We walked down a dark alley. It would be easy to pass by if you weren’t looking for it. There weren’t flashing lights, signs, or scantily clad women to advertise the events that take place past the doorways of the worn-down buildings. This was a place where the light doesn’t shine.
The street lights did little to light up the dark corners and turns. I could see the most when a moto zoomed past, almost hitting our group. Nothing about this place welcomed us. If anything, it demanded we leave. Nevertheless, we stepped into the night.
I felt anticipation set into my bones. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought I knew what I would face, but without the glamour I associated with red-light districts, I found myself directly staring into the face of the devil himself.
A lone woman was sitting on a chair under a lamppost smoking a cigarette. We knew the instant we saw her that she was someone we were looking for: a prostitute.
Our hosts approached her first since she had come to this alley many times before and built rapport with the women. Megan and I followed and stood while our hosts spoke to her in their common tongue. We learned her name was Mia (name changed), and she didn’t seem completely uncomfortable that a group of four women, two being foreigners, surrounded her.
Just as we finished introducing ourselves, a man on a moto pulled up beside us. He spoke to directly to Mia and completely ignored our presence. A dark look crossed our host’s face. “He wants to buy her,” she whispered to Megan and me.
Mia told him that she wanted a few minutes to talk to us, but he persisted. She hesitated a moment before flicking her cigarette on the ground, picking up her purse, and guiding the man into the brothel behind us.
I stood there dumbfounded for a second. What just happened?
I literally just stood there while a man bought the woman in front of us for sex and I did nothing to stop it. I felt like I failed. Failed God. Failed Mia. Failed the man who bought her.
The enemy wanted me to dwell in these lies, but there was a victory that night that took time to come to fruition. Mia wasn’t very open to conversation prior to that night. Our host has been slowly building trust with her and that night she was willing to talk about her life.
I can choose to focus on all the ways we weren’t successful or I can can choose to see the way we were victorious; we brought Light to a place where the light doesn’t shine.
I don’t know how the story will end with Mia, but I do know that the Lord cares so much about her that He sent us to love her. He will continue to pursue her long after we are gone.
