How girls get trafficked in Moldova
As we walk down the street, she tells us she has a “surprise” waiting at our destination. I’m up for surprises. In fact, I kind of flow with them. The day is clear, a slight breeze is blowing, and for the first time I don’t even need my Northface jacket. We sit down in an outdoor cafe with green umbrellas and Ahmad tea signs all around. Reminds me of Kiev and the sun feels good.
“Do you want to know why I brought you here?” Nothing to fear, no need to worry. Of course we do. The black stuff in my cup isn’t real good so it’s not the best espresso in the city. “Why are we here?”
“One of the girls you will meet was trafficked from this restaurant.”
What…did…you…say? At that moment, my world changed. The crowded city street was a different place. A man from the Middle East appeared over Anne Jackson’s right shoulder. Something about him, it wasn’t right.
“In fact, they’re here right now. And so are the girls who are being trafficked. They lure girls here for a job. Then they are sent to Turkey, Israel, and Russia.”
I saw them. Teenagers draped with blond and brunette curls. You’ve got to be kidding me. And I’ve brought Anne here? I mean Simon and Brad are one thing, but a girl? Someone I’m responsible for, and I’ve brought her into the midst of a den filled with sex-traffickers? I looked to the right and saw two more men emerge out of the restaurant. They weren’t Moldovan. Simon’s camera didn’t help things. He was shooting pictures and video faster than Usain Bolt runs the hundred yard dash.
Now we’re the center of attention. We tried to play it cool, acting like we belonged there and were just shooting a plain ‘ol video about life in the big city. My chest got a little bigger, my sixth sense a little stronger. If there was ever a time I longed to be a CIA agent.
An overweight, middle-aged man sits down with a young girl at a table ten feet from us. She might be seventeen. We captured the photo. She bats her eyes and tries to impress her. He hands her a wad of cash for last night’s exploits.
I’m sickened beyond explanation. And then I realize, this happens every single day. What am I supposed to do? Turn a blind eye? Pretend this evil doesn’t exist? Go back to my comfortable life and wish that young girls aren’t trafficked like this right in front of my eyes?
Something inside tells me I can’t. I’ve been exposed and I’ll never be the same.
At least ten traffickers sniff us out. They’re behind us, in front, to the right and left. We’re absolutely surrounded. But we’re not in prison like the young girls who fill the chairs. We have a choice. Their choice had already been made for them.
This place has the heavy-weight title of the highest rate of trafficked women in the world. Tens of thousands simply disappear. Our psychologist friend pulls out a local newspaper. “This is how they trap them. Local ads promising well-paying jobs abroad. Everyone wants to leave so all young girls are potential victims.”
I look to the left and to my utter shock, see two girls reading the same kind of newspaper. Once your eyes are opened, it’s everywhere in this place.
“I brought you here so you can see the realities in our country. It doesn’t do you any good if I only show you what most people want to see. This is the reality.”
Tomorrow, we will be with five of the girls who have been rescued from this nightmare. I want to be a real presence in their lives and fight back the evil that had control over their life. Thank God there are people here who go to the front lines every day. I have to do something, I can’t sit on the sidelines and hope this goes away.
We’re in Moldova. Who would like to join us? We stood up from our table and walked out of that hell hole. The beautiful blonde girl didn’t have that choice.
Comments (9)
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Seth, you painted a clear picture for me. I hate the situation these girls are in and the people who help them continue that dark path. I’m praying!
Here I am Lord; send me. I have read Pete Grieg’s book Red Moon Rising and want to visit the Czech German border town he writes of.
I feel like vomiting, just reading about it. Comfortable complacency is NOT an option. Compassion must be. I would like to join you…I have two daughters, soon to be 11 and 13 and this is horrifying. Us Western Christians MUST be shocked. Thanks.
Thanks Seth. I read this earlier today and made a comment on the original blog I will make here because it is germane to the problem we have in America and the Western world.
It is not hard to be shocked. Media and good writing allow for that. The HIV/AIDS pandemic. Natural disasters. Starvation. Polluted water supplies. The plight of the persecuted church. Human trafficking. The list goes on and on.
And caring people feel pain and want to do something–often in the name of Jesus.
But Jesus asks us to be wise and verify an answer to this seminal question…
“How is your organization uniquely qualified to take donor monies and create a durable solution (even in small ways) to the problem causing people to want to do something?”
Describing pain is a media thing. It as you know is the easy part of the formula.
Creating real (even small) validated results is a ministry thing.
And that is hard.
I would encourage some links to the long term human trafficking ministries only because they have been working in the squalor long before it became a popular cause concept.
And I say that appreciating the power of this original blog today.
Thanks again.
Hey Seth,
This is amazing! I was in Moldova in September. We were working with a church with the kids. I didn’t even know this was going on there until I read “Not For Sale”. Now I am in Thailand, about to go work in Phuket with prostitutes. I am ready to be Jesus for them. Please pray for God to do His thing.
Katie
Stunning…
“Hear our cry for help oh God, Do not hide your face from us
We are in need…”
OH GOD, I CRY OUT TO YOU – THIS ISN’T FAIR. WHY GOD? HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? PLEASE COME… OH COME HOLY SPIRIT. RAISE UP AN ARMY OF PEOPLE WHO WILL LIVE IN RECKLESS ABANDON…”
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Hi iam interest girls age 18-25 year age may sex relationship interest reply iam visit Moldova iam business export import Pakistan or world