I met a girl that worked in a bar in Phuket. She was married to a guy and was faithful to him for over 10 years and then he passed away. So she had to take care of her two children by herself and the only thing that she knew how to do was to be a housewife. First she tried to work in construction, which is considered a low job in Thailand because you work very hard and get paid very little – not enough for her and two children.
So she made a decision to work as a bar girl, hoping that someone would take care of her, like some foreign guy. She said she learned to drink a little bit before work everyday because she couldn’t deal with her conscious having to sleep with these men everyday.
Some girls get into being a bar girl because they don’t want to work hard, they just want the money. But a lot of them have come from a totally broken family. Some husbands are drunk and beat them all the time. And some women feel that they have no other way to earn enough money to support their families unless they sell themselves. So the choice is made to live a lifestyle that no one ever dreams of and in turn many of the women realize the harsh reality of this choice. They end up numbing themselves with alcohol and drugs before work so they don’t have to deal with the realities of what they’re about to do.
I’ve seen the sadness in these women’s eyes, the void of hope in their lives. What they don’t realize is that they do have hope. Hope in Jesus!
Psalm 42:5
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God…”
