“Walk about a block down the street, cross at the McDonald’s, continue straight, take a left at the Dominos, if you pass the Super Pussy you’ve gone too far”
Those were my directions on how to get to *Rahab.
Thursday was my night to go out. During the day, the street is a ghost town; at night, vendors fill the streets selling faux Louis Vuitton bags, watches, shoes, bracelets, etc. You name it, someone is probably selling it.
I met Madi, a woman who has been doing outreach in this area for over 16 years; we prayed and went from bar to bar. We stopped at one and went in.
I walked behind the curtain. To my left were red velvet couches and a pool table. Directly in front of me, 4 polls and a girl dancing on top of the bar. There were 5 stools in front of the bar with 5 girls sitting and waiting to be bought. I followed behind and sat down.
Two women came over, asked if we wanted a drink, and sat with us. These woman were in “charge” of the girls on the stools, so they could sit and talk longer.
That’s when I met Katie. She first apologized for not having more girls on the bar.
Katie is a 42 year old mother who was from the northern province that came here to make a living for her son. She left her two year old son with her mom, so she could make enough money to support him; that’s why most girls in the red light district do what they do. (It’s fast money…)
We began to have small talk, where are you from, how do you like Thailand and then she dropped “so what do you think of the girls doing what they’re doing?” In that moment my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach…what I really wanted to say I couldn’t, so I just said it is hard. It is hard to see these beautiful women selling their bodies to earn money when I know there is so many other ways they could be earning money. It’s hard to hear them be talked about like property and not people.
As I sat there, the stools went from 5 to 4, 4 to 3, 3 to 2 and at one point, I looked up to no girls sitting on the stools, because they all had been bought.
There was nothing I could do but sit there watch and pray.
Katie proceeded to talk about her customers and what type of girl they prefer, why the girls dress the way they do, how much money they could make… My stomach was in knots. She described these girls like they were pieces of meat without an ounce of value.
There were a few foreigners at the bar that kept staring at us, and it took everything in me not to go over to them.
Prostitution is everywhere here, and the hardest part about it is these girls do it because of the money; some don’t know what life is like outside of it.
The night went on, I said goodbye to Katie and left.
**Rahab is a ministry that was started 20+ years ago to reach out to the woman working in the bars in the Patpong district of Bangkok. This ministry helps girls get out of prostitution; it gives them skills to get a job, pursue their passions, learn English and most importantly learn their value and worth from a man who died for them 2000 years ago.
**Names changed to protect the identities of the women**
