We arrived in Thailand just about a week ago and went straight to debrief. During debrief, we heard much of the same stories that we had heard previously about Thailand and the ministry that a lot of the girls from A and B squads had been involved with during the last month. However, to be honest I thought some of the stories may have been a little exaggerated or ‘over told’ to get a point across to us.
However, I found out quickly that these stories were in fact true and not exaggerated or ‘over told’ but possibly understated. Near the end of debrief several of us decided to go dancing one night at a place just a couple of doors down from where we were staying. We really just wanted a fun, goofy night to hang together. And it was fun for the majority of the evening.
I was with the first group to arrive, although I don’t remember what time it was. Anyways, there was a large group of World Racers and two small tables of people…we were definitely the majority of the people there. We hit the floor dancing and soon were joined by even more Racers. I must have been completely wrapped up in dancing and our group because I failed to notice that we had soon become the minority in the place and were surrounded by people.
As I spun around I noticed two people all over each other and with this image I was literally snapped back into reality.
I continued to look around and realized that we were surrounded by prostitutes, young American men and women out for a good time and a lot of alcohol. Within minutes of this realization a Thai woman passed out in the arms of a young American man. Luckily one of the WRers was a nurse and got the woman to a couch off the dance floor.
I was positive that this American kid had drugged her. As our nurse tended to her, the young man left. When she came to, I thought she would want to go home or would be upset by passing out. Honestly, if we hadn’t of been there no one would have cared if she was passed out. She very well could have been dropped in the floor and hurt or something unthinkable could have happened to her. An employee of the place came over and basically told her to go home and go to sleep.
However, instead she went back to the dance floor looking for her young American client. Yes, this woman was a prostitute. He had not drugged her she had drugged and drank herself into this state. I later found out that a lot of these girls do this in order to disconnect with the reality of what they’re about to do to their bodies. Once she realized that he had left, she began going from person to person looking for a new client. It didn’t matter if the person was American or Thai or male or female.
At this point, any World Racer that was left was so broken by this that they left. But I stayed. I was really worried that she would go back to the dance floor and pass out again and by this time the crowd was definitely there for one purpose. I stayed until 1am and then left with another World Racer. We actually stood outside for awhile just talking about the night when the door opened and an employee was bringing the woman who had passed out earlier outside and telling her to go home. But she couldn’t. She was so wasted she couldn’t walk.
The reason I’m even blogging about this experience is because the stories that the girls on A and B told were true. This is part of life here. Women are expected to make the money for the family and if that means selling their bodies then it’s just not discussed. The prostitutes that night were not ‘bar girls,’ they were free lancers. They weren’t the young girls sold into human trafficking; they were just lost. I have never felt darkness come over a place so quickly and so thick before in my life. The feeling of oppression and lust is very heavy here.
As my team goes out, we’ll be heading for a very touristy area of Thailand known for this. World Race teams have not ministered there before. And from what we’ve heard, the ages of the prostitutes are much younger and more prominent in another locale outside the bars. We need prayer this month. The darkness is so thick and literally covers these places. We’re here to bring light but we need prayer from the people at home.
