Barefoot and carefree she runs down the dirt roads of her village looking for an adventure. Like most young children, she is oblivious to any limitations on her imagination. She is full of hopes and dreams of the future. She doesn’t come from wealth, but has all that she needs. Her family is poor, but they work hard for the little they do have. You may know her; she is Innocence.
A few years pass and she is quickly uprooted from her safe and peaceful village. Picking flowers in the fields and chasing after the boys next door will soon be distant memories for her. Men come to the village looking for girls just about her age, 10 years old. They speak to her parents about wonderful opportunities down in the city. They make them promises of riches, big houses and fancy cars. Their story is convincing and many village families fall for the promises of endless wealth. Of course, they are unclear about what their child may be doing in the city. They just assume it’s normal “work” but deception is a vicious lie they buy into. Before she knows it, she is taken from her home and brought to the city to “work”. After this trafficking journey, full of deception, she is then raped, beaten, threatened, and forced to live in confining and unsanitary conditions. You may know her; she is Captured.
Within days her innocence is stolen, more times that you would even want to know but you should be aware of what is taking place. She is forced to “service” anywhere from 40 to 110 customers per day! She tricks herself into believing that somehow this is her “lot” or what she deserves because of something she has done in her previous life; the common Buddhist belief. Men, hungry with a desire to fulfill their appetite for lust, abuse her over and over. Night after night she puts on her make-up, the clothes she puts on don’t cover much and her high heels will leave her feet blistered yet again. We puts a smile on her face and does what she does every night – tries to entice a man with her body to keep her boss happy. She laughs on the outside, but her eyes told a different story. A deep sadness and disconnect from reality looked back through her eyes. It was if her very soul cried out for an escape from what was going to happen in the next few hours. She is no longer that carefree and undefiled little girl. She has now been renamed; she is Trapped.
Eventually she becomes numb to her life. Malnutrition, sleep deprivation, as well as emotional and physical abuse become part of her day-to-day routine. Her life, as a victim of sex trafficking is an incomprehensible evil and deep down she is empty, broken, and desperate for love yet never finding it in its truest form. There can be no trust found in men, since they only want one thing from her. There is no light at the end of her tunnel or hope for her since she is one in over a million caught in the awful plague of human trafficking. Her value and self worth slowly decline in the depth of the darkness engulfing her soul. You may know her; she is Hopeless.
Most of you reading this may not think you can relate to this girl. But let’s go a little deeper.
Do you remember being innocent? Can you remember the freedom and joy of being a child, where the world was a wondrous place with no limitation whatsoever on your dreams? I can. Some days I wish I could go back, knowing what I know now, and enjoy the moments I wanted to so badly rush.
Maybe you haven’t been kidnapped or deceived into a profession that leads to such emptiness, but have you ever felt captured by something or someone? Has someone ever tricked you into believing something would be something it wasn’t? I am sure we have all been lied to, deceived or manipulated to do things we now regret.
We have all, at one time of our life, felt trapped. Whether it was our jobs, school, family, friends, situations or circumstances; they have trapped us. Sometimes we get ourselves in situations where we feel stuck and like we can’t get out.
Hopeless is not a feeling we are unaware of. Like these women, we often feel hopeless in our lives. Maybe it’s not being able to find work, make your marriage work, get pregnant, reconcile with loved ones, find healing or say no to an addiction. Sometimes it seems as if there is no hope or end to our struggle.
***In no way am I trying to make light of the horrendous lives these victims lead, but I want to help you relate to these people. I want to paint a picture that these are people, just like us. They are not just stories or something you see in the movies. They are people. I know this because I met them.
Here’s my story:
There I was walking down the streets of the red-light district in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It’s the “busy season” so there are over 20,000 men, women and children being victimized by sex slavery in the city. I felt hopeful, yet overwhelmed. I had no clue what I was going to encounter this night, but the one thing I knew was that my heart my broken for these girls and I wanted to make even the smallest difference in their life. After praying about which bar to enter, I crossed the street and headed in. Two girls greeted me with smiles and offered me a seat. I ordered a coke and began to strike up conversation with them. Looking around, seeing men kissing and rubbing on these girls as if they’re just a piece of meat. My heart was filling up with anger towards these “customers”. It is hard for me to remember that they are also lost and trapped by the evil lust of the enemy. After a few minutes of chatting, I invited her, Joy, to play pool with us. The girls and I asked questions and tried to get to know her a little. You see, you can’t just storm into a bar and grab the girls and run out with them. That’s what I would like to do! But unfortunately, rescuing them isn’t quite that easy. You have to build relationships with them. So that’s what I started to do. We played and laughed for about an hour. She told us a little about her story. She asked us lots of questions too and wanted to know what we were doing in Thailand. We had a great night getting to know Joy and her friend, Annie. At the end of the night we said our goodbyes and they hugged me! I was so overwhelmed with love and compassion for them. They asked when I would be back, and I assured them I would visit again.
This is just one story. Although I didn’t get to save those two girls, I did get to plant a seed. A seed of HOPE that will continue to be watered as people keep pursing these women. I might not be able to see them rescued while I am here, but I can pray. I can pray every day for them and for their lives to be saved, not only from their entrapment, but for their souls.
Most of us believe that human trafficking is like the movie “Taken”. However, most of the girls enslaved in this evil crime are not kidnapped, but deceived and tricked into it. Human trafficking is an organized criminal industry that affects every nation. In fact, it is the second largest global organized crime today, generating approximately 31.6 billion USD each year. While the statistics can seem overwhelming, it is important to remember that every number represents the life of a human being. Unless someone brings the LIGHT and LIFE of Jesus to these girls, there is no hope for them. Although it is overwhelmingly dark, there is no darkness too dark for the Light of our sweet Savior. He is full of all the hope these women need to turn their life around.
Where do you come in? Maybe you can’t walk into the bars and love on these girls like I can, which I consider a high honor. However, you can make a difference! You can pray. You can give to organizations and ministries that are fighting to set people free. You can get involved in raising your voice for the ones who have no voice. I challenge you to not be ignorant to this injustice. It is REAL. It is happening – all over the world. GET involved. Below is a list of organizations you can partner with to help end slavery.
We are ALL called to reach the world. Each of us has a part to play.
Don’t be ignorant be involved.
www.lighthouseinaction.org – (The ministry many racers are working with this month)
www.shethailand.weebly.com – (Another ministry many racers are working with this month)
