Ok, so we are currently in Bangkok here in Thailand. Now we will be heading out in a few days to the jungle to do some serious “Man-istry”. I don’t exactly know what “Man-istry” is yet but will find out within the next couple of days. I do know that it is going to consist of an entire month of being with all the guys from our squad. So, this next month should be interesting to say the least.
The girls from our squad will be sticking together as well. They will be working in one of the red light districts with prostitutes and trying to build relationships with the women there. We got briefed on trafficking this morning and found out some interestingly sad details. For example, most of the people involved with trafficking are the individuals own families. They let them go or make them go in the hopes that they will get some kind of payment back from them. Most often it is the persons own parents who hand them over in to the life that they now know. This happens to not just women and children but to men as well.
Trafficking can consist of everything from actual physical labor to sex. Some get into it in an attempt to pay off a debt but in turn their laborer keeps adding to their debt and so they are never truly are able to pay it off. They will work the men in such things as fishing and construction. While women and children are typically are sold into the sex slave trade. There are some men involved in it as well, where they dress as women and are in the same situation. All of their personal belongs and their passports are taken. Then they are shipped all over to different locations. With each stop they can be raped and beaten. They are moved so often and frequently, when they are first introduced, that they don’t even know where these crimes have taken place.
This takes place under the threats of abuse, rape or in the extreme case death. They not only threaten each person but their families as well. Then they are also looked down upon and they have done it for so long that to them it is all they know. So to them there seems to be no hope. There are many cases where women literally, drink buckets of alcohol just to make it through the night. It is estimated that 60% of on any given flight into Thailand that the men that are coming in are here to see those women and children. It has gotten so bad that the amount of money trafficking and the sex trade bring in is actually higher than most of their own governments economy. While both are “illegal”, it is literally either over looked or ignored.
It is all very disturbing and unsettling. Please be praying for the people here in Thailand and in some of the other countries that this is happening in like, Vietnam and Cambodia, to name a couple. If I remember correctly from what our speaker this morning said that around 15 to 18 thousand people are trafficked into the united states. This is a growing very real problem. It destroys lives and families. It has spread all across the world. While Thailand is very beautiful country this is only one of many nations to be effected by this gross “business”. It is organized crime and needs to stop. Please help if you are able through prayer, donations to local ministries or by getting involved yourself and getting to know these PEOPLE who are seen as property to be bought and sold.
Be praying for us this month as I don’t know what to expect. There are a lot of needs in this part of the world and poverty seems to be the driving force in many countries for it. Please be praying that God put an end to all this injustice. To my family back home and to my supporters thank you and I love you all.
Your brother in Christ,
Eric
