This month all of R-Squad was together in Phuket, Thailand.
We partnered with an organization called SHE, which stands for Self Help and
Empowerment. SHE sends teams into the nightlife of Patong Beach, a popular
destination for sex tourism, where the hope is that we might be able to build
relationships with women and help them to realize that the money they are
making isn’t worth sacrificing their happiness. There are over 2000 prostitutes on Bangla Road alone, which
is our primary focus, and each bar holds anywhere from 2 to 14/+ women.
R-squad split into teams of 3, 4, and 5 & we had teams
out on Bangla every night except Sunday. Each team was in either group 1 or 2.
When group 1 went out, group 2 would stay back and intercede, and vice versa.
I had the pleasure & honor of being on a team with
Chelsea Hoffman (fellow Shabach teammate), Heidi Tobe (of Agape Lifesong), and
Jeannie Moore (of Team United). We called ourselves team “BLT,” which stands
not for bacon, lettuce & tomato, but Beacons of Light and Truth. We began
every evening with worship & prayer, then we would load into the truck,
driven nightly by God’s very faithful servant, Clint Clark, and use the 20
minute drive to Bangla Road to pray some more.
Once we made it to Bangla we would separate into our teams
and head into the bars. I’m going to try to put some descriptive words together
to create the scene for you, so bear with me. Pulsing music, almost every bar
has its own speaker system playing, flashing lights, women dancing on poles and
standing outside of bars grabbing at you to come in, crowds of people… and not
just men, there are twenty-somethings on Christmas break, families with babies
and small children, father and son duos & plenty of women. Bangla Road is
lined with independent prostitutes, those not connected to any bar, ladyboys in
costume offering to let you take their picture for a small fee, and people
berating you with offers to come see a “ping-pong show” at one of the closed
bars. Our contacts, Mark and Sharon Biddell, describe Patong Beach as the “pit
of hell.”
A question we asked often was, “Do you like your job?” Every
woman I asked this question (at least 20 or 30) answered with, “No, but I need
the money.” This is our opportunity to introduce SHE and ask the girls back to
lunch with us at SHE headquarters to show them around. If they decide they
don’t want to work as prostitutes anymore, SHE offers job opportunities and
career training in things like hospitality, cooking & baking, jewelry
making & childcare. Many women have young children who are taken care of by
their family members and the women send money back to their families for the
children. SHE offers childcare and housing so that the moms can be with their
children.
Soi Lion, Soi Tiger, Soi Eric, Soi Sea Dragon, Soi Easy, Soi
Gonzo & Soi Crocodile are the side streets off Bangla Road. Our team spent
most of our time on Soi Lion, Soi Tiger & Soi Eric. Of these streets we
frequented the following bars: Eric’s Shooters Bar, Oscar Bar, Honky Tonk Bar,
Honey Bar, Blow Job Bar & Nitro Bar. Every bar we visited was chosen by
intense prayer & listening for God’s direction. Each bar held one or two
girls we had the opportunity to befriend. Chelsea wrote a beautiful blog
describing some of these women, so I’m going to direct you over to it so you
can learn about the girls we got to know:
It was a cool experience to build relationships with the
girls we met and to be able to come back every other night & provide some
consistency. Sometimes it was just enough to come into a bar, order a coke, and
hang out with them for a while, reassuring them that we were just there for
friendship and were some of the few people who pass through not expecting
anything of them. There was a girl I became good friends with who, once we
arrived at her bar, introduced me as her friend at a table she was serving. One
of the girls who was sitting at the table, who was quite drunk, laughed and
leaned over to me and asked, “Really?” As if it was impossible that she might
have friends outside of her profession. My heart broke. Please keep these women
in your prayers, that they might recognize their worth and turn their backs on
Patong Beach.
