She stood on the stage all by herself as we walked in. Music blaring, lights down low, smoke in the air. A typical bar scene, right? Wrong.
We came to meet these women at the bar stuck in prostitution. We wanted to meet them where they are at, learn their stories and their hearts. We wanted to give them hope for a future, or at least a break for the night.
As she danced on stage, her body moved but her face remained lifeless. A face that told the story that she has done this a hundred times before and doesn’t want to do it anymore.
As we looked to her with eyes of concern and eagerness to talk with her, we sat by men who were lustful and eager for something else. They starred and smoked and pointed. We watched and smiled and waved her over.
Her name is Monissa and she is twenty years old. Her and her best friend have worked at this bar for the past four months. She doesn’t have a family, but she considers her best friend to be all she’s got.
She came to work because she and her friend needed money to survive. She works from 6pm to 12am, 7 days a week. When I asked if she makes good money, she admitted that her boss keeps their earnings.
She likes shopping and movies, has two tattoos, and is team Jacob when it comes to Twilight. Chinese is her first language and she dreams of traveling and wants to work in sales one day.
She may be a dancer now but that won’t define her now, nor will it ever. She is carefree, funny, and engaging. She is gifted, kind, vibrant, and transparent. She has a bright future, and I don’t even think she knows it yet.
We might have been nervous walking into the bar, but this is why we do it. We do it because we get to walk out of the bar and a lot of girls can’t. We do it because we get to choose what our future looks like and we forget that some people don’t get that luxury.
We do it because these women deserve to know that they are valued and extremely capable. They deserve to know there is a way out, even if they can’t see it from their vantage point. They deserve to feel empowered and free and real love.
