One place we have been ministering at this month is Samaritana Transformation Ministries. Their vision is to see women rescued from prostitution and to be whole and free in Christ, to encourage prostitution-free communities that are safe for women and at-risk children, and to empower and encourage communities to embrace vulnerable women and survivors of prostitution.
This place is beautiful; they have made it a peaceful sanctuary and place of prayer. They train the women in important life skills as well as business skills. At Samaritana, the women also have a source of livelihood by making jewelry and paper products. They are amazing!
Samaritana gets its name from the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. (John 4:4-28)
“Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from
the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw
water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him,
“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For
Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew
the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked
him and he would have given you living water.” …….
near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from
the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw
water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him,
“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For
Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew
the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked
him and he would have given you living water.” …….
……The woman said to him, “Sir, give
me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw
water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband
and come back.”
me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw
water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband
and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and
the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite
true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see
that you are a prophet. Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must
worship is in Jerusalem.” ……
…….The woman said, “I know that
Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything
to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I who speak
to you am he.”
to you am he.”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman
went back to the town (to tell others of what had happened)….”
went back to the town (to tell others of what had happened)….”
These women have been torn from their identity in Christ and have never been told what that looks like. It’s time for them to gain back their hope and security in the God who loves them and that wants more for them than a jar of water at a well. He wants to give them living water that never runs out…water to wash them clean of their past.
Jesus tells the Samaritan woman He is the living water!
With this, her broken heart and life begins to heal as she abandons
her jar of water at the well to go tell others.
Prostitution has many faces. Blame is usually first put on the women but there are many contributing factors for how they get to that point:
Promises of a “good job” in another city or country (they are then forced into prostitution and can’t get out safely)
Extreme poverty or unemployment
No protection or legal security by government for the women
“Family business”
Dysfunctional family life, runaways on the streets
Vulnerable children, children sold by their families for money
Slavery…etc…
According to a 1998 study, that year alone in the Philippines there were 400,000, including 70,000 children, involved in prostitution. (Those are just the ones they know about). And the trade is still growing! It is currently the 4th largest source of Gross National Product here.
Prostitution isn’t just about the women, it is a system. It is a business where the women (and children) are a commodity to be sold. Laws exist, but they tend to just punish the women without dealing with the system itself, and these women are stigmatized by media and society as a whole.
Please keep the women here in your prayers as they find a new life in Jesus and for
women and children all over who are in prostitution.
