Thailand: SEND ME! Here’s why…
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2
Thailand is the country that I long to go to the most. In Thailand we will be working with an organization called NightLight International that helps get Thai women out of prostitution, off the streets and helps provide them with a sustainable job (making jewelery) so that they no longer have to sell their bodies. This provides an environment to then share the love of Christ and help get them to a place of holistic restoration.
This is my heart!!!!!!! Is it your heart too? Send me! Let’s touch these women’s lives together. Here are some startling statistics. This is why I am going….
“Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Through force, fraud and or coercion people are recruited, harbored and transported for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking generates billions of dollars each year as people are transported around the world to work in prostitution, pornography, sweatshops, construction, housekeeping, agriculture, restaurants and more (http://nightlightinternational.com/resources/facts-about-trafficking/).”
“After drug dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing with the majority of the victims being women and children (http://nightlightinternational.com/resources/facts-about-trafficking/).”
Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. (U.S. Department of Justice. 2004.
Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
The largest number of people trafficked into the United States come from East Asia and the Pacific (5,000 to 7,000 victims). The next highest numbers come from Latin America followed by Europe and Eurasia, with between 3,500 and 5,500 victims from each. (U.S. Departments of Justice, Health & Human Services, State, Labor, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. 2004. Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
These are just a few statistics found on NightLights website, but I promise you there are more. I desire to be apart of changing lives. Did you know that some of the main reasons (aside from being forced) that women and children are not able to get out of prostitution is because they either have no other job to turn to or they are afraid to leave it because that is all they know?
With a microfinancing organization like NightLight which provides a home, food, education and a job for these women, WE CAN CHANGE BILLIONS OF LIVES!!! But, it goes beyond a mere economic change. They NEED JESUS! Out of everything that is the most important. But first, credibility, trust and a relationship MUST be established.
Redemption and Restoration through Christ are my hearts greatest desires. This is such a tangible way to create sustainable impact in the lives of the Thai people.
These women are just like you and I. How dare we let them go unnoticed…“Women trapped in prostitution are mothers, daughters and sisters. They suffer from sexually transmitted diseases, as well as other related illnesses including acute anxiety, depression, insomnia, flashbacks, and emotional numbing. Coping mechanisms may include alcohol, drugs, mental breakdown, suicide, self-mutilation, and abortion. An alarming number of the women were abused in their past, making them vulnerable to further exploitation (http://nightlightinternational.com/resources/facts-about-prostitution/).”
It is amazing to me to see how the passions God has put in my heart from the age of 11 years old are starting to come full circle. In highschool for my senior project I chose to do my research report on “Restoration for abused women and children”. I knew that being apart of this type of redemption was going to be apart of my destiny. I just didn’t have any idea of how that was going to play out. I am beginning to see it now….
What role does NightLight International play??
NightLight is an international organization committed to addressing the complex issues surrounding trafficking and prostitution by catalyzing individual and community transformation. NightLight’s vision is to offer intervention to sexually exploited women and children, to enable them to discover their dignity, and to provide a program of holistic transformation, empowering them to live and work in their community.
NightLight’s mission is to build relationships and provide hope, intervention, rescue and assistance to women and children exploited in the sex industry by offering alternative employment, vocational opportunities, life-skills training and physical, emotional and spiritual development to women seeking freedom. NightLight builds support networks internationally to intervene and assist women, men and children whose lives are negatively impacted by the sex industry.
To be honest, this is one of the countries and ministry opportunities that I could tell you I am desiring to go back to and invest in long term when this trip is over. Are you with me?!!
Thailand!!!
Eradication of Prostitution!
Sustainable Jobs
Dignity
Teaching life skills
Helping them to encounter and be saved by Christ!!
Wholistic redemption!
SEND ME!
