Lately when sit down to write a blog my words tend to come out in incoherent ramblings or I don’t know how to convey what’s on my heart, what we’ve seen and experienced in Phuket.
As we walk the streets of Patong it is overwhelming to the senses, especially when you know what is behind the loud music and the girls dancing on the bars and the tourists snapping photos as they walk. This is the commercial sex industry.
Every other night we go down to the bars. Bars where the ‘bar girls’ are sold to customers for the night. We are bombarded with people putting fliers for “ping pong” shows (basically sex shows) in our face and with groups of people stopping in the middle of the road to gawk at women dancing on the bars.
We walk through the streets, sit down at a bar, order a coke, and smile hoping we can be agents of love to each woman we talk to.
That first night my group of three were overwhelmed at where to go. Our contact had told us to find a bar with hardly any men in it and order a coke, strike up a conversation, and stay for only 20-30 minutes. (The time frame is so that the bar managers and owners don’t get annoyed and hurt the opportunity for ministry.) Our goal is to begin building relationships with the bar girls, to build trust, to eventually set up dates to meet outside of the bars during the day, and then invite them to English class where one of the SHE staff continue to pour into them and build relationships. Eventually, when the girls are ready SHE gives them another choice, a job where they don’t have to sell themselves. A chance to see that they are loved, that they have value.
As we sit and talk, I see women who are so beautiful and loved by God, who want to know that they are cared about, that someone is interested in what they have to say, that there is more to life than this. And isn’t that what we all want? We all want to know that someone out there loves us, cares about us, listens to us. This goes for every man walking out on Bangla Road, every woman who works in the sex industry, every bar owner, me, you. We often search for it in wrong places, but this need is what unites us all as human beings.
That first night I sat next to a precious young woman named Olive*. She has been working in the bar for about 3 months, she is from northern Thailand, and she has a 6 month old baby boy living with her family back home. This is common in the bars. The women come from the north to make money. They get free room and board through the bar. The one good thing about the open bars is that the women can leave when they want, if they want. Often it’s hard. They stay for the money; they stay because they think they can’t do better, or because they feel some kind of obligation to their employer.
We sat with Olive and her friend Nancy*and the thought that ran through my mind was “they are just like me.” We chatted (as best we could), we played Jinga, and we laughed. As we left that first night, Olive and Nancy hugged us.
Our group of three instantly loved and felt a connection with Olive. When I see her, I see someone who is beautiful, who has value. Pray for Olive. Pray that the Lord uses us to reflect Himself to her. Pray that she will keep her date with us, pray she will come to English class and begin to build a relationship with the SHE staff.
Pray for all the men and women on Bangla Road. Pray boldly. Pray that the chains of addiction, chains of greed, chains of fear, chains of worthlessness would be broken.
One night during intercession I had a vision. I was thinking about the song “Into marvelous light I’m running, out of darkness out of shame…” As that song played in my head, I saw Jesus standing with arms wide open and I saw Thai women running freely into His arms.
The Lord has his arms open to Bangla Road. I proclaim it and I believe it! We are His, Olive is His, Bangla Road is His!
*names have been changed
