The northern hill tribes are remote villages created as a refuge for the people fleeing Burma, Nepal and other countries where they are being persecuted. I mentioned the genocide going on in Burma right now in my last blog, but in case you didn’t read it… there has been a slow genocide going on for the past 60 years or so in Burma/Myanmar. The ethnic minority groups are being killed off by the military controlled government. Crazy thing, no one really notices it’s going on/cares/does much. If you are interested, look into the Free Burma Rangers.
Anyways, the hill tribe people aren’t even considered Thai by the locals. They have different languages, customs, etc. that they brought from their original countries. Most of them don’t have Thai documentation to be able to work and almost all of them are in extreme poverty. Because of this, lots of families are “forced” into selling their children (boys and girls) into the sex trade; this was very apparent when we went to visit. I had been walking around taking pictures with locals and of the beautiful mountain side scenery and was so swept up in the beauty that I almost forgot the story of the people.
root they chew to ebb hunger. We saw lots of pigs and chickens running around and straw shacks on stilts, until we got to one really nice, large, beautifully carved, wood home and it clicked. This house is the only nice one in town and they got the money from selling their children into sex slavery. My entire view of the village changed immediately. I realized there were absolutely no teenagers or young adults running around, not a one. There were some very small children, but there weren’t even tons of those. Most of the kids from that village are in cities around Thailand and trapped into sex tourism. This was confirmed by our house mom who has built relationships with these families and interviews certain ones to find at-risk children to bring into the home. The culture in Thailand is that you support your family no matter what, there is a huge burden on the children to support their parents and grandparents. There is no social welfare system or retirement plans, so you depend on your children to send money home. If you are a child living in a hill tribe or another poor area of Thailand, you are either forced by your parents to work in prostitution or you feel like you have no other choice but to. One of the girls living in our home is 16 months old and was taken in about 3 months ago from her parents who were actively trying to sell her virginity to pay for their medical expenses (they were both dying of AIDS). 
The beautifully crafted wooden home
The organization we are working with is on the prevention side of stopping sex trafficking, but Lighthouse in Action works on the rescue side. Both of these are important and necessary if we are going to stop this business once and for all. Since Lighthouse has been doing ministry in Chiangmai, 4 brothels have shut down in the red light district and business elsewhere has been slow.
I was teamed up with my friend Kristen (one of the two girls working with us this month) and two guys from Lighthouse (both from Vegas!). We chatted a lot about YWAM Vegas and our favorite restaurants out there, which brought back tons of nostalgia for me, then we prayed about where the Lord was leading us that night. Josh had been doing ministry out here for a while now and knew the area pretty well, as well as had some great relationships with some of the women. Lighthouse also teaches English in bars to the women during the day and Josh is one of the teachers.
He first took us into Boxing Square, which is basically a bunch of brothels surrounding a Thai boxing ring. We walked around and saw tons of women (mostly from ages 15 to 30), dressed like they are going to a Las Vegas club sitting next to men at the bar or standing at the entrance beckoning us in. There were also a few ‘lady-boy’ bars that have cross dressing men acting as women, lots have even had surgeries done (Thailand is the #1 country for sex change surgeries). We stopped along the way to speak to a deaf prostitute and I was able to tell her my name, the only sign language I know. After we left Boxing Square we stopped down the street a few times, at massage parlors and Karaoke bars, to speak to other women he had made connections with. A lot of the girls would sing Justin Bieber songs and wooing over the fact that Josh somewhat looked like him haha. 
Prostitution is a scary thing and so misconceived, deception is a huge part of it. Technically, it is illegal in Thailand, but realistically it is used, supported and defended by the government and government officials. Prostitution alone brings in over 20% of the tourism industry profits for the country. It provides monetary wealth to everyone involved, but strips the workers of dignity, self worth and hope. It entraps the women, sometimes forcefully and sometimes not. Some feel the need to enter into it because of duty to their family or needs for money for surgeries and the like, some are forced by their parents and some are straight up captured. Once they are in they are addicted to the money and lifestyle. The women return to keep up the expensive lifestyle and reoccurring monetary needs and sometimes return because of the intense drug addictions they’ve picked up, since it is the only thing they find to numb the pain of the job. Although, the people using the services see it as something the women enjoy or need, they justify by saying it helped the women because it pays so well or that they are used to it, it’s part of the culture. These are all LIES. There might be truth to them, surface truth, but they are lies.
This month has been extremely eye opening and heart wrenching. My heart breaks for these women and men chained to the cycle of sex tourism and for the men buying the workers who are caged in their addictions. The entire business is joyless, hopeless and just sad.
