Human trafficking. This simple phrase can still up a pot of emotions. Anger, hurt, sadness or even indifference. It’s a reality that touches every corner of our globe from Seattle to London to Calcutta. Everyday men, women and children are sold, bought and enslaved, forced into a life where they can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, and that many never escape from.
A lot of the women on my World Race squad, came on this trip armed with a passion the fight against human trafficking. I didn’t. That’s not to say that my heart didn’t hurt when I heard about these situations, but instead I cried for the injustices laid upon children, and as a result I’ve spent most of the last 8 months focusing on children. But now, as I sit in a guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand human trafficking is a blatant realty. Two nights ago we were sent to Chaing Mai’s Red Light District, a bar street in the tourist area of town to pray over our ministry there. When we turned the corner onto the street my heart dropped to the floor. I knew this street. In fact, I had walked this street at least 2 dozen times on my previous visits to Chiang Mai, and I had ignored it.
But I won’t anymore.
Tonight we begin our bar ministry. Sent out in groups of 2-3 we will go into the bars and become friends with the girls, buying cokes, and occupying time that would usually be filled by a man. We’ve come to terms with the fact that over the next 3 weeks there’s a very good chance we won’t “save” a girl from this industry, pulling her out of the bars and giving her a new vocation, but what we can do is plant a seed.
The bar girls in Chaing Mai are different from your typical human trafficking cases. Most of them are there out of free will, not because of a pimp, but instead of being enslaved by man, they’re enslaved by Satan, believing they have no choice but to be in this industry. Our hope is that in our time here we can give these women a glimpse of what they could have. A hope and a future that is bright and promising.
But it won’t be easy. We know that we’re going to have to work hard at building these relationships, an act that will primarily be done through what our ministry calls ”dating.”
We’ll go into the bars at night, play pool and buy cokes, then invite the girls to go on “day dates” with us in their off time. Wether it’s going out for coffee, window shopping or going to watch a movie in the mall ones thing’s certain, because I’m the “man” in this scenario, I’ll be paying the bill. But when thousands of Baht (Thai currency) are poured out every night to take advantage of these girls in prostitution a few dollars each day to try and bring hope doesn’t seem so bad. Giving hope to these women in fact, is priceless.
Unfortunately because I have no income this task gets more difficult. But I’m not worried. Over this last year I’ve seen God provide exponentially and I have no reason to beleive he would stop now. In my calculations I have figured that each night in the bars will cost around $3 and that each date will run between $3-$8 depending on what we do. So now, I would like to open up the opportunity for you to prayerfully help sponsor a date.
If you’re interested please email me at [email protected] and I’ll give you more information.
Thank you and keep checking back to hear how the rest of the month goes!
One of the bar areas here in Chiang Mai
