I am reading a really interesting book by Louise Brown about women in Asia who are trafficked, and I have been particularly drawn to the chapters dedicated to Thailand. Check this out:
"A study was undertaken in 1990 with the aim of establishing the reasons why some Thai families encouraged their girls to become prostitutes. It came up with some depressing conclusions. It found that 60% of families sending daughters to the brothels were not forced to do so because of acute poverty. Instead they were motivated by the desire to own consumer goods like televisions and videos." (Sex Slaves, page 55)
As I have gone out to Bangla Road several times now, I am overwhelmed and slightly appalled by the intricacy of the system. One one hand, the culture in Thailand has become so overtly sexualized that many of the women who work the high-profile 'bar girl' or 'call girl' scenes are incredibly beautiful women from moderately wealthy families who actually made the decision to sell sex because it is easy, quick money.
I have learned that many of the women here have not come kicking and screaming, with absolutely no other choice but to comply. Some of the women have chosen the work for various reasons, others feel the need to provide for their families and this is an easy way to do it (culturally, the women often become the financial providers – and are often responsible not only for their own children, but their parents and even siblings).
I am amazed at a culture that literally can sell anything and everything, there is nothing off-limits. Just give it a price tag, and you're in business. Our time is mainly spent in Phuket, where hundreds and thousands of tourists from Russia, Sweden, Europe, India, Japan, China, Australia, and the U.S. come to be entertained. Flashing lights, great beaches, delicious food, and if you're into it, cheap sex… (I have learned that a woman on Bangla Road can typically be purchased for $500 baht a night. That converts to about $16.27 USD).
Yet nothing comes without a price.
To be honest, I have had a really hard time here, doing this ministry. My heart aches more than it hopes. I have seen and heard stories of transformation and movement, but the process seems so slow and painstakingly difficult. I have never had to trust in the Spirit of God on such a deep level, and I have felt a constant ache (literally, I have felt physically sick on Bangla Road) for a whole culture that has taken the sacred, packaged it up, and made it into a commodity to be bought and sold.
I don't want to be here. I want to be holding babies in Haiti, and sharing a song with friends in the DR. But… this is the stuff of life – the dirty, grimy, broken-down, hollowed-out stuff that we are living in – and it has never been more clear to me that the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against dark things that possess people to do even darker things to other people. I have been in a constant state of brokenness. It has been an underlying brokenness, as I've certainly found joy in laughing with my teammates or putsing around the mall. But I just pray that out of the brokenness God can create something of value; even if it's just within me.
