Today started off with me sleeping until 6 am! Which, sounds quite terrible, but is an improvement. I actually sat up in bed and said "Holy crap, it's 6am!! That's so awesome!!" To which everyone responded by staring at me like I had grown another head or something. For me, its progress and I am excited!
Yester we we to Hagar, which was absolutely amazing. For those of you who have never heard of this organization, go to google and read about it NOW. They have so many different aspects of their ministry, focused on helping women and children who have been trafficked and exploited to reassimilate back into society, and teaching them life skills to help them avoid being trafficked again. They even have a ministry called House of Smiles, which is very near and dear to my heart, that provides assistance to individuals with special and physical needs. Many times they are more likely to be trafficked and neglected by the people here.... HoS helps teach them life skills, provides housing, and even helps teach families how to care for their children with these needs. Its an amazing program, and it really blessed my heart hearing about it today.
After Hagar we came back and did different planning things for our childrens activities, and then went on an adventure to find candy and toys for kids. Cambodian Life Lesson #5: Rain is no big deal for people here. It started pouring out of nowhere and people totally acted like it wasn't even happening, which is crazy considering the lack of rain we have had at home. We then came back and ate dinner, and planned to go out to the river front, which is where the red light district is.
This was probably the most eye opening and difficult aspect of the trip so far for me. We did a prayer walk, and just seeing the girls standing and sitting outside of bars, scantily clad and promoting their bodies was heartbreaking, especially knowing that this isn't a choice for them. We split into groups after doing a prayer walk, and decided to go into separate bars, in order to see what it was really like. Wayne (a leader of sorts on this trip) and I decided to go into the most offensive sounding bar we could find, so we picked Club 69. We got in and literally ten girls flocked to us. They pulled out my chair and made sure I was comfortable, and then proceeded to literally molest me the entire time we were there. We ordered a beer, and were trying to talk to these girls. Wayne was talking with 2 of them while one tried to massage his arm and back. I literally had 8 of them flocked around me, touching and rubbing on my very upper thigh, literally only an inch or two away from my crotch. They also were rubbing and massaging my sides, while subtly feeling up my chest as they did it. The whole time they were being flirty with me, and I had no idea what to do or how to respond; I didn't want to freak out and tell them to stop, because they were talking with is, but I didn't want to promote their advances either. We told them we were siblings, hoping that would help, but it did nothing. Almost all of them were from the provinces and were the oldest siblings in their families. We drank our beers quickly and left, only staying there for about 15 minutes total. As we left I was fighting off the need to cry and vomit, and I couldn't even process what had happened. As we walked off, I felt so violated and degraded, and then felt guilty for it, because how must those girls have felt every moment of every night in that bar? They didn't even use their real names; one of them told us her name was "Sweet Girl." It was gut wrenching and heart breaking to see the kind of show they had to put on for customers. The way they were feeling me up, it also made me realize that women are just as likely as men to use trafficked women, and made me wonder if that bar was specifically known for drawing female customers. it wasn't until we were at the coffee shop that I was able to talk and think and pray about what happened. As disgusting and heart breaking as it was to see, I'm glad we went into the bar, to see what we are really up against here. To the unsuspecting person, those girls LOOKED like they wanted to be there, that they enjoyed what they did, when that is far from being true. And as I came home I was still thinking about those girls and what they were forced to do nightly, and my heart was still broken over what I saw and learned. I really pray that God would use what I saw and experienced somehow, to furthur my desire and heart for justice for these men and women.
No comments:
Post a Comment