Greetings everyone. I was in Phuket, Thailand in December (my apologies for the lateness of this blog). We worked with a ministry called SHE (Self Help and Empowerment). There goal is to get women out of prostitution by building relationships with them and offering alternative jobs.
Most of the women involved in commercial sex trade here are not trafficked. They come because they need money and prostitution can make them a lot in a short period of time. They never have to worry about running out of customers because Phuket is a huge tourism destination. The good news from all this is that since they freely came they can freely leave whenever they desire. Since there are no pimps it takes a lot of the risks out of the equation for SHE.
The entire squad was together this month so we split into two groups. One group would go out to the bars every night while the other group would intercee on their behalf. The groups would then alternate roles the next night. My ministry looked a little dfferent though. This month I was in charge of transportation. I had a little four cylinder Ford Ranger that I got to use to get everyone around.
Driving in Thailand turned out to be quite the challenge. There were many factors that kept me on the edge of my seat everyday. For instance the driver’s seat is on the right hand side. This seems like a small detail but it changes nearly everything. Because of this my turn signal and wiper controls were on the opposite sides that they normally are. This resulted in me turning on my windshield wipers all to often when I just needed to turn. That’s not the only thing different though. Since I was sitting on the right, the stick shift was now on my left. This took a little while to get used to, but I did eventually master it. Thankfully the pedals didn’t change. To top it off they drive on the left hand side of the road in Thailand. Those things made it interesting, but were small in comparison to the chaotic nature of Thailand traffic.
People in Thailand drive extremely aggressive. I was passed numerous times on both my right and left simultaneously by motor bikes, while driving down some ridiculously narrow roads. I really don’t know how to express the craziness of the traffic other than to say that by American standards I was nearly in an accident every night, but by Thai standards it was just a normal day of driving. Add to that the fact that I’m personallly responsible for the other 15 people’s lives who are in the truck with me and we now have a very challenging ministry. Because of this I would always have the truck prayed over before we left. Oh and I forgot to mention that whenever we went to the bars we had to drive up a crazy steep hill. I don’t think any of us would have been surprised if the engine had blown going up it. But praise God we made it up the hill every night.
Despite the many challenges the ministry was very rewarding. Every night that we made it back safely was an accomplishment. Hearing everyone’s success stories they had in the bars that night was so motivating. Then I would get to pick up the prostitutes the next day and bring them back to SHE for lunch. It was incredible being able to see the work being done in their hearts.
God Bless,
Clint
