Continued from…Sold for Sex – Bangkok, Thailand and Carlsbad, CA. – Part 1
The issue of human trafficking has hit me at a whole new level this month. I’ve made it my goal to learn as much as possible about this global crime. In Proverbs 19:2 the Bible says, “It is not good to have zeal with out knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”
The Department of Justice estimates that 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked globally across international borders, while millions more are trafficked within countries. “Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs. In fact, the United Nations estimates that the trade nets organized crime more then $12 billion a year.” Victor Malarek, “The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade.”
What I didn’t know about trafficking is how close it is to home. The other day I was reading an article from a University course on human trafficking. The article tells the story of Reina a 15 year old girl from Mexico who was promised a new life cleaning hotels in America. Instead she was brought over the border and forced to prostitute her self to many men every day. She was beaten and enslaved. What shocked me about the article was the following paragraph about where the brothels were.
“Among the sites are three named for local landmarks. Beside Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad are high voltage towers, and beneath them is a prostitution site called Las Antenas. Also in Carlsbad, next to the strawberry fields, is a long ditch with cardboard shacks covered in brush named Las Fresas. And in Oceanside, in the dry bed of the San Luis Rey River, there’s the most notorious spot of all, accommodation scores of men every Sunday, called the Reeds.” (Thomas Larson, “Reina’s Story A Mexican Girl Forced into Prostitution” San Diego Reader / August 7, 2003.)
How have I been blind to this reality over the last three years? How have I lived and worked just a few miles from these sites and driven past them daily with out even knowing they are there?
The article goes on to say, “One of the strangest parts (about the Reeds)…was that such a big operation – 300 men on one Sunday – was a secret to nearby homeowners. Outside the Reeds, church services and soccer games and families home watching Tiger Woods on TV went on as usual.”
I’ve been that person. Sitting at a church service in Carlsbad on Sunday with no idea what was happening in my backyard. Sometimes I ask myself if I really wanted to know what was happening around me.
I wish I could have done more for the trafficed women here in Thailand, but I’m thankful that organizations like NightLight (www.nightlightbangkok.com) are working for them. I believe that God has heard the cries of my heart for these women’s freedom.
God works in crazy ways, he took me all the way to Bangkok in order to open my eyes to what was going on in my own back yard. My prayer is that when I get back to the U.S. I don’t forget the work for justice that is needed in every country!
