Human Trafficking: The illegal trade of human beings by means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour.
This month we are living and working in Chiang Mai, a city located in Northern Thailand. It is a beautiful city, with beautiful people and a rich culture. On our first day here we learned that Thai means freedom, and Thailand is known as the land of freedom; which is amazing when you think about it because there are so many people in this country living in captivity and bondage. Our teams this month are living 2 blocks from the red light district, which is a much frequented street of bars that is well known for a person’s ability to procure a wide array of women, ladyboys, or children for all of your sexual needs. I hate to be so coarse in my speech when addressing this subject, but this is the raw truth. I live around the corner from a place where people’s bodies are sold and exploited sometimes up to 30 times per day for the sake of turning a profit. We live right around the corner from the heart of darkness; the enemy is at work, snatching children from their homes, women from the colleges, and men from their God given identities. In the low season 5000 men, women, and children can be found working in the red light district, while in high season the number jumps to 20,000. Tourists flood the bars, night clubs, and massage parlors looking for a good time or a way to escape their loneliness and current problems.
Our teams this month are going into the bars and building relationships with the men, women, and children, in hopes that we can show them the love of Christ through action and not just in word. We do prayer walks in the mornings and afternoons, speaking truth and light and life over the areas that we will be going into in the evenings. Then a team goes out at night. They follow the direction of the Lord and go into bars, order a coke or sprite, and strike up conversation with the girls that are working. Hopes are that we can create relationship with them and meet up with them during their off times, whether that is for coffee in the afternoon, or lunch, or a visit to one of the local waterfalls, to just spend time with them and speak words of love and worth into them.
This is where you come in. Our World Race budgets don’t really cover the added expenses of buying multiple cokes a day, or lunches and coffees for not only ourselves but also the women that we are taking out. If you have a heart for the broken or women that are being trafficked and abused, and would like to help out with the ministry that we are involved in this month, we are trying to raise funds for the outings that we are going on with the women that we meet. Please consider donating anything that you can.
You can make cheques out to Kylie Grabauskas and either give them or cash to my mom, or mail them to 99 Commercial St. Milton, ON L9T 2J1. Please keep in mind that we are only here for 20 more days and that time is of the utmost importance.
Thank you so much for all of your love support and prayers! God Bless You! I will be posting a blog about our first night out in the red light district soon!
