So many crazy things have happened in the last couple of days, it’s hard to even know where to start.
To begin, as you know, most of our ministry this month was working with the trafficked men and women here in Pattaya. Night after night we’d stroll the streets lined with men and women enslaved by prostitution, whether it was their choice to be there or not. We’d go in to the bars, talk with the women, and offer them an out – the Tamar Center – a safe place to stay where they were taught different skills until they learned a trade that would help them support themselves.
We played a lot of music in a lot of bars in the red light district. It’s a pretty amazing story, you should ask me some time 😉
It was an incredible few weeks, and there is so much to tell – but here are two of the most powerful experiences I had:
Yesterday we had a Christmas party for the girls in the English class, which was also our last class to help out with. As the girls filtered in I saw a new face in the crowd and I realized it was a lady that I had talked to a couple nights before in the bar as she was working – Her name is Put. I invited her to come to class just like I had with many other girls, and she actually decided to show up! It was so amazing to see her there. She told me (in very broken English) that all of us women were beautiful inside and out and she could see there was something different about us. She asked if I would be there for class on Thursday and I had to tell her no, we were leaving to go back to Bangkok. Her eyes welled up with tears and she pulled a ring off one of her fingers and put it on mine and asked that I please don’t forget her… I told her that was not possible and I loved her and God loved her, then we hugged and parted. I am terrible at goodbyes, and that was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to go through… or so I thought.
That night we went out again for the last time to talk to the women working the streets and the bars. We headed out at about 6 pm… usually at that time the girls are putting on their make-up and still primping themselves and not too distracted by trying to find customers (aka, the “white men”, most of which were from OUR country). I was paired up with a Thai girl that worked with the Tamar Center so she could help translate if need be, and we set off to a bar across the street. We walked up and down the huge aisle and finally sat down at one of the bars in the middle. We started talking with one of the bartenders/dancers named Sip – and before I knew it she was in tears.
She hated her job, she hated selling herself to men, she hated her boss, she hated her life. But she was stuck. She had heard about God before but always felt like He had no reason to forgive her or love her after all she had been through. She wanted out of her lifestyle but didn’t know how to get away, and didn’t feel she deserved any better anyways. She owed her boss money and was afraid for her life to leave, and had nowhere to go but back to his place at night.
I shared with her some of my story and let her know that there’s nothing a person can do that is past the point of God loving them, and she did deserve that – just as much as any other person. My partner translated the parts she couldn’t understand, and then all of a sudden they began talking a million miles per hour in Thai… I just sat there, smiling and nodding… not really knowing what was going on.
After about 5 minutes, my partner looked at me and asked “can we have her come with us now?” and I felt my stomach flip. I replied YES, and so we asked her if she would come with us before her night of work started – that we had a safe place for her to stay. She anxiously looked around, and then nodded to us. She said goodbye to the girls she was working with, grabbed her purse, linked into our arms for support, and walked out with us. Talk about guts!!
Before I knew it she was swept away by the ladies in charge at the Tamar Center (not even we could know where the safe house was – for the safety of the girls who had recently escaped), but not without her asking if she would see me later this week… I had to tell her no. She asked me when she’s going to see me again – I couldn’t think, my heart ached so deeply, and so I just said I didn’t know. She hugged me and half stated, half asked “in heaven?” and I sort of laughed. The tears began to flow, and I said “of course”. Then she was whisked away into the crowd, and that was it…
It’s going to be so hard to leave here tomorrow morning. I know my teammates and I have made a big impact on the lives of these women, but that doesn’t make it any easier to leave. These women have touched my heart just as much as I have theirs… and these past few weeks are ones I will hold on to for the rest of my life.
