Trafficked.
“To
most of us, the word simply represents an ‘issue’-just another to choose from
in the marketplace of ideas. To the enslaved, it’s something infinitely more
devastating. It means the end of childhood and the beginning of hell. It means
ten to twenty men to service every night for years on end. It means every
manner of sexually transmitted disease, while the body just falls apart under
an abominable weight of abuse. It means the total destruction of a precious
human soul.” – Unknown
I remember an
exercise from training camp meant to give us a taste of what life in other
countries could be like. My entire team ended up being captured and sold as sex
slaves. It’s laughable now as the girls and I look back
on it, but it also brought an unnerving realization of just how easy it is to be
caught in that.
The sex trade holds
millions of God’s children slave. Here, sex trafficking is especially
predominant. In Thailand alone, there are over 2 million prostitutes. Over
400,000 of those are under the age of 16. The government’s stance on the issue
is simple – prostitution is illegal so it does not exist. Meanwhile, thousands
of restaurants, bars, hotels, massage parlors, and tea houses exist to offer
sexual services.
So why do many
girls enter prostitution? Parents who can’t afford to feed another mouth sell
their daughters for $5 or $10 to agents who promise better lives. Other parents
just offer them on the street to foreign men who are there for sex tourism.
Some girls begin prostituting themselves because they need money to send home
to their impoverished families. Yet another reason is that in the Thai culture,
a high emphasis is placed on virginity being saved for husbands (an odd
incongruity). When girls are raped, they believe they no longer have value so
their only option is prostitution. Even when trying to come up with
alternatives for prostitution, there is little hope. Prostitution is an
industry in which $22 – $27 billion per year is earned. In a country where
poverty is the norm and most jobs earn significantly less, prostitution is the
sensible solution. And when the rare alternative job comes along that pays a
similar amount, women are denied those jobs solely because they are female.
Some of the girls end up with children (surprise, surprise) but are unable to
go home because their families won’t accept the children.
How is it that
young women, typically shy and reserved, are able to dance naked or sleep with
strangers? One former prostitute says only “by making yourself very empty.�
When their hearts feel nothing, they can perform anything. Many women continue
working through their periods because fines are levied for time taken off.
Others go deaf because of the loud music in bars. Even more suffer from
intestinal disorders when they are forced to throw up in order to keep ordering
expensive drinks. A large number end up drug users – after having their bodies
ravaged by several customers in a row, they are too tired to move their limbs.
The answer? A shot of heroin. That shot enables them to handle five or six men
in a single night. The drug allows them to stay in working condition. But for
how long?
These young women
need the hope and love of God so dearly! For the next three weeks, I’m going to
be working with an organization called Remember Nhu. This organization takes
the rescue one step further and begins with prevention. I will be living in a
home with 80+ girls who have been rescued, literally snatched out of a horrible
fate and given a hope-filled future. Remember Nhu rescues young girls off the
street before they have reached the level of prostitution and give them a home,
an education, and a way to earn a living. Praise God! I’m so thrilled to be
working with them, and to be an active observer in watching God change lives
(mine included!).
I’m going to leave
you with some sobering knowledge.
// Over 1 million children
are trafficked each year; 2,700 children each day
// Approximately 1
in 100 will contract HIV
// Those who enter
the sex trade under the age of 18 have a 90% chance of dying from AIDS within 3
years
// The legal age
for sex is 21 years. The average age of child prostitutes? 7 years old
// The majority of
perpetrators are police officers and government officials
These are not just
statistics. These are precious lives. You can do something. Or you can hope
someone else will. It’s your choice.
Do something, one life at a time.
The video below is for the organization that I’m working with in Thailand called Remember Nhu. It’s pretty good!
