Name: Walli
Age: 7
Occupation: selling flowers to men at bars in the red light district of Chiang Mai, Thailand
Continued from Part 1…
As I continued to go out night after night for ministry I made it a point to find Walli among the crowd and if I didn’t run into her she ran into me. Each time I saw her I would do the same thing; get out of my seat, crouch down with my arms stretched wide, and pick her up into the air as I spun her around. At first I wasn’t sure if she remembered me among the mass of people she sees every night. Each time I would reintroduce myself and soon enough she would yell my name from down the street when she saw me. Even on nights when I would stay back at the café to pray the team that went out would come back and tell me that Walli was asking for me. Her cute "salesgirl" smile soon became genuine and her face began to light up with pure excitement and joy.
“Gaining the trust of a child is one of the most powerful demonstrations of love.”
…and I felt loved through loving her.
Through our interactions I was able to get to know her caretaker, Nami, who went out with her every night. Each time I got to spend time with Walli she was supposed to be working and I felt a tinge of annoyance coming from Nami. Walli was spending more time with me than selling flowers. I made an effort to not keep Walli away from her job too long, but I couldn’t help but want to take her away from everything that surrounded her. She’s a seven-year-old girl! She should be able to just be a kid.
As the weeks went on I wracked my brain on how I could help them sell all their flowers so Walli could play with me without any reservations. I didn’t want to be a burden by keeping them from making their families income of course, but I wanted more time to love on them. I wanted a night they could just enjoy themselves.
That night came…
While sitting with some of my team members enjoying a birthday party at one of the bars Walli sat down next to me and wanted to play. This overwhelming feeling came over me. I immediately got a crazy idea! I gave her my phone (that had a bunch of games she liked to play on it) and exchanged it for the flowers she was selling. I grabbed Jenny, one of my team members who had no idea what was going on, and we started off around the bars.
We approached every single man we could find. “Flowers for the special, pretty lady?” (referring to the girls working at the bar). Each encounter took a new gust of courage and boldness. The responses varied from crude to generous. One man said, “My girl doesn’t want flowers, she’d rather the money instead” as he puts money down the girl he is trying to buy’s shirt. Others said, “I don’t need the flowers, but I will donate to the child’s family” as he gives money directly to Nami. The last man we approached was sitting at a table with a ton of World Racers. By this time I had been accepted, denied, and ignored by tons of men and I wasn’t as nervous as before. He was hesitant and continuously said, “No”, but I did not give up. By the end he bought every single flower necklace that Nami had left in her bucket and passed them out to every girl at the bar.
Mission Accomplished!!!!!!!!!!
I returned to Walli still playing on my phone. She had no idea what had just happened. I told her that she didn’t have to sell any more flowers tonight and she could play as long as she wanted. Her face beamed and for the first time I looked at Nami and she gave me a look of acceptance. She finally trusted that I genuinely cared about them. The rest of the night Walli and I didn’t leave the table. We played connect four, jenga, games on my phone, and simply enjoyed ourselves. Her laughter rang throughout the bars that night and her joy rubbed off on everyone that saw her. My heart could not stop beaming for this little girl.
This night personally influenced me in more ways than I anticipated. I got a small taste of what Walli goes through every night. The responses, the stares, the continuous rejections from customers. I also got to understand and see a small glimpse of Nami’s heart when it comes to her family. She doesn’t wish this on Walli; she genuinely loves her. The only way she knows how to support them financially is by selling flowers every night. Unfortunately because Walli is young and adorable people will buy from her more willingly than they would from Nami alone. I wish this wasn’t true, but it is the reality of the situation.
This night also made an impact on the people around us. The man who bought the last load of flowers got to witness Walli laughing and playing the rest of the night. He learned that sometimes a small kind gesture can have a huge impact. All it takes is a simple yes.
I went home feeling on cloud nine. I knew that this couldn’t happen every night, but for one short night Walli could just be a kid. As I went to bed my soul strangely continued to feel restless like it had before. There must be more. What more can I do for her, Lord? And wouldn’t you know… He had more in store.
To be continued…
