The Reality of Child Sex Trafficking:
A Story of Kani and a World Racer – Part II
Trent
After seeing that girl that night I needed to find out more about her. For some reason see was far from downtown Chiang Mai. Maybe someone had brought her up out of the city, which while rare, does happen. He picked her up from the bar, took her far away and when done, left her in the dirt to get a way home. Maybe she was from one of the random shacks along the roads. The ones with Christmas lights. Here the lights do not shine joy and cheer. Wherever he got her, the guy must have paid royally for a night with her and to take her away from the bar. I could not shake the look of her face. The look of death. Staring at my phone I realized my fingers had begun to dial 911. 911? There is no emergency number to call for this girl. I half laughed and half let out a heavy sigh. I wanted to rescue her.
—
Kani
Night. Another day. Another man or two or three. Another paycheck for me. This is my allotment in life. Karma. I will accept it and smile. “Swadee Ka. Hello. You want massage? How are you today?”
—
Trent
As I walked down bar street looking for the girl I had seen that night in another town I began to look at all the faces of the girls and boys that lined the streets. They smiled, waved, grabbed the arms of the men that walked by. Land of a thousand smiles is Thailand’s slogan? Really? What if everyone saw what I was seeing now? I wanted to vomit.
I did not walk alone. With me I had a team. We had traveled here to Thailand to work with children rescued from trafficking. What if the kids I had been working with this ? Members of other teams with us were out here in the night. Walking the streets that were lined with the bars and massage parlors. Maybe just maybe one of them will find this girl. My phone rang. It was a cheap flip-phone, so I could not answer it as fast as an iPhone. At least I got a ringtone I actually liked to listen to as I tried to answer. It was “Mirrors” by JT. Yeah, pop music, I know. Not a guys first choice, but it was comfort away from home.
I answered the phone.
Our ride back to town was ready. As we headed towards the taxi station we passed a group of girls from our team going out to meet and share the gospel to those who were working the streets.
—
Kani
I fumbled around my pocket. I thought I heard my phone go off. Who could have the same ringtone as me? Not many of the girls here loved Pop music like I did. “Mirrors” was my favorite song. I was taught enough English and listened to enough American music as a little girl to know a decent boy band.
Nope. Not my phone. As I put it back in my purse it slipped from my hand and onto the ground. As I went to grab it a girl picked it up and handed it to me. I looked her in the eyes. American. I knew it. She didn’t have anything I wanted. Move on girl, I need food tonight. Take your little group of friends and go throw your time and money away in the walking street market.
But the girls didn’t leave. They stayed.
—
Trent
It seems there may be happy endings after all. You see, that night as I was leaving the bar street in Chiang Mai, one of the girls from my team ran into a girl I had walked past. There was something very special about this girl. How did I know? As I looked on my phone at Facebook, tears welled up in my eyes. The girl that was in the picture surrounded by a lot of our girls was the girl I had seen outside of Seven Eleven the other night. They had told her of Jesus and how he is so different from anything she had been taught in Buddhism. That being a prostitute is not what God intended for her.
The girls had spent the rest of our time in Thailand investing in her and her friends. It was all because she had dropped her cell phone that she thought was going off but instead was mine. A divine moment. At first she was distant and did not want to talk to the girls. She wanted only to work so she could get paid. But the girls had been relentless and she had given in to their persistence and love. She was welcomed into a ministry in the city thats soul purpose was to rescue and redeem people like her and to introduce her to the love of the Savior. But what made the tears more welcoming was the fact that I now knew her name.
Her name is Kani.
This story is a mixture of different real people whose names have been changed. If you have any questions about the ministries in Thailand that prevent children from being trafficked and rescue those already enslaved, please email me at [email protected]
