Ohn grew up in a small village in Thailand. Small and poor, are the best words to describe her home. As a child, however, she was unaware of this, and frankly it didn’t matter to her, because it was all she knew. Besides, she had her best friend Quan, and the entire world was an imaginary playground.
When Ohn was growing up, her father murdered her mother. It was unexpected, and horrible. Her father was sent to prison, and Ohn was then placed with her Grandparents. What she lacked in family was made up for in her friendship with Quan.
While raising Ohn, her Grandparents found it very difficult to provide. The villages knew of men who come to their homes and offer families some money, requesting their daughters, promising that they would bring them back when they were older, with money and an education. Most of them knew that their daughters wouldn’t be getting an education at all. They knew that it would result in the loss of their daughter’s virginity, and sex slavery among hundreds of corrupt-minded men. They knew this; but they would pray to “Buddah” that this wouldn’t be the case, and that their daughters would in fact, return to them with an education. It was either this, or the girl staying at home, and nearly starving to death because of the poverty.
While Ohn was growing up, a missionary group came to her village. One lady in particular fell in love with Ohn. She knew immediately that she needed to love on her, and share Christ’s love. When she saw that Ohn wasn’t getting enough care in the village, she offered to give her care in a Christian orphanage. Her desperate grandparents agreed, but there was one problem. They had already sold her to a man, who would be coming in the near future to take her away.
The missionary immediately told them that she would pay whatever price it was to save her and raise her the right way, and by the help of God, she did just that.
When Ohn grew older, her missionary mom went back to the US for a few years. She told Ohn that she would come back, and knew that she was raised well enough to start taking care of herself. When her mom left, Ohn slowly started to toss what she knew about Jesus out the window. She started drinking; a LOT. She became a complete mess, lost, and confused; living life as if it were one big party.
After a few years when her missionary mother came back, and after hearing about Ohns actions over the past few years, she looked Ohn straight in the eyes and said “Ohn, what have you done with yourself?”
(I could relate to this part of the story, (sorry Mom and Dad) and Ohn told us that she felt so ashamed that she couldn’t even look at her mother.)
Ohn got down on her knees and started weeping. Her mom held her, and forgave her. Ohn couldn’t understand how this woman could love her SO much. After buying her out of the sex trade, raising her, supporting her financially, and sharing the love of God, and then STILL loving her after she let the past few years of her life go to utter waste, while bathing in sin.
From that very moment on, Ohn re-dedicated her life to Christ, and vowed that she would do everything in her power to keep girls out of the sex trade.
Ohn went back to her old village, and was surprised to find her best friend from childhood, Quan! Quan was on her death bed, sick with HIV. Around the same time that Ohn was rescued, Quan had been sold, and raped, over, and over. The men didn’t bring Quan back with an education; they brought her back with AIDS. She was useless to them now.
Quan said to Ohn, “Can we talk only about the fun times we had when we were young? Those are the only times I want to remember.” Ohn and Quan laughed together and wept together. Ohn was able to share the love of God with her, and that because of His love, she was fortunate enough to have been rescued from the trade. Quan dedicated her life to God, and died weeks later. She is now fully healed, and restored in the arms of her heavenly Father.
Ohn later partnered with YWAM, a Christian organization and started a group that goes out and talks to bar girls with hopes to rescue them and share Gods love.
She later re-united with her father, (who had killed her mother) and with God’s grace, she forgave him. She visits her father every so often, and is still trying to bring him to Christ (keep this in your prayers).
After hearing Ohns story, I couldn’t help but imagine if it were me in her shoes. If I lost my best friend, and family. Or what if it was I that were sold into the sex trade? There is SO much of this going on here in Thailand, and the sad part is, it’s hard for the local people to come up with enough funding to actually rescue these girls. It can cost up to thousands of dollars to save one girl; which is why they need people from the US to support them. If this is something you are interested in, there are PLENTY of opportunities to serve. A lot of people have a heart for this, but don’t place it into action, and if that is you, I highly encourage you to get involved, whether that means dropping everything and moving to Thailand, or just supporting financially, EVERY little bit helps.
Psalm 137:7-8 I walk in the thick of danger, You will preserve my life from the anger of my enemies. You will extend your hand; Your right hand will save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Lord, your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.
P.s. I’m off to Malaysia now! More blogs next month (my final month, bittersweet).
