I am currently in Chiang Mai, Thailand working with an amazing organization called Remember Nhu. It is a home for girls at risk of being involved in the sex industry. Their main focus is to work on preventing young girls from ever getting trapped into the industry. to stop the problem before it becomes a problem. The risks of these girls going into the industry can be anything from poverty to having one parent to their parents abusing alcohol or drugs, their parents abandoning them etc. Here is the background on my first week here. It is longer than most of my posts, but totally worth opening your eyes to annnd plus there is a fun video at the end!
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if you haven’t read my last blog about my new friend Grace you should go read it first then come back to this one… ever since Cape Town and even more so since meeting Grace in Hong Kong for the past month I have felt God placing prostitution and sex trafficking ministry hugely on my heart. I don’t know if it is a calling for my life or just a calling for prayer for it in the next season, but I know the desire is from God.
This month the guys and girls have been separated in order for the girls to be doing bar ministry, to be able to talk and become friends with the girls working in the human trafficking industry. however, I am with two of the other girl teams (11 of us total) that have not been place in human trafficking ministry for the month… well the intervention intervention/direct side of that is. We have been doing MANistry ourselves actually. haha. We have been digging and pouring concrete into a trench (that two of my past racer friends actually started themselves!) and laying down gravel around the girls home to prevent flooding during the rainy season. My first thought was what the heck God? I struggle with hearing from the Lord and have the whole race and so when I thought I was so sure about something this really confused me.
but then my teammates brought up a good point. let me back track first…
The other night while we were still in Bangkok, I went with some of the girls to walk around the red light district there. I felt blessed to be given a chance to experience Bangkok. I already knew it was a huge spot for this industry and so I went into the night even expecting the worse. What I saw was not what I expected, but still I left completely wrecked. It was different than Cape Town or Hong Kong. my stomach physically hurt from what I saw. The “sex” is all just open and right in front of you. I know these things exist in the states even, but here nothing is hidden from your eyes. You can see the girls from the street inside dancing on poles in bikinis like they are show horses. Girls standing out front with numbers on their shirts so you don’t even have to know their names. Men throwing cards in your face with all the sex shows you can have for the night and even young 10 and 12 year old kids selling flowers amongst all of it. The worst was seeing all the foreigners walking around participating or not even participating but acting like zombees, like nothing phased them or nothing was even wrong with the picture. The worst part wasn’t even seeing it all, I knew what it would be. I’ve seen the pictures. The thing that hit me was these people probably don’t even know God loves them. not even 1% of Thailand is Christian, only half a percent. most follow Budda because it is their culture, how they have been raised. So trying to teach someone about Christ who is older is much harder. They probably have had no opportunity to know Jesus and so why out of millions of people did He chose me to know Him? and not to be a girl who grew up in this kid of lifestyle. most of the girls in the industry are their to support their families back home. They were told they would just be selling drinks, but you don’t make money selling the drinks… you make money by selling yourself. do their families know? probably not.
back to my teammates…
they reminded me that God gives us desires for a reason and there is no doubt about the desire He gave me for fighting human trafficking. Maybe I am not spiritually and emotionally ready to be doing bar ministry and wouldn’t I want to be fully effective for the Lord on His timing? yes.
Besides this month we ARE working on fighting this issue. On the prevention side of human trafficking. We are not only doing manual labor at the girls home, but we have the opportunity to live in the same room with the girls. there is literally no space other than bunk bed after bunk bed. These girls are rescued from Thailand, Burma and Laos. They are from as young as 6 to 19 and here they receive an education, shelter, a bed, food, support, love and growing up knowing about Jesus and not Budda… It keeps them out of the streets and out of the hands of brothels owners.
they say that the average age to be trafficked in Thailand is age 7, because they want the girls before they have a chance of getting HIV. but the legal age is 21. yes I said legal. The probability of getting trafficked for girls here in Thailand is 1 in 5. lots of times the little girls virginity will be sold before she is even 3 because the family knows they will not be able to provide to take care of her, this is the case for some here.
Right now, a majority of the girls are not here. It is their summer time off of school and so some get to go home to their grandparents or a safe family member. But not all have safe places to go home to- we were saying goodnight to the girls the other night and tucking them into bed and I realized how most of them have probably never been tucked into bed. I look over and see the littlest one praying without anyone telling her to. and then I see another girl who had her head buried in her pillow crying. it was her first night in the house. We had one of the older girls Pim translate for us and she told us that she hadn’t eaten dinner or even talked because she missed her mom so much. she was homesick in a room full of strangers… kinda like when you are little and at summer camp, only this is for way longer and missing her mom who is probably only a teenager herself. Pim said that all the girls and even herself act that way when they first get here, that they all cry themselves to sleep the first couple of weeks. Now Pim says she loves it here. but that night my heart broke for the new girl. there was nothing I could do, but pray for her and love on her this next month. and then it hit me. if it wasn’t for this home most of these girls would not be taught about their Heavenly Father and saved from what could have been a horrible outcome. Jesus has rescued these girls just as he has rescued you and me!
So now every morning when I am being woken by little ones poking me at 6AM, I remind myself how blessed I am to be working with an organization that fights the battle BEFORE the pain and before the emotional baggage hits these girls. Despite these girls circumstances, they have so much joy and peace. I love seeing their smiles and hearing them laugh. and here I was again complaining to God about my circumstance and my desires. He yet again has had to show me that it’s not about me, but about His glory. I am honored to be here this month and I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now, I know I have a lot to learn from these girls and to just be a small impact in each others lives is all part of God’s big plan. God knows what He is doing and He also knows the desires He’s placed in my heart. He is showing me both sides of human trafficking and I know there is still so much to see, to be praying for and to do to fight this.
so join me in praying for the girls here. Thanking the Lord that they have been given a future of hope and not of being in the human trafficking industry. Click here for their website if you would like more information- they are actually connected in a way to where I was for the month of the Philippines too!
annnnd watch this awesome video below my squadmate Bethsaida made about our week here so far :]
