What is the life situation that results in someone being sold by their own family into slavery? Are modern day slaves people who have chosen a fringe life and then get stuck there? Have you thought much about modern day slavery? How does someone get trapped? What does it take to get out? How does someone in a sex slave environment climb out and reach a point where they can reach back and help others? It’s happening and we are engaged in the battle to see that it happens more. Let me introduce you to my friend Sok (not actual name).
As an orphan child, he was cared for by his already impoverished aunt who had children of her own – two girls slightly older than Sok. Poverty and no education were circumstances his aunty could not overcome by usual means. She was poor, very poor. In their village the schools required students to pay each day they entered the classroom. No money – very harsh treatment from the teacher and no school that day. There was never money for school. The waters were low in the rivers and fish ponds and the heat was intense so there were no fish too eat. The same drought conditions caused rice paddies to go dry and there were no rice planting jobs to earn a meager living. So there would be no harvest – no food. They would go hungry. The animals were starving and could find no water either. Conditions were bleak. But this was what every year’s dry season was like. Always, six sometimes seven months there was no rain.
In order to survive, Sok went to a pagoda and began training to be a monk. He was there more than 10 years. Monks could go door to door and even the most starving household would have to give them food even if on
ly a morsel. But it was more than what was at home and it reduced the burden on his aunty.
Remember the two girls, Sok’s cousins? Things finally got very desperate and without food aunty encouraged the girls to go to a local KTV (local karaoke/night club) where they could earn some money if they sold themselves to men who for a few dollars could touch them at will, for a few more dollars could hold them and touch them any way they desired and for a few dollars more………… Every day.
Sometimes as many as 10 “customers” each day would pay the few dollars more while tens upon tens paid the smaller prices for just touching. They would line up each evening at the door to the KTV where they were looked over and hand-picked for whatever the customer desired and would pay for.
The girls, unwilling to dishonor their mother’s wishes, obeyed and brought home a small portion of the money that was paid (most was kept by the KTV owner). It was income that did not depend on the weather. And without an education it was the only steady employment they could get. It seemed the only way to survive.
For years this has been the case. Sok realized he could improve his life he he learned English but, how could he afford a teacher? A Christian nearby was teaching English for free at the church – he had found a pathway to learning. There, he learned about Jesus Christ and gave his life to Christ in that local Khmer community. He grew spiritually in a discipleship program and realized he could do good with his life.
As an orphan, he had little hope of marrying a good girl. But every time he met an obstacle, he asked his God to make himself real and show him a way. Then, he met “her” and earned her daddy’s respect by becoming an independent business owner. Even by local standards he is not wealthy. He is able to provide for his family and have dreams for the future. One of those dreams is to “buy” his two cousins out of the KTV bondage they have now been in for years –trapped. To the culture they are in, the girls are rubbish. Not worthy of an honorable job or a husband. To Sok, they are his cousins and human beings made in the image of God, just like him. As he grows his business he plans to help his cousins and others in his country. He is not looking to become rich and elite for himself but instead wealthy enough to help his cousins and people. Sok is a new generation in Cambodia.
Our organization has empowered us to help Sok and many like him who are seeking to change their country through developing their own talents in business and becoming the next generation of leaders. These are leaders who understand human-trafficking is an atrocity. Not only is it something that can change it is something THEY CAN change. The believe it is something in their lives that DEMANDS they change. They are in it to end it.
To fight sex trafficking of children, Debbie and I are engaged with local Khmer schools, churches, and rising young business leaders. We are “going to them” and working with them in their local villages, churches and communes. This is the grass roots of the entire atrocity. We have learned that to stop it it has to be cut off by the families who otherwise get trapped in it. This is a family issue at its core and the Bible equips us/them to address it. Understanding that man is made in the image of God; that this fight is a sanctity of life fight and with education and economic opportunity, Prevention|Rescue|Restoration|Reintegration to end modern sex slavery can overcome the blight on this generation.
It is a plague upon the world today and you can be a part of stopping it too. Engage your business, school, organization, church. Take a stand that says every life counts. Every life is valuable in the eyes of God.
Help us help. Help us go after the lost sheep who are mostly forgotten.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1 ESV)
If you are a donor to our work, we are so very grateful, if you are not yet, please consider becoming a donor. We need your help too.
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