I came into this missions trip thinking I would be working with girls who have been sold and now sell themselves. Any other option as far as possible ministry didn’t enter my mind until a few nights ago.
It started with our team figuring out what to do with all the craft supplies we’d brought. We decided to pack little goodie bags to hand out to the little kids we saw on the streets, around town, and in Pat Pong. That night, we did our usual walk through Pat Pong just praying and making our presence known, greeting the people we now thought of as friends and meeting new ones and as we did, we handed out the little baggies to the kids on the streets there. There is no such thing as a babysitter in Thailand. If you work 4pm to 8am, your kids come with you. Which means there are innocent little ones watching the women dance in the bars and the men sell a “menu” on the street of what a customer can enjoy, sitting next to next-to-nothing lingerie being sold, and witnessing countless other things their little eyes and ears—and big hearts—should not see.
That night, we split into pairs, so my teammate, Rachael, and I decided to sit outside one bar and see where God wanted us to go. Less than five feet away was a little girl putting together one of the do-it-yourself bracelets that came in the baggies we handed out. When I saw her, I had this incredible pull from the Holy Spirit to go over to her and talk with her. So I introduced myself to her and her father.
Her dad’s name was Tony and he’d moved from Hong Kong a year ago with his daughter, Mint, who is 12 years old. Tony came here to work. His job is to stand on the street outside of a bar with a menu of sexual acts men can buy from the women inside. When I asked if he enjoyed doing this, he kind of shrugged his shoulders like there weren’t really any other options for him. His eyes said the rest. I could see that he wasn’t proud of having his daughter watch him sell women night after night.
I went back to my seat and prayed. Not even five minutes later, Tony asked Rachael and I to help Mint make the bracelet. She came over to sit with us at an outdoor bar. Another little girl, Friam (age 6), came as well. Friam’s mother is one of the vendors at the night market. The four of us sat at the table, made bracelets, talked, played games, and colored.
There were also little kids selling different things in the market (like roses or glow-in-the-dark bracelets). They’d walk up and down the street, trying to sell to the westerners walking through. After a while, these children stopped by as well. They’d color something and then would return to work.
We sat there for three hours loving on these kids – and would have stayed longer if we didn’t have to get back to the guesthouse. After a while of being there, the men of the street came up, talked and joked around with us. God softened their hearts just by us playing with these girls. Here we sat at a bar right in the middle of the Red Light District coloring, playing, just allowing these kids to be kids. By the end of the night, we noticed that the men were less enthusiastic about selling their menu of services to potential customers. And of course, the patrons themselves who sat at the same bar as us couldn’t help but see the growing crowd of children as well. By the time we left, it felt as though the entire corner of that one area was filled with light.
I now think that God may have brought me here to connect with the kids, even more than with the women. He wanted me to love them like He would love them. I am so blown away by God and how me He loves us, even when we mess up over and over again.
“I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever.” Psalm 51:8b
*Photos by Connie Rock and Kristen
