There is a road in Phuket, Thiland where tourists flock to experience the nightlife provided by more than 200 bars, all lit up with neon like a minature Vegas strip and blaring music at a volume that can be heard blocks away. But unlike Vegas, this strip isn't family friendly, though there are families, as half naked Thai women dance on stripper poles, prostitutes by the dozens line the curb and pedestrians are endlessly hounded by vendors trying to get them into a "ping pong" show that has nothing to do with the sport and everything to do with sexual entertainment.
The business of this street is sex. The open prositution is only half of the story. The other half consists of Thai "bar girls" (some not girls at all, but "lady boys") who not only serve drinks, but will serve a whole lot more for the right price. In fact, these women rent themselves out not just by the hour, but by the day, or week, or more. The streets are full of Western men, usually older, paired with Thai women, usually much younger, walking as a couple, both smiling widely, but for vastly different reasons.
The sad reality is though, the smile on the faces of the women usually disappear as soon as their male counterpart isn't looking, and that smile is replaced by a slack mouth and sad eyes that expresses hopelessness and resignation.
This is their life…to be used and abused by men (and women) looking for fulfillment in cheap sex and superficial relationships. This is their life…to live day in and day out as nothing more than a body to be purchased. This is their life…to get drunk nightly in order to numb themselves to the emptiness of their lives. This is their life…to suffer this existence in order to provide money for their families hundreds or thousands of miles away, because their opportunities for employment are limited.. This is their life…to dance provocatively on stage while tourists sit back waiting to be entertained. This is their life…for more than 1,200 men and women on this one street alone. This is their life…seven days a week.
This is Bangla Road.
But there is hope. People are coming here to pray and break the chains and strongholds on this place and these people. People are coming here to befriend these women, to tell them of their worth and to encourage them, speakinghope into their lives. People are here setting up English classes and hotel/hospitality training in order to provide them useful skills to use in employment elsewhere.
However, more help is needed. Much more. Bangla Road is just one street, in one city and is by no means the worst of the worst. There are places much darker, much more dangerous, where women aren't allowed out of the buildings where they're used for sex multiple times a day.
These men and women need more options. They need help. They need prayer.
They need to be rescued. They need love. They need Jesus.
They need you.
