One of my squad mates (the fabulous Michelle Euperio) is writing a series of blogs about each of the countries we’ll
be visiting over the next year. This is the fifth of that series,
about Thailand, and the second part of two! I’ve included it in my section on Human Trafficking because that is the main focus. Read it, take some time to think, and pray – especially for the October ’09 squad, who are on their way to Thailand as I type, and whose women will be spending this month in ministry to the very people Michelle is writing about in this blog. Thanks!
be visiting over the next year. This is the fifth of that series,
about Thailand, and the second part of two! I’ve included it in my section on Human Trafficking because that is the main focus. Read it, take some time to think, and pray – especially for the October ’09 squad, who are on their way to Thailand as I type, and whose women will be spending this month in ministry to the very people Michelle is writing about in this blog. Thanks!
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…this is part 2 of Thailand and is all about human trafficking
and prostitution in Thailand. For those that don’t know what human
trafficking is I greatly encourage you to find out and research. Prior
to The World Race, I was completely oblivious and just reading about it
and people’s stories has broken my heart many a times. God has placed a
spot for these people that I haven’t even met yet in my heart but I
know we will bring his kingdom to them. So here’s part 2 and my 2 cents
in the end…
and prostitution in Thailand. For those that don’t know what human
trafficking is I greatly encourage you to find out and research. Prior
to The World Race, I was completely oblivious and just reading about it
and people’s stories has broken my heart many a times. God has placed a
spot for these people that I haven’t even met yet in my heart but I
know we will bring his kingdom to them. So here’s part 2 and my 2 cents
in the end…
Thailand: Pt. 2
Trafficking in human beings means “All acts and attempted acts involved in the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harbouring of a person involving the use of deception, coercion (including the use or threat of force of the abuse of authority) or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive) in forced or bonded labor,or in slavery-like conditions, in a community other than the one in
which such person lived at the time of the original deception,
coercion, or debt bondage.
‘Thai‘ in the Thai language means ‘freedom’. So, Thailand means “land of freedom” or “land of the free”… yet the estimated number of sex workers vary from 30,000 to more than a million in Thailand alone.
Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand, but the law is very rarely enforced.
Trafficking is a roughly a $12 billion industry – a bigger cash earner than the country’s drug trade in Thailand, according to the International Labor Organization.
Patpong, Bangkok’s red-light district, consists of
only two streets of clubs and go-go bars, plus nearby side streets, and
a market for rip-off fakes.
Child prostitution can begin as young as 10 – some are born into the lifestyle and start even earlier.
Sometimes the women keep only 1/3 of the money they earn and send most of it back to their families. A working girl can earn 1500-3000 Baht per trick, while majority of it will go toward her pimp.
“Understand: These people almost always trusted their agent, and were simply betrayed. Commonly, they are offered jobs in factories, restaurants or households as maids, but instead wind up locked inside a facility which they cannot escape from, in either a sweatshop factory at much lower wages than promised, or else forced prostitution in various ways. The worst ways are whereby they are chained to a bed and forced to service many customers per day, with more than 10 per day not uncommon, and the pimps keep most of the money.”
A guy wrote an article about human trafficking and said that those in prostitution are not victims,“You can’t save people from themselves, and many people aren’t worth the time and effort, relative to other needs.”
That comment made me vomit. literally. Who says things like that?
Are some people really so selfish and so absorbed with themselves that
they don’t know all life and everyone is precious? God created everyone
so magnificently beautiful. I am so angry and my heart breaks for these
victims of human trafficking. My heart breaks for the women that think
that this is the only way for a life. One woman in an article said that
never once did any of her customers try to have a conversation with her
and it was all about ‘business.” I pray for the people that see these
women only as objects for their temporary pleasure that they discover
and are overwhelmed with God’s love. I pray for these victims that are
sacrificing themselves in hopes that their family will have a better
life. I pray that we can show them real love. There were other stories
about women who did this to fall in love with a tourist and hoped to be
swept away by promises of love only for the so called man to go back to
his life before without her. I pray that we can show them God’s
unconditional love and let them know how worthy and how beautiful they
are. I pray that they fall in love with God and know that his promises
aren’t empty like the men they’ve met and realize that God’s promises
of life and love will always remain.
Are some people really so selfish and so absorbed with themselves that
they don’t know all life and everyone is precious? God created everyone
so magnificently beautiful. I am so angry and my heart breaks for these
victims of human trafficking. My heart breaks for the women that think
that this is the only way for a life. One woman in an article said that
never once did any of her customers try to have a conversation with her
and it was all about ‘business.” I pray for the people that see these
women only as objects for their temporary pleasure that they discover
and are overwhelmed with God’s love. I pray for these victims that are
sacrificing themselves in hopes that their family will have a better
life. I pray that we can show them real love. There were other stories
about women who did this to fall in love with a tourist and hoped to be
swept away by promises of love only for the so called man to go back to
his life before without her. I pray that we can show them God’s
unconditional love and let them know how worthy and how beautiful they
are. I pray that they fall in love with God and know that his promises
aren’t empty like the men they’ve met and realize that God’s promises
of life and love will always remain.
There’s just so much hurt, pain and broken hearts. I cant wait for
us to speak and bring hope and truth into their lives and help them
restore their self worth. We are being called to help these victims and
show them God’s love through our relationships with them. We will help
them stand for the Lord and dance in his glory! So yes, Thailand might be the ‘Land of Smiles’ but God will break those chains of bondage and Thailand WILL LIVE up to it’s name,Land of the Free.
us to speak and bring hope and truth into their lives and help them
restore their self worth. We are being called to help these victims and
show them God’s love through our relationships with them. We will help
them stand for the Lord and dance in his glory! So yes, Thailand might be the ‘Land of Smiles’ but God will break those chains of bondage and Thailand WILL LIVE up to it’s name,Land of the Free.
