Thailand, widely known as the Land of Smiles, is a country that is beautiful in not just scenery, but in culture as well. The people are humble, warm and welcoming (when they're not driving on the roads). Motorcycles are a major mode of transportation primarily because it is cheap to buy and run a motorcycle compared to anything else. And of course the food is reason enough to come –in my honest opinion.
Spirituality is big here, with Buddhism containing over 90% of the population and only 1% Christian. Unfortunately, the spirituality here is generally dark. It is not difficult to pick up on the spirits of lust, sex and money here. In Thailand, family is very tight, and it is important for the younger generation to provide and care for the older generations. Poverty is common, and for many kids, both male and female, sex trafficking and being bought and sold is the only way for them to provide for their families. It may be easy to condemn the families and villages for even selling kids into the terrible way of life, but for many of them, they see no other way. On the other hand, Thai people (men and women) generally accept this sexual culture as normal, making it incredibly difficult to battle as well.
Thailand's sex industry consists of nearly 3 million people, with nearly a third of those people being children under the age of 18. A large effort of Christian organizations and missionaries focus on "intervention", where people minister in popular tourism spots such as bars or "red light districts" where brothels and prostitution is common. These ministries rely on forming relationships with trafficking victims and then intervene in some manor to extract them from the industry. The other big player in stopping the trafficking industry is "prevention" where the main focus is to prevent people (mainly children) from ever being sold into the sex industry to begin with. The latter was the focus of Remember Nhu, the ministry I was a part of during month 8. Intervention ministries spend, on average, $6,000USD per year to extract just one person from the industry, while Remember Nhu only needs to spend an average of $600USD per child, per year. This is not say that it is all about money, but rather to say that the same money goes so much further to prevent people from getting sucked into the sex industry in the first place than with intervention.
Thailand has been the target of missionaries for over 700 years, and it makes one wonder why after all that, there is still only 1% Christianity here. It's easy to look at the downtrodden in the red light district and wonder if it's even worth the effort. Yes! God is still here, and whether you see it or not, he is still pursuing the hearts of his children in Thailand!
During my month in Thailand, I got to see the beauty of a ministry like Remember Nhu first hand. It was "manistry" month and all 10 guys from our squad were together working there. Our main project was starting the construction of a new kids home. When we arrived, one of the boys homes was moving from a small cinder block house into a new and beautiful home. The new home was much larger and modern compared to their old home, so you can imagine how excited these boys were when they got to move in. Just a few days later, we were helping the Thai construction crew break ground for another home. It was such an amazing opportunity to be a part of the effort and set the foundation for what will (in less than a year) be a place where kids can come and live, safe from the clutches of the sex trade. It's great to partner with an organization and work on something that you see take shape instantly and is a tangible way to serve the kingdom.
The other side to our ministry was eating and spending time with the house parents and kids each night. Each kids home has a married couple that provide the "head of the household" roles as in any family, and all kids are part of that family. The kids help with chores around the house, they have homework to complete each night when they are in school, and the families exercise worshiping God and studying the Bible together on Sundays and separately throughout the week. It was a treat for us to come alongside these families, to eat, play, sing and teach these kids for 3 weeks. The kids are happy. They are loved. And it shows. I saw them run around with huge smiles on their faces, knowing not only the work we are doing is immediately going to provide more kids a place live this to live, but also that these "know" that they grow up knowing they can do and become whatever they want to do.
The victory –no matter how big or small you see it as– is this: During our stay at Remember Nhu, we visited a hill tribe village, where a few of the kids came from. That hill tribe no longer sells kids into sex trafficking because they now know and understand that giving kids an honest shot at getting an education yields a person that can provide far more for a family than one in the sex industry. It is these relationships being built with the Thai people that are the most important of all.
For more information on how you can partner with this awesome organization, check out: https://remembernhu.org
