Dark. Cold. Chills up and down my body.
That’s what I felt during our prayer walk through the red light district here in El Alto, Bolivia.
15-20 brothels line the streets behind the main road of this high city. They offer a gateway to sexual exploitation, where young women often enter prostitution to earn an income in a place where they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to make a living.
Most men in this area have their first sexual encounter at a brothel, often brought by their dad or an older uncle. It’s a way of life in this busy city, tucked into the Andes Mountains.
My favorite place to be is in the workshop on the bottom floor of our ministry site. The work isn’t glamorous–I can be found doing anything from tagging bags to cutting fabric–but it’s worth it to be working alongside a small group of Bolivian women who create handbags and purses for a living. These women used to work in prostitution, but because of the hearts of the women and men of Word Made Flesh, and a God who is far greater than any evil in this world, they have been given a second chance for a prettier life here on earth. They no longer need to live the horrors of the prostitution industry. Their lives, and the lives of their children can be different.
I don’t know how much of an impact I have on the women down there, but I do know that they are beginning to open up more. They don’t usually embrace visitors, but one asked me and Essie if we would like to sew, and another embraced me with a hug. There is a language barrier, so the best I can do is show them the love that Christ has shown me. And I know that they can sense it through my pathetic attempts at communicating with them in Spanish. It may not seem like much, but I do know that God is doing some cool things here in Bolivia.
Essie and I inside the workshop
The Suti Sana Workshop
One of the bags made by the women
