I
cannot begin to explain how it feels to watch.
Women sitting alone on a park bench, staring down at their
feet.
Glancing around, waiting for customers.
Girls, not yet fully
developed, taking the hand of a customer.
Haggling prices through car windows.
Customers driving away, because she is not
even
Customers. As if this is just another service industry.
Men
who, night after night, pay to pick them up, pay to use their bodies however
they please, until they’ve had enough.
The
thought disgusts me. Angers me! Breaks my heart! And seeing it happening in
front of my eyes is heart-wrenching.
Walking
through the park every Saturday evening with the Tamar Center team, praying and
talking to these women, I have heard many stories. Many women are old, poor,
with children they need to support. Some are married, to husbands who actually ask them to work as prostitutes, and take the money to fuel their
gambling and drinking problems. One girl we met two weeks ago wouldn’t talk to
us for very long. She kept saying in Thai, “I have to go. I have to go. They’ll
hurt me.” She was only sixteen years
old. I’ll never forget the hickeys across her neck, bruises on her arm, and
fear in her eyes. Pray for this girl—her name is May.
It
never takes long for tears to well up in these women’s eyes as we ask them
their story. Every one is different, but they are all full of pain. We listen
to their hearts, we love in any way we can, and we pray for them. On the spot,
as we pass them, and always afterwards—we pray. We invite them to our English
classes, and offer them the hope of a place, which takes in
girls off the streets and provides them with a place to stay, food and clothes,
and training for a new vocation and a new life.
Most
days, talking is as far as it goes. But last night…last night was different.
Last
night, we happened to meet a 52 year old woman named Nut (pronounced Noot). As I
walked up to the group talking with her, I could see that Brooke was wiping
tears from her eyes, and Tooktik was rubbing this woman’s obviously hurt
shoulder.
Not
wanting to crowd and overwhelm the group, I stayed on the outskirts and just
began to pray. A man was sitting at a park bench nearby, staring. I was not
sure what was going on, but I could tell there was a war going on around them,
and there was lot at stake.
Nut’s
story, as I soon found out, is a sad one. She has been trapped in an extremely
physically abusive relationship for about a year now—with the man sitting at
the bench nearby. Every time she tries
to run away, he finds her and beats her. Her right arm is near paralysis
because of nerve damage, and there are cigarette burns on her arms. Her vision
is cloudy because of the alcohol he throws in her face. She lives in
depression, in and out of hospitals every time he beats her, and has attempted
suicide. She started working as a prostitute a few months ago, because she
needs to make money. Listening to this BROKE my heart. Why? Why is there such
evil in the world? Why couldn’t she find a way out?
BUT GOD WAS THERE. He was fighting for
her, the whole time.
As
we all came together around Nut, and told her about a place where she would feel secure and earn her her livelihood after going through vocational training, she
didn’t hesitate—she was ready to come with us, but she was still scared of the
man who wouldn’t let her leave.
After
getting her phone number, we set up a time to meet later on so that he would be
gone. However, when we got back, he was still there.
Waiting.
Staring. Silently threatening.
We
surrounded her, our hands grabbing hers, our hands on her back, our prayers
encircling her like a shield. And he
didn’t follow. We hopped on our
songthaew, laughing excitedly with her, almost not believing we were playing a
part in the physical rescue of such a special woman. We brought her to a hotel
nearby, and then stayed for a beautiful time of eating, praying, worshipping,
and loving. The first thing she did when she sat down in that room was to break
her SIM card. She snapped it in half! What a perfect physical representation of
the change happening in her life! As we massaged her hurt shoulder and tired
feet, we listened to her story. That was when she told us something crazy… she
recently had a dream that a group of elephants came to rescue her, telling her
“we came to save you,” and she rode away on them.
Tears
began to flow and smiles began to erupt as we all realized what Jesus was
doing. How He had been fighting for her. How He was using us in her story. She
could see Him working, too, and in that moment, as Shelby led her, she prayed
with us to give her life to Him. She kept repeating how FREE she felt. It was BEAUTIFUL.
Nut
left this morning for the place we've mentioned to her, ready to escape the horrors
of her life here, ready to turn her life around, ready to follow Jesus. But
there are so many more still stuck. Millions, to be exact. January is
sex-trafficking awareness month. It’s time to FIGHT THIS EVIL.
Spread
awareness. Change starts with awareness.
PRAY.
Please, pray for these girls. Pray for those working to free them. Pray against
those enslaving them, against the men buying them, against the mentality that
keeps them there.
Give.
This cause is worthy of our money and our time.
I am
beyond honored to be here, to join in with Korat’s Tamar Center team, to be a
part of this. I am humbled that I could play even a small part in what God is
doing through this ministry. And I am in awe of the good God we serve and how
He uses me, even with my doubts and fears and sinful heart.
