This past weekend has given me a lot of time for reflection and to grow intimately with the Lord. I spent my Sunday coffee shop hopping with a teammate, we caught up on reading and some much needed alone time with the Lord. I’ve realized by being around so many people (its all squad month, so there’s over 50 of us) I NEED TIME ALONE. So sitting here and drinking tea really gave me the energy I needed for this week.
We started our morning on a bus ride with a crazy driver, swerving in and out of traffic, slamming on breaks… I’m pretty sure everyone was at least a little car sick after constant stop and go for an hour.
We got a taste of the sex trade this week in ministry. I will write another post later this week on what I learned but it blew my mind that the red light district here is so “normal” looking to me. It made it more sad that it looked like everyday life. I pictured something like Amsterdam where there are naked women in windows for sale but it wasn’t like that at all. We walked through the district and there were just streets and streets of vendors and restaurants, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
If you are like me, you don’t know much about the sex trade, just that it exists and its something I think we try and not think about. The sex industry here is ran by locals, they’re the only people who know where to go and who to talk to.The average age of women in the sex trade here in Nepal is 13, in America its 12. THOSE STATS MADE ME WANT TO VOMIT. Little girls lose their opportunity for education, they lose their worth and the possibility of having a future at 12-13.
Slavery was abolished years ago but still today there’s sex slavery everywhere.
Men go to dance bars and “cabins” and whatever they spend on food and drinks is how much they are willing to spend on a girl. Its hard to have a heart for the men, its easy to think of them as monsters but they are battling something to. Sex with these women is just a way to fill an empty void for the moments of satisfaction but in reality they are never satisfied, so it happens again and again.
I would love prayers for myself and my squad as we go into these dance bars and cabins in the next few days. Prayers that the Lord softens hearts and His love fills the room. That the men and women we talk to find hope in our conversation. More stories to come later this week..
