says, “Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” This is the verse I am standing on and the scripture I am claiming for the battle over Comsean.

Please pray for Comsean, Ratina, their mother and their entire family. Pray for the distant wealthy relatives to stop their schemes of trying to take Comsean with them. Pray for all the women and children in Cambodia who are tricked, sold, and used as slaves in the sex industry. Pray for their rescue and redemption. Pray for Jean Marie, a woman I sincerely look up to and respect as a sister in Christ and a missionary on the front lines for the Kingdom of God. Jean Marie is living out Isaiah 1:17 and I am honored to have met her. Finally, please pray for me, and for God to reveal His future plans for me in ministry. I have such a burning desire to rescue women and children from sex trafficking, but I want to make sure that it is the Lord’s divine plan for my life.