“Good guys go to heaven, bad guys go to Pattaya” read the shirt of a man who shoved past me in the crowd. Loud music blared from the bars, strip clubs, and brothels lining the street. Bright neon lights explicitly advertising girls and sex filled the dark street with an eerie glow. Barely clothed girls spun around poles in the bars and danced in cages overlooking the street. A small girl with her face covered in makeup, no more than 4 years old, stood in the middle of the street spinning a hula hoop and dancing as someone watched from a distance making sure that she performed. People stopped to take pictures and laugh not even thinking twice about such a little girl performing for money at 11 PM when she should be tucked in bed at home. Crowds of people from all over the world shoved their way in and out of the establishments. Men holding onto the hands of young girls that they had purchased for some “fun” during their stay laughed loudly as they walked the streets. Some people brought their small children along as if going to the circus. This was Walking Street in Pattaya, Thailand.
As I walked, I looked deeply into the eyes and faces of those we passed and was struck by the looks of emptiness in the eyes of the girls performing and being purchased. This is their life day after day. The demand for sex workers is high here and both girls and boys come to Pattaya from the poor countryside to make money for their families back home. Many children drop out of school at around 15 years old and end up whisked into the industry as well. Some are providing for their families, some are here for the money, some are just trying to survive, and others have been trafficked and forced into it.
My team and I had the privilege of connecting with an amazing ministry in Pattaya that has a program for children who have been rescued out of the sex industry. In our time there, we were able to do a few outreaches including our time spent in the red light district on Walking Street.
We spent one night doing bar outreach in Pattaya. Time is money here. The men that come in pay for the girls time and bodies. The owners of the bars and pimps collect much of this. In order to spend time with the girls, you must purchase it. Our group walked into the bars and offered to buy them drinks to have them sit with us. We asked them about their families, where they were from, what they liked to do, ect., just to have a conversation and show that we cared about them and that we were not there to get anything from them. We had a nail kit with us and painted their nails while we visited.
In the second bar that we went to, we were welcomed warmly by the girls who were eager to visit with us. The owner even turned some very inebriated men away from the bar stating that it was full because we were there. She told us that she wanted to give us all something for Christmas and gifted each of us with a tee-shirt from her inventory. We all put our shirts on and wore them with pride. The sweet generosity behind the gift was overwhelming. We bought roses for each of the girls and told them how special they were. They gave us such big hugs that showed how much they appreciated our presence.
(One of the girls and our new tee-shirts #My life. My choice. My mistakes. My lessons. Not your business.# Not a message I would usually wear on a shirt but this shirt was given out of pure kindness and I wear it with pride. 🙂
I sat and visited with one of the girls while I painted her nails. There was a deep sadness in her eyes that struck me right away. Through our translator, we found out that she had only been in Pattaya and working in the bar for two months. She was from a small village a long ways away and had three small children who were still there. I don’t know what brought her to Pattaya and the bar. Many people come here because they know that they can make money selling themselves. Talking to the girls, it becomes very evident that the majority of them do not want to be here. It is heartbreaking to see how this industry has taken over here. There are thousands of girls and boys here who have been exploited and are selling their bodies or who have been sold by someone else into the sex industry.
Please pray for the city of Pattaya and for my team and the people that we encounter here. Please pray that God works through us to show his love even though we are here for such a short period of time.
