Matt Snyder is about to leave for Southeast Asia in less than a week to begin the World Race’s first human-trafficking focused trip. Participants will spend 4 months in 4 countries to survey this massive issue and explore opportunities to turn the tide of this evil. Here’s an interview he conducted with a World Race alumna of one of her eye-opening ministry experiences while on the field.
Kimberly Daniels went on the World Race almost 3 years ago, a life-altering 11-month mission trip to 11 countries. This pilgrimage creates radically committed Christ followers who go change the world. I had the chance to sit down with Kim and ask her about her time in Bangkok, Thailand where she did outreach to prostitutes in one of the most prominent places for sex tourism: the Nana Entertainment Plaza.
Describe your first night of ministry out in Bangkok.
It takes more than an hour to get downtown from where we were staying. Once we were there, I could hear the pounding music from around the corner, and as I turned, the three story complex overwhelmed me with its height and chaos.
Like at a carnival, men walked in and out, except that they were void of that child-like innocence common at fairgrounds. Instead of innocence, they were full of guilt and shame and they knew it. They were essentially walking dead men.
Actually setting foot into the bars was another animal in and of itself. There was a heavy spirit of manipulation and control. While the girls paraded around, the men seemed like sheep being led to the slaughter, roped by lust and selfishness.
Most nights my team and I would strike up a conversation with someone and listen to their story. As the Holy Spirit led, we’d know how to speak their language, so that ‘hope’ and ‘life’ were more than over-used Christian terms. Sometimes they would respond, sometimes they’d shut us down, but we’d always try to remember that what is sown will one day be reaped, so the harvest in their lives may not come for many more seasons. For us, it was a good place to start.
After spending 3-4 hours a night there, we’d say our goodbyes and start the trek back to our base and get mentally ready to do it again the next night.
In your missions experiences you never go out alone, but instead partner with local organizations and ministries so you have a more relevant and lasting impact. Who did you work with in Bangkok?
We worked with a small organization called The Well. It is a ministry that goes into the bars and out on the streets to talk with the girls and offer them a way out of prostitution. Once the girls make a decision to leave their life in the bars and come to The Well, they are able to support themselves and their families by making quality jewelry, handbags, designer cards, etc. They can also live in the housing provided with their children.
Was there someone that you connected with at the Well that used to live the lifestyle of a prostitute? What’s her story?
Yes, her name is Prang. She grew up in the countryside in Burriram, which is about 6-7 hours away from the city of Bangkok. She fell in love with a man, moved in with his family, and had two children with him before getting married. When she found out that he had been cheating on her for quite a while, Prang was devastated.
She had to move out of his family’s house and figure out how to provide for her two children. It overwhelmed her so much that she tried to take her life but she was unsuccessful. A friend of Prang’s suggested that she move to Bangkok to get a job in the factory, and she did, but the hours were unreasonable and she was barely making enough to provide for her and her two kids.
Another friend then suggested that she get a job in the bars because the money was better. Feeling like she had no choice, Prang began working and told me later that she felt like ‘a woman who had no soul’ dancing on the tables for the men.
Is it common for most bar girls to come from the country?
Yes, many of the girls come from rural areas. Usually their families are poor farmers, and in the Thai culture, it is the woman’s responsibility to provide for their families. So with little education and a lot of desperation, the women board trucks that take them to the city and introduce them to the bars.
So what happened to Prang? Did she ever find freedom?
One night, people from The Well came into the bar and asked her if she liked her job, to which Prang replied with an emphatic “no”. They told her about the option of The Well, and she quit the bars that night. After a few months of working at The Well, Prang accepted Christ and felt a strong pull to move back to Burriram to do something to prevent girls from leaving the country to work in the bars.
Today, Prang lives in Burriram with her two children, mother, and a few other mothers with their children. Prang teaches in the schools and has developed relationships with her primarily Buddhist community. Although she has been persecuted heavily, she continues to live life with humility and strength, reflecting Christ to the outcasts and those who oppose her. Prang’s example has led many in her village to choose to be disciples, and like iron, has sharpened the faith of the believers around her — including me.
Surely there are more stories like Prang’s that are waiting to be written. But prostitution is merely a smaller piece to a bigger problem, right? Prang could have gotten caught in some dark circles that would have gotten her trafficked.
Human trafficking affects people of all age groups, all nationalities, all races, and all genders. Behind hundreds of closed doors and below hundreds of discretely disguised buildings are children from all over the world. Tourists come to Thailand because it’s cheap — not just cheap for material goods.
Bangkok is becoming known as a place where you can find ‘anything’. The people behind the trafficking know that Bangkok is an epicenter for sex tourism and prostitution, and they also know that once you use a human one way, you’re more apt to try something new the next time.
Prostitution is a black hole that leads you to spiral lower and lower and darker and darker, trying to satisfy its hunger. But it only leaves you wanting to try something more ‘out there’. Sex tourists know they can come to Thailand and find no enforced laws to keep them from their addictions.
Does it bother you that there are so few ministries fighting these problems? How should the church be responding?
First of all, the Church needs to realize that this is the Church’s problem. Without a doubt, God has no Plan B to the Church; we are it.
If the Church does not answer this call, who else will? If the Church does not become the will of God to this issue, who else will? Are we waiting for the world to step up and do it?
First, I think that the people in the Church need to be broken for this issue, which comes by raising awareness. And secondly, out of that brokenness should come action by the entire Body. It’ll manifest itself differently in everyone, but that’s the point. It is going to take resources from everyone in the kingdom of God to solve this thing.
Not everyone is called to travel to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, or the like, but like a body, everyone needs to function in their respective roles. Some are called to Thailand, some are called to send them.
This issue is HUGE and has been kept largely under wraps just the way hell would like it to be. Darkness and light can have no fellowship, so it is the Church’s responsibility to bring light into dark places.
