Did you know that prostitution is illegal in the Philippines, yet there is a place that in a 1.5 mile radius there are 15,000 girls trafficked in the sex trade and that’s only in one place in the Philippines. It’s illegal yet girls who are “waitresses” or “dancers” in clubs have to get a check up every month to make sure they are disease free on their own dime and wear the slip that deems them healthy. These girls can be threatened with their lives if they decide to not show up for “work” and some are tricked into thinking they will just be waitresses or told some other lie of a good job. Some so young they look like they could be fresh out of the 8th grade with no hope for any sort of future they turn to the sex industry to help them feed their families, often their families have no idea that they have turned to the streets. A man pays a Bar Fine to take the girl from her “work” of about 750 pesos which is split between the bar manager, the pimp and the girl, leaving her with only 6 USD to be raped and if the customer is pleased she might get a tip…
Last night I had the privilege of staying at the Hope House of the Wipe Every Tear Organization started by Kenny Sacht. He came to the Philippines and learned of the horrid and devastating reality of girls being sold for sex and the Lord broke his heart for what breaks His. There are four girls living at the Hope House who now have bright new futures. To expand, Wipe Every Tear needs a place to house more girls. With a house brings a home where the girls can be discipled 24/7, they have a safe place to go at night, they will get an education, an opportunity to make money while there, through making greeting cards, and just from having a new place to sleep the course of their lives are dramatically transformed. Myself and a team of 6 other racers got to stay at the Hope House and meet the amazing people running this organization, the girls that live there and to walk the streets and meet young girls who have fallen hopeless. It was an experience that truly opened my eyes.
The woman Becky, who co-runs the organization, told us her story and she said something that really resonated with me. She had been a business professor, a very successful woman, who left her career because God told her to. He changed her heart toward girls on the street instead of looking down on their choices she not only learned to love them, she learned to love all of them even their past. She stepped out of her comfort zone and now is a world changer. She said, “If you want to know what God’s will is for your life, what your calling is, you first have to say, ‘Yes Jesus’ with your hands in the air palms up.” I thought to myself AMEN, there is so much truth in that one little sentence.
Walking the streets, they don’t understand why I came all the way from America just to hangout with them. They can’t comprehend that there is people half a world away that care about them enough to want to change their futures. I said, “Honey, that’s Jesus! He wants to love you, clothe you and give you rest because your His little princess, yes even you.” A little hard to believe for a girl on the street who has learned to trust no one. The hardest part is when the conversation is cut off because a car drives up and you have to watch them climb in and there is nothing in that moment you can do but pray. Jesus is always about relationships, you have to build their trust, share His love before you can change their life. And we have to trust the Holy Spirit will keep them safe in the meantime. As I watched the car drive off, Lelaine a Wipe Every Tear volunteer said, “We don’t look sad we only smile here, when we get home is when you can feel again.” It’s like we’re literally fishing for men, or in this case women, casting out a lifeline (passing out cards with Becky’s number on them) and hoping they’ll bite. We can give them all a way out but they have to call, no one can make their eyes open except Jesus but the choice is there’s.
It doesn’t matter what I’ve unfortunately heard boys say in the states, no girl wants to be a prostitute, no girl wants to take her clothes off for a stranger, no girl wants to sell her body as an object of lust. No not one! The most disgusting aspect is that there is even a market for this. That there are so many brokenhearted men all over the world that think a 14 year old girl who lies and says she’s 22 will satisfy the void. We all just want to be called worthy…worthy of being loved. Yet Jesus is standing there with his arms wide open waiting for us to turn and see, that His love always satisfies and He is always sufficient. There is a need, an overwhelming necessity for men in this ministry. These girls need to see that there are true men in the world that want to respect them and treat them as God created them to be treated, show them sisterly love, that despite what the world tells us all, not all men are out for one thing. As well as to pour into to the men paying for their services. If we can change the hearts of those men there would be no money in it for the girls.
I turned to one of my squadmates and asked how he was doing with all this. He said, “I’ve been trying so hard to choke back tears all night because I’m so angry! I’m so angry because I tried to raise awareness in my youth group back at home and it was shut down because parents didn’t want their kids exposed to that kind of ‘stuff.’” Turning our eyes to keep the innocence is really keeping the ignorance. Keeping your kids ignorant to what is really going on in the world they live in keeps them from being a part of what might be the Lord’s calling for them. It keeps them from being a part of bringing light to the darkness. Isn’t that really what we want for all our kids? To glorify God by advancing His kingdom, to share is love in the places the world doesn’t want to touch? I also have to ask how many times do we hear about Jesus hanging out with prostitutes in the Bible?
He has burned their faces into my mind…Yumi, Erica, Jenny, a girl they call Shakira, 7mo pregnant Jessica and little Joy and lit a fire in my heart that I can never forget them, that they will remain in my prayers. Prayers for miracles. Prayers that there are people half a world away that care enough to change their lives…
