Hello everyone! I know, it’s been a while. Our blog kind of stopped in Thailand, and theres really no excuse, but it’s because this is where I was officially wrecked spiritually and emotionally on our race, and the things I’ve been seeing and feeling are simply hard things for me to write about. But, I figured that since we have invited you into every other part of this journey, that it is only fair to invite you into the hard times with us as well.
Our month in Phuket, Thailand definitely needed some time for processing. I really had to process the things that I saw, the things that I felt, and I even had to ask God some really hard questions.
We lived in Patong for the month, and we were walking distance from the beach.. It was great, and Patong is a really beautiful place! The beaches, the water, the sunsets, the mountains, the island rock structures that sit randomly in the middle of the sea. It’s amazing!
But spiritually… Patong Beach is a dark, dark place. It’s heavy. There’s a sense of hopelessness that you feel when you walk down the street and interact with the people there, which in turn makes you feel helpless.
We did ministry at night down Bangla Road, one of the most popular places for sex-trafficking and sex-tourism in the world. Banga Road: a road you cannot walk down without having vulgar images shoved in your face, and seeing menus that display women as a product you can buy, with prices as low as $5.00. It’s a road filled with tourists that are contributing to the demand for sex trafficking. It’s a road where I saw Russian women who were unknowingly sold into the sex trade, and were now trapped with no way home. It’s a road where women are placed in glass boxes like an animal, and forced to dance to bring in customers. Bangla Road, it is a road that I will not miss, but simultaneously a road that I will never forget.
For the girls on my team, our ministry consisted of building relationships with the women on Bangla Rd. We made friends with the ones being used, the hopeless ones, the ones that did not want to be there, and even the ones who are completely blind to the darkness that they are living in. Most of these women have become numb to the life that they are living, and have believed in the lie that they were “made for this”, or that they do not have enough education or skill to do anything else. We had the privilege of spending the month shedding truth over that lie. We spoke life into them, and reminded them of their worth and value. We tried to explain to them that they are worth so much more than the life they are settling for, and that there is always a way out.
I almost didn’t write a blog on Thailand. (As you can see…) Because I thought that maybe if I just acted like it didn’t happen, and ignored all of the things that I felt, saw, and experienced… it would just go away.
But, I have found that staying silent about these things has in fact not made any of it go away. It hasn’t changed the fact that my heart is completely broken over the things that I witnessed daily, in Thailand and in Cambodia. And I am now seeing that remaining silent only contributes to the problem. Ignoring these social injustices has not and will not ever make them go away, or get better… and it certainly won’t rescue anyone.
So, I am breaking my silence…
The reality is, women and even children as young as TWO years old in some countries are being sold and trafficked every night against their will. Women are selling themselves, or their children because they think it’s their only option to feed their family. The government is allowing corrupt and unspeakable things to take place. Sometimes the government or police are even involved in these heinous acts by taking bribes or even being customers.
In Cambodia, there were at least 5 KTV’s (brothels) on my 10 minute bike ride each morning. FIVE BROTHELS within a few miles! These brothels contain women and girls as young as 5 YEARS OLD who are being sold for a few dollars!!! Trafficking of all kinds (sex slave, labor camps, sweat shops) are all over the world. All of THIS is what I have been witnessing the last few months, and as much as I wish it weren’t, it is so REAL.
Which brings me to the hard questions that I had to ask God:
“How can I make a difference in something so big, when I am so small?”
“How can this be stopped?”
And the hardest one of all, “God, is there any hope?”
I think it is completely normal to ask these difficult questions when you have witnessed and heard about the things that I have these last few months. BUT, don’t stop there! Because as I have been fighting the urge to see human trafficking as a hopeless case, God has simultaneously been reminding me that even the most seemingly hopeless cases still have a chance! In His word, Jesus urges us not to give up HOPE, and to continue in simple obedience…
HOPE- A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. A feeling of trust.
Psalm 71:14 — “But, I will HOPE continually… and I will praise you yet MORE and MORE.”
Romans 8:24-25 — “Now hope that is seen, is not hope. For who hopes for what He already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
So let’s get to the good part of this… where HOPE shows up!
While were in Patong, basically pleading with these women to see their worth, and to sow seeds of hope and freedom… Another team on our squad was a few hours up the road in Pattaya making that hope and dream a REALITY for these women! How cool is that?! They worked with Shear Love International, a ministry that trains people coming from a background of poverty, abuse, exploitation, or trafficking. They believe all people deserve an education and an opportunity to succeed in life. Through the beauty and barber programs, they equip students not just for their career, but for their life. They receive education, training, and support in the following areas:
-Haircutting, Color, and Styling.
-Personal and Professional Financial Budgeting.
-Knowledge in Hygiene and Personal Development.
-Art Mentoring and Empowerment.
-Daily Devotion and Disciplining.
-Faith Based Counseling and Mentorship.
And then there is also the well known A21 Campaign Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand! They are making a HUGE impact on human trafficking in Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and America! Rescues are being made almost DAILY all around the world by them, and it’s so encouraging to see!
To learn more about their ministries or to donate to these causes, check out their websites here:
https://www.shearloveinternational.org
http://www.a21.org
So yeah, maybe human trafficking is big. BUT, so is the army of people that have made it their mission to fight this thing… and more importantly, so is GOD.
God, the one who formed and created these women. He loves and cares for them more than I ever could, and this breaks His heart more than it ever will mine. For this was not His plan, this is not what He intended when He created man kind. He did not choose these things, we did. We chose sin. Man kind chooses sin daily.
The unfortunate thing, is that the only reason human trafficking even exists is because there is a demand for it, and that demand is called sin.
Witnessing the reality of these things has been life altering for me, but I refuse to lose hope.
I earnestly HOPE for the day where the human trafficking industry is no longer growing, but instead shrinking.
I hope to know that more and more girls, boys, women, and men are being rescued, and given a way out.
I am even crazy enough to hope for a day where human trafficking doesn’t even exist…
I pray that my heart will never grow hard to the harsh reality of the things that are happening in the world today. I pray that I can do something, that we all can do something, anything to help these women live their lives in the freedom that the Lord intended them to live it in.
But, until that day, I will earnestly cling to hope.
If you took the time to read this much, I am only asking one more thing, PLEASE take the time to also click the link below to learn more about human trafficking, and to see how YOU can make a difference. I truly believe that knowledge is power, and if we have knowledge on what contributes to human trafficking, then we also have the power to END IT!
Talk to you soon, Tess.
P.S.- With all of this being said, there will be no recap video or photos of our ministry in Thailand. The women are already exploited enough as it is, I did not want to add to that. So I chose to keep the camera put away and just love on these women. Thanks for understanding. BUT, be on the lookout for blogs on our time in Cambodia and Vietnam.
