I want to be in India again. I am ready for the obscure head bobble, coming across a new repulsive smell every two feet, and even the eerie presence of men. I am ready to play with child beggars and touch lepers being wheeled down the streets. I can handle five smelly armpits in my face on the bus and I’m even willing to go back to using a squatty potty. I’m prepared for sweltering heat and horrifying rickshaw rides. I’m even eager to wear the same thing everyday, though all I have is severely molded. These are comforts I consider glamorous because I’m ready for India, but I don’t think I’ve prepared myself for the red light districts.
I’ve seen the sexual slavery. I know the look on a woman’s face, waiting for a customer’s pay but hoping that he won’t come. I saw them lingering, 2 p.m. in wait of customers. I know their children, dropped off in an attic to escape the abuse and losing hope by the minute. All the information was too hard to manage, so I’ve turned my face away for too long. I no longer have the luxury to ignore it and I’m glad. I’m walking straight into the middle of injustice knowing that it successfully works to ensnare millions; because it’s smart. A business can sell one product, one time and reap one benefit. Or a business can own one girl, sell her up to 20 times a day for years and reap into the millions. It is good business. It is sophisticated. It is now the fastest growing business in the world.
This corruption is daunting. But one cannot know great evil without knowing that goodness is quicker, sharper, and a more advanced force. Yes, there is great evil, but it’s being overcome by good. A man who was once responsible for deceiving girls into the trade now has a refuge for women who have been rescued. His words were, “Jesus will set the captives free.” A madam in Mumbai shut down her area of the red light district because she heard one story about the person of Jesus. There are stories like this around every corner. You see, the work belongs to the Lord and one thing has always remained clear to me: God is boundless in His mission to set the captives free. I have joined this pursuit and anxiously await victories like these.
Typically when one is approached with such information, they are prompted to give money, feel guilty about their lives, pity the poor, or become overwhelmed by injustice. That’s what I always thought until I spent time with the poor. And through knowing them, I wasn’t inspired for philanthropic work, humanitarian efforts, guilt-driven giving, or a sense of responsibility for injustice. Instead, in recognition of poverty I came to know that Jesus is God and life could never be the same.
How this conclusion was reached I have no clue, but I’m positive that I never made myself this way. I have never wanted to make myself noble or passionate. I’ve never readjusted my morals to become a better person. I have not in any way tried to feel guilty enough about poverty to do something about it. Any good thing I have—any righteousness, every gift, and all my love for India—was only given.
I’m not going because I pity the poor. I’m not going because life is sad for some people and I could make it happier. I’m not going because I want adventure or experience. I’m going because God is alive and that is the stirring I’ve chosen to join because its success is unparalleled. I will boast in the Lord.
