The past week my team was staying in Ermita, Manila, trying to find new ministry contacts. We soon realized that our hostel was right in the middle of one of the red light districts of Manila. There were dozens of clubs and brothels on the same street as our hostel or one street away. The first night there, we were walking back from dinner and we walked past three different brothels. They had girls standing outside waiting to be bought for the night or to encourage people to come inside. The girls were dressed up in beautiful dresses and fancy high heels. The girls looked incredibly young and it was heartbreaking and tough to see.
During our week in this part of the city, we spent our evenings prayer walking around the streets, praying for God’s redemption as we walked past clubs and brothels. There are hundreds of girls that work at all of the different brothels – back to back lining the streets. What was the most unsettling to see was the groups of men that walked the streets at night looking for a good brothel where they could spend their night. The community hostel room we slept in also housed men that were, no doubt, there to visit brothels: older men traveling alone that slept all day and went out at night. It was impossible to escape the darkness that filled this part of the city. It felt hopeless and it seemed like no one was even attempting to do anything to prevent it or give the girls an opportunity at an alternative way of life. It is so accepted and normal that no one tries to prevent it. It was heartbreaking seeing daughters of Christ being sold and displayed in that way.
The last night of our stay there, four members from my team and myself decided to go to one of the brothels and pay to spend time with some of the girls, giving them the night off and sharing with them the love of Christ. Two girls, two guys and myself walked the streets trying to find where God wanted us to go. One of the guys on my team was approached by a man and asked, “Do you want to go see some girls??” We all followed the man to a brothel. We walked up the stairs at the entrance and were greeted by about ten of the girls waiting at the door. We walked down a hallway with private rooms that had windows on them. I saw into one room with three older Asian men with three of the girls with them. The feelings I had in the moment were so unsettling and disturbed – but being right in the middle of the darkness and knowing you are there to spread truth and God’s love is empowering. Walking with God, I had nothing to fear and I never felt unsafe or afraid. We just had to trust God that He would use us in this situation that was way out of our comfort zone.
We were all lead to a room with couches and they told us that to be in the room cost 500 pesos per person, which is approximately $10 USD. In addition, to buy a girl a drink for two hours was 300, or $6 USD. “Favors” were 200 – $4 USD. The two other girls on my team and I went to another private room and asked if we could buy a girl a drink – which meant having the girl stay in our room for two hours. The host came back with ten girls that lined up in our room – all wearing name tags, and matching colored pink dresses. We were asked to pick which girl we wanted. I was not expecting this to happen; it was so sad seeing the girls be chosen like animals. They all wanted so badly to be chosen, nodding and smiling encouragingly. Seeing that big group desperation on their faces was hard to handle.
We picked two girls – Cherry and Joyan. We told them we just wanted to talk and get to know them. They smiled and seemed confused at first but they were very easy to talk to. Cherry is 24 years old, and has a four year old daughter that she visits every weekend. Her daughter is out in the provinces living with Cherry’s sister – a four hour bus ride from the city. Both of Cherry’s parents are dead. She takes an hour bus ride to and from work everyday to get to the brothel. Joyan is 23 and has a one year old daughter named Elijah – she told us her name came from the Bible. Joyan lives with her father who takes care of her daughter when she is at work. They told us they only get two nights off a month and get paid 200 pesos a night. That’s approximately $5 USD. I immediately noticed Cherry had a gold cross necklace on. They told us that they both attend Christian churches in the area. Over the course of the evening, we talked about their lives, they asked about our trip and what we were doing in the Philippines, and we all sang karaoke together. It was fun to laugh with them and hear about their lives. We prayed for them at the end of the two hours.
I hope and pray that this small act of love will be a seed planted for Cherry and Joyan. When walking the streets the first couple of days, it seemed like we couldn’t do anything but pray. When all you know to do is pray and bless the area you are in, it grows your faith in prayer, but you want to do more. Even though Satan tried to make me think there was nothing we could do and it was hopeless, we stepped out in faith and trusted God that spending time with even two of the girls in that area could make a difference. Sometimes all you can do is plant seeds and be okay with not seeing immediate results. God is so much bigger. He can use our faith in taking risks and small acts of kindness in amazing ways.
