It’s something that’s not easy to do in the midst of heartache and rage. When you’re in a very dark place and every emotion within you wants to go numb.
The last two weeks we were in Pattaya, the child human trafficking capital of the world. It get’s 2 million visitor’s every year and the primary reason people go to Pattaya is for Sex Tourism. Women, Men, Ladyboys and child slaves are all ‘sold’ day and night. You can buy them by the hour, day, week, month. Disgusted yet? Ready to show UNCONDITIONAL LOVE here?
We were partnered with the Mercy Center that is a children’s shelter that take’s in at-risk children and children abandoned by women in prostitution, saving these children from slavery.
Many of them have come from rural NorthEastern Thailand to be sold into prositution as children by their parents to generate income for their family. It’s culturall accapted for a Fater to bring his son to see his first prostitute at the age of 12. But in Pattaya, they are from all over the world and have come for one reason, sex.
Walking Street is where the majority go, also called the ‘International Meeting Street’, but there are miles in all directions around Walking street of prostitute’s lining the sidewalks. For everyone on our team of nine women, this was the first time ever seeing prostitutioin this extreme and in your face everywhere you went. For many it was hard to get past the anger and hatred towards the men. Walking through these streets felt like being punched in the stomach and trying to catch your breath while wanting to throw up all at the same time.
We worshipped before hand and spent time in prayer to see everyone in the streets with God’s eyes and to love them with God’s heart, and only to speak with God’s words, for our flesh wouldn’t have gotten us very far. We needed God’s UNCONDITIONAL LOVE to reign.
We partnered with the Tamar Center that gave us fliers to hand out; Along with sharing the gospel, The Tamar Center offers English lessons, new trade skills to learn such as cutting hair, doing nails and running a restaurant that they served amazing food at where all of the proceeds went towards their ministry. We mostly spoke with women who were very open and excited to go to the Tamar center to try and start over with a new life. The Tamar center has two locations centrally located in the red light district.
I spoke with a woman nicknammed ‘guitar’ for a couple hours the first night we went out. She came up to me and two other women from my team thinking she knew us as foreigner’s in Bangkok that she had talked and prayed with her a few weeks ago. She vulnerably shared her life with us from the beginning eager for company. Her English was fantastic and she was very intelligent. Yet there was a definite lack of reality in the way she spoke, often refering to an alterior life that was her imaginary dream life. She was searching for true love to save her from this lifestyle.
She was not working and was modestly dressed just like we were. She was homeless, dependent on her ‘customer’s’ taking her in for the night where she would have a bed and a hot shower. Her going rate was $2,500 Baht ($78 USD). She saw lust as love and was addicted to it because the men made her feel wanted and they provided for her, if she was lucky, long term. We walked by statues of little children and she started to weep saying that they reminded her of the two children she had killed inside of her. She had one son that was nine years old that was with her parent’s back in Cambodia. She desperately wanted to go back there with him, but sex and money were controlling her life. She was excited to visit the Tamar Center to get skills that could make her dream life a reality, running a restaurant.
Her birthday was a day after mine. My birthday prayer is that Guitar can be set free from the bondage that is keeping her in Pattaya. That she can come to know the Lord that can give her True Unconditional Love for eternity and that she can be reunited with her son and fufill her dream. That God can Bless her an amazing husband like mine, that will also unconditionall love her and take care of her all the days of her life.
For more information about the Tamar Center and ways you can help visit: www.projectlife.com
