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Immediately, 3 days of orientation about Thailand.
Day 1, Cultural Orientation…
Day 2, Ministry Orientation…
Day 3, Scavenger hunt of the city / City Orientation.
Even though it was 3 days of orientation, that was not the hard part. It was much harder to have an aching heart as you learn that a city this beautiful is also a city that is this broken.
There are a couple immediate things to notice as a difference between Cambodia and Thailand.
– Thailand is a lot more industrialized than Cambodia. In many ways , it makes you feel as if the city is “better”, but the reality is that the problems are just more easily hidden.
– Thailand’s range of cultures that come as tourists is a lot broader than what we’ve seen in Cambodia. I’m still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing…
Here’s why…
Thailand is a massive hub for prostitution, sex trafficking, and sexual bondage for women, children, gays, and even for men.
I don’t have all the stats of this, but we watched the documentary called Nefarious and tears rolled down my face in a continuos stream as we learned about sex trafficking around the world. The movie starts with the story of sex trafficking in Europe. I really didn’t have an idea of what kind of situations that we may minister into once we arrived in Europe, but this movie shed some light on what to expect.
Even though I cried up to this point, I sat and took in the information. Next, the movie shifts to countries of South East Asia. It starts with Thailand by explaining that this country experiences a different level of sex trafficking. In the scenes about Europe, we saw the enactment of girls being stolen from the streets and forced into this lifestyle by the mafia. But in Thailand, there are women that “choose” the lifestyle of prostitution.
Let me be clear that I am using the word “choose” VERY LOOSELY.
Is it really a choice when you are so poor that you have no food to eat? Is it really a choice when you live in a village so far from the city that there is no opportunity to work? Is it really a choice when your family tells you to go to the city to get a job? Is it really a choice that once you get to the city, you are barely making ends meet and you still have to send money back to the village to support your family? Is it really a choice when the manager at your job tells you “you can make better money selling your body”? Is it really a choice when you try to stay with your waitress job, but your stomach is growling, your family is needing, and life “looks better” on the other side of “making all that money”?
This movie clearly explains how there is no choice in that scenario.
Now imagine you are back in that village and the person that was sent to the city to work and help support the family is a 13 year old girl. If you thought it was a choice before, do you still think it is a choice now? What would a 13 year old girl tell their parents in a culture of respect and obligation to their family when pressured in a situation like this?
But wait…
You are a 5 year girl helping your parents around the house. The dog starts to bark letting you know that someone is arriving at your house. Your parents go out to see who has arrived at your house. It is a man. As you watch from inside the house, you listen to this man be friendly to your parents. A smile starts to ease across your face as it seems that all is well. After some tea and further conversation, your parents tell you that you are going with this man. You are a little confused, but the man seems nice enough. Unbeknownst to you, today your life is changing. Today, your parents were convinced to accept money in exchange for your freedom. You are now the property of the mafia to be used as a money making tool starting at the young age of 5 years old. For $3,000 your freedom has been sold.
The movie shifts to how child slavery happens even more in Cambodia and I can’t take it. I get up and walk out of the room.
As my heart palpitates out of chest I see the faces of my Cambodian family that I just left and thank God even more for what Lighthouse Battambang in doing Cambodia. I thank Him that I did not meet them through a horror story. I thank Him for the joy He has placed in them and for the blessings on their lives.
And then I pray that these ministries of prevention, freedom, and rehabilitation grow. I pray that our hearts open to the Holy Spirit as we participate in the different parts of this ministry. I pray that His kingdom come here, on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
There are so many sides to stopping sex trafficking.
– Education and awareness to the families in the villages. Many parents, women and children have no idea what they are getting themselves, or their children, into.
– The end of organized crime. As pointed out in the documentary, Sweden has made some huge strides in stopping this epidemic that could and should spread around the world.
– The reformation of prositutes, tricks, pimps/johns, and men that make this a thriving business. Sometimes a person in this situation leaves the life, but is pulled back without a hope to hold onto. Without Jesus there has been no lasting change.
This is just of the beginning of the dilemma, but that does not mean that this reformation is hopeless.
How can you help?
Start with awareness.
Next, please get on your knees and pray. Please pray for change and pray for our teams as we go out to be a light in the Red Light district.
Finally, there are ministries and groups pushing for reformation around the world. Start small with researching the issue. Wade in deeper and financially a support mission. Wade even deeper and spend a vacation volunteering at the organization your support.
Wade deeper…
