In May of 2010 I was introduced to the night club life, hopping from bar to bar. I bar hopped in order to build relationships with the girls who were dancing the polls and prostituting themselves. Many of these girls were sold into prostitution at a very young age, many continuing to sell themselves because their mindset let them to believe that they would never be able to do anything else. Though Liz Olson was on a different squad than I, we worked for SHE (Self-Help Empowerment) Ministries in Phuket, Thailand. We went to the bars at night to build relationships with these girls and offer them freedom, offering them a home and teaching them a trade so they could leave the business. Liz had a great heart for SHE and after the World Race she returned as a full time missionary there. Please read her blog on a recent encounter with a girl in the bar.
“I Have No Name”
I had the opportunity to go out and do some ministry in the bars last night and it went so well. I was amazed of how easily it went, it was rather beautiful. I would go into one bar, start up a conversation and by the end of it managed to get a new student! This happened for 10 women! My next English class should be bursting at the seams, which is a good problem to have!
There was also a woman at a bar I visited and I picked up one Connect 4 piece, spoke one sentence in Thai, and that was all it took. The next thing I know is she is sharing everything to me. She shared of how she hates her job. She has been working there for 5 years and she began to tell me of the ‘very bad men’ who frequently abuse her and find pleasure in doing so. She wept in my arms. I would try to sneak a question in and before I could ask it, she would continue in the fastest Thai I have ever heard.
This woman is beyond broken, she is shattered. She has no hope and is exhausted.
I was able to share with her that I do help women like her by teaching English and Hotel Training, but that if she wanted I had a place for her to stay right now and I would be able to pay for all of her food if she wanted it. She was surprised by that offer, but then shared with me of how she had to go to the pole and dance.
I look back to the moment where I simply held her. I remember after just a few moments where she just let herself go. She allowed me to hold her up and release herself into my arms. She began to weep. She was able to feel and simple be herself. She said she did not understand why. Why do they have to hurt me? Why are they happy to hurt me? Why does it have to be this way? Why is there no way out?
Without responding with words, I allowed her the freedom to cry and to be held with no shame. She didn’t have to be strong enough for those few minutes.
Though I hear of these stories so often, my reaction still remains the same. I am in shock that this happens so often and women are left broken, hopeless and without anyone to turn to. We are doing all we can to be there for these women.
We are love, His love living through us. Will you join me in prayer for this woman and for the thousands of others who have a similar story?
