Before reading this, make sure you read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 of Mae’s story. I know it’s long, but I promise it’s worth it.
There are more than 15,000 prostitutes in Chiang Mai alone. In all of Thailand, estimates run between 200,000 and 2.8 million. More than 500,000 people in Thailand are living with HIV/AIDS. These numbers are overwhelming. They are paralyzing. I’m just one person…what can I really do to help a situation this monumental?
During our orientation at Lighthouse in Action, Emmi told us not to think about the numbers. After all, statistics dehumanize the pain of the individuals anyway. Instead, she encouraged us to pray for God to give us one person. Just one person to help. My team and I prayed that God would send us the one, and instead he gave us two. Out of the 15,000…the 200,000-2.8 million…the 500,000…we have Mae and Ning. They are our two.
If you haven’t yet, PLEASE take the time to read their stories, told in this entire series of blogs. This is not the last installment. Things are still happening, and I’m writing the story as it unfolds. I don’t know how it ends yet, but I do know that I need help in order to write the next chapter.
This morning we had a meeting with Emmi to debrief our time in Chiang Mai and to plan the next steps to take in the plan to rescue Mae and Ning. Emmi’s goal is to have them out of the bars and into a safe place by June 30th…five days from now. Apparently when God moves, sometimes he’s in a hurry! The first step in the process is to get them both legalized in Thailand. They are Burmese, and both are illegal here. In a later blog I will share the details, but some amazing doors have opened up in the past 48 hours to help Emmi know how to get them legal, what to do with Ning’s little brother, and how to treat Mae’s HIV. God is so clearly guiding their journeys, and now it’s my joy to invite you into the story.
My teammate, Tiffany, wrote a blog yesterday that examines the harsh reality that often here in Thailand a human life gets sold for as little as $100. That’s how much a person is worth in this industry. However, we know that as God’s children, all people are priceless. Our real freedom was only able to be purchased with the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God dying in our place. So that sets the bar pretty high for how much it might cost to free someone from sex slavery, right? When we first started all of this, I was worrying that we would get to the end of the road and then need a staggering amount of money in order to get them out. But it’s really not that much, and since all the money in the world is God’s anyway, we know that he is going to provide.
Here is what we need in order to give Mae and Ning their new lives:
$500 each for legalization/immigration procedures and fees ($1,000 total)
$300/month for a year to sponsor the living expenses and salary at the coffee shop or guest house for Ning
$400/month for a year to cover the same expenses plus HIV medication for Mae
And, ideally, $300/month for a year to pay for an on-site counselor to live with the girls and help them transition into this new lifestyle and learn more about God
The total need is $13,000 over the next year to give two girls their lives back. For less than it cost for me to come on this trip, two people can have their self worth, their dignity, their freedom, and a community that surrounds them with the love of God. Amazing.
IMPORTANT: The initial $1,000 that covers their legalization is needed IMMEDIATELY! Emmi is literally waiting on these funds to pull the trigger on getting them out of the bars and somewhere safe. If you would like to help with this and are able to give right now, please send me an email so I can give you the information about how to transfer funds directly to Emmi’s account. My email address is [email protected]. This option for giving is not tax deductible, but the need is very urgent.
If you would like to contribute to the monthly support for these girls, or if you would like to give a one time gift that will go into the account to fund their monthly needs, there are several ways you can do that.
Option 1–Donate online, go to http://www.ywamsf.org click “Donate.” Fill out your info, select “other,” and designate it for “Lighthouse in Action–Mae & Ning.” This option is tax deductible in the US.
Option 2-Donate by check, payable to “YWAM.” Include a separate note stating it is for “Lighthouse in Action–Mae & Ning.” Send checks to: YWAM SF Donor services, P.O. Box 60579, Colorado Springs, CO. 80960. This option is also tax deductible in the US.
Option 3-To donate in a way that will get the money to Emmi faster, you can use PayPal or make a one time or monthly direct deposit. To do this, email: [email protected] with your name and home address. We will have a form sent to you ASAP to get automatic monthly direct deposits set up. This option is not tax deductible yet, but it’s faster.
Option 4 (for Canadians)-Donate by writing checks payable to “YWAM.” Include a separate note stating it is for the “Lighthouse in Action–Mae & Ning.” Send it to YWAM Donor Services, P.O. Box 57100, 2480 E Hastings Street, Vancouver BC V5K 5G6, Canada. This option is tax deductible for Canadians.
If you want more information or you want to review these options, they are all detailed on Lighthouse in Actions’s website, under the “Contact” tab.
VERY IMPORTANT: No matter which option you choose or how much you wish to give, we need to know about it! As soon as you send in your gift, please send an email to [email protected] and [email protected] with your name and the amount and frequency of your gift. We need to keep track of these gifts as they are being given since it takes awhile to get the money to Thailand and the plan to get the girls out is dependent on knowing that the money will be there.
Thank you so much for reading these stories and for caring about these girls. What started out for me as an overwhelming problem and a list of horrific statistics is now an amazing story of how God can use people who are willing to make huge changes in the lives of people who are open to them. Mae and Ning are no longer just two in a string of numbers. They are my friends, and I can’t wait to see how God finishes writing their stories. Thank you SO MUCH for your responses to these blogs and for praying us through this situation. We have been so encouraged by knowing that hundreds of people around the world are literally praying as things are unfolding here. We can feel your prayers, and I told my teammates last night that I feel like I’ve been living in a parallel universe this past week. My life feels sort of transcendent…I guess the best way to describe it would be to say that more than any other time in my life, I’m sure that I know what it feel like to live in the place where heaven invades earth. This week we’ve been constantly praying, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” and we have been getting to see what it feels like to be there when heaven comes to earth for a moment and releases freedom. Your prayers have been a huge part of opening all these doors and releasing the Kingdom here in Thailand, and our prayer now is that your financial generosity would be the key to the next door that God is going to open.
…Loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke…
Isaiah 58:6
