How many times in a lifetime can the heart withstand a severe break before it’s irreparable?
Tonight my heart is shattering.
-again-
Tonight all I could do was hug Julie and pray as we stood on the sidewalk of “bar street” a few yards away from a certain bar with tears welling up in our eyes and sobs bursting forth from deep within.
“GIVE US peace, Jesus!”
Kanya is 13. She is a child through and through. She will eat anything. She loves candies and games. She likes to swim. She will hold your hand. Her capacity for love and trust is unreal. Her spirit is gentle, but lively. She is like an exquisite, unusual flower unfolding. Her beauty is raw but innocent. There is a fight in her that keeps the light behind her eyes shining. But there is a risk of it going out. She is a child playing dress up in women’s clothing.
Sumalee is quiet. She is shy. She seldom lets her beautiful brown eyes directly catch yours. She doesn’t like making decisions. She is very submissive and her eyes are sad. It takes her a long time to warm up to you, but once she does, she lets all reservations fall. Her spirit is kind-hearted and filled with grace. She has a quiet strength. She loves to laugh. She loves ice cream. She loves to play games, and why not? She is only 15.
Other things you should know about Kanya and Sumalee; they do not attend school. They have moved hours away from their homes and their families to “the city”. They have a duty- work to help support their families. They work in a bar on “bar street”. They sells their bodies to OLD, white western men as a means to an end. They drink themselves silly in order to numb their hurt, dull their senses and perform their tasks. They are 13 and 15.
Tonight we had these girls over to our house. We ate fresh fruit, candies, peanuts and popcorn. We played silly games and laughed until our bellies ached and our sides cramped. We took silly pictures and danced like fools. In our broken Thai we explained that we were Christians and we told these two beautiful babies that they are loved by us and they are loved by Jesus. And for a few short hours they were able to escape the hell that is their reality. For a few short hours they were children, just children. Safe from the threat of an unwanted hand. Safe from performing acts of forced sexual perversion. Just Safe. Just children. For a few short hours.
Dropping them back off at their bar, spying the sexual perverts as they swarm like circling buzzards over a dead carcass, watching these old Johns slide greasily next to my dear friends and put their arms around them, pawing them, feeling my stomach knot up, and having to walk away helpless was more than I could handle tonight.
Seth Barnes in this post talks about his “NOT OKAY” list.
Ironically, his list started because of a story I wrote in the Philippines almost a year ago.
Tonight, I am writing a new story.
It is Kanya’s story.
It is Sumalee’s story.
Their stories have made it onto my “NOT OKAY” list.
It is my prayer they will make it onto yours as well. . . .
I am praying that someone will stand up with me and say this is NOT OKAY!
It is NOT OKAY for a 13 year old and a 15 year old to service any John- much less 40, 50, 60+ year old men- in their sexual perversions and fantasies.
It is NOT OKAY that these girls are not in school.
It is NOT OKAY that this is their only option because they are uneducated.
It is NOT OKAY that these girls will now forever be ostrascized and seen as trash in the eyes of their society for something they had no choice about.
IT IS NOT OKAY. NEVER OKAY.
NEVER OKAY to turn a blind eye while one of God’s children suffers
just because she is not in front of your eyes, on your side of the world!
I am praying that God will raise up someone(s) in the next two weeks who will say yes, I will sponsor these girls. I will send them to school. I will meet their financial needs in order to give them the opportunity at a better life, a better hope, a better future. That is my prayer.
Will they make it onto your “NOT OKAY” list?
Will you do something about it?
***their names have been changed in this post.
