We
are finishing up our time here in Thailand.
Our work was cut a little short due to Christmas. Last Thursday the founder of Remember Nhu
came into town from his travels. The
founder, Carl, has spent the last month traveling between India, Burma,
Thailand and Cambodia visiting different houses that Remember Nhu has opened. Sitting down and talking with Carl allowed us
the opportunity to find out more about the organization we’ve been serving this
past month.
Our teams together on Christmas Eve.
Carl
and his wife, Laurie, founded Remember Nhu about 5 years ago. Carl shared a little bit about his story and
the realities of the sex trade in Southeast Asia. I will say that some of these observations
and statistics are directly from Carl. I
have not done any research myself, but I trust the information I have received
from this godly man. I hope I can retell
part of Remember Nhu’s story as accurately as possible.
God
placed Remember Nhu on Carl’s heart when he was at a missions conference in
Chiang Mai around 5 years ago. Different
missionaries were speaking about issues and ministries, and one missionary from
Cambodia talked about the sex slave trade in Cambodia. While talking about the horrors of the sex
slave industry a picture of a twelve year old girl was on the screen behind the
speaker. Carl soon learned this girl’s
name was Nhu and he knew God wanted him to rescue her from prostitution. Carl and his wife spent thousands of dollars
and took many trips to Cambodia to try to find Nhu. Along this journey God gave them the heart to
open up homes for girls in jeopardy of being sold into prostitution. Eventually Carl found Nhu, she now works for
the organization as she mentors young girls.
Over the past 5 years the organization has opened up 8 different homes
for girls in Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, India, and Burma.
Our team and the girls from Remember Nhu home at Christmas.
Depending
on who you ask the sex trade industry accounts for 10 to 20% of the GNP of
Thailand. Surveys have been done to show
that around half the people who travel into Bangkok will take part in the sex
trade one way or another (as a customer, or activist). Carl and Remember Nhu work on the prevention
side which has less work being done than the intervention side of things. Carl’s goal is to rescue the girls before
they are sold into prostitution. His
reasoning for this is the fact that over 90% of girls who are sold into
prostitution stay in prostitution. Girls
are considered unclean once they serve as prostitutes and not fit for husbands
or other jobs. They are left without any
options and for survival purposes embrace the profession. With Carl’s experience on the prevention side
of the issue, he predicts that 90% of girls that are prevented of being sold
into prostitution at the age of 12 (the most vulnerable time) will never be
forced into the industry.
It
was very interesting to hear how Remember Nhu goes about finding the most
at-risk girls. In Thailand each village
has a chief. The chief is similar to a
mayor from the States but has much more power.
If someone wants a job or wants to be married the chief has to
approve. So people come in from big
cities and offer educational opportunities to young girls and the chief and the
girls family members approve thinking that the girls life will become
better. Many times shortly after the
girls move into the big city they are forced into prostitution against their
will. Carl and his team from Remember
Nhu visits chiefs from the village and asks about young girls that are most at
risk. They look to see if there is a
divorce, or a father who was put in prison, or a family that ran out of money
for school fees, just certain signs that a family might be at risk of offering
their daughters to an outsider. Once
they identify the at-risk girl they do an in-house interview with the girls
family to decide whether she really is at risk and if so if she is a good fit
for the Remember Nhu home. One of the
coolest things about this process is along the way the villages including the
chiefs are educated about what goes on in the big cities. Carl and Remember Nhu have worked in 5
villages so far and since they have began to rescue girls from these villages
they have gone back and seen that the chief and families will no longer sell
the girls away. The chief is learning
what is being done and is able to protect his own people.
One
other cool thing about Remember Nhu is that many of these girls are now coming
to faith in Christ. Once in the group
home they are loved upon by local Thai Christians and truly see and receive the
love of Jesus Christ. Missionaries have
been sowing obediently in Thailand for over 100 years, but unfortunately only
1% of Thailand is Christian. The reason
for this, according to Carl, is the tendency for the Buddhists to accept Christ
as another god and continue on with their traditional worship. However, over 80% of the girls at Remember
Nhu are coming to faith in Christ and sharing their faith with friends at
school and families back home. Some of
the parents and grandparents who tried to sell their daughter into prostitution
are now hearing and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ through the witness
and forgiveness of their daughters.
Thailand is being changed through its young girls.
Just petting a tiger.
Sorry
for the long-winded post. I just wanted
to share a little bit about an organization I truly believe in. Here is a link to Remember Nhu’s website if you want to check out the organization yourself: link We are leaving for Cambodia in a few days. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.
