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The sex trade is an abomination

It’s sickening to see 13 year-old girls recruited by their parents to become prostitutes.  It’s disgusting that a culture would be so sex-obsessed that it would be normative for parents to prepare their children for such a future.  If we could see the seamy industry that has grown up to…
By Seth Barnes

It’s sickening to see 13 year-old girls recruited by their parents to become prostitutes.  It’s disgusting that a culture would be so sex-obsessed that it would be normative for parents to prepare their children for such a future.  If we could see the seamy industry that has grown up to support this abomination, we’d be appalled.

 
Most of us never will see it – you have to spend 24 hours flying just to get to Phnom Penh.   The good news is, a lot of advocacy groups have been started (here are a few) to show us what is going on.
 
And here’s some really good news: A group of five young women have formed a team to go and live in Cambodia, learn the language, befriend the girls, and help save them from the horror that has become their life.
 
At some point in life, we learn enough about an issue that we have to do something; more information isn’t enough.  That’s what happened with this team.  They’d heard enough. Steph Tyrna is a good example. Here’s her story:
Two years ago I sat down and watched the movie Human Trafficking  in horror and disgust. I remember pacing around my room after the movie finished and wondered why I had never known all that goes on before my very existence. Questions ran through my mind, “Why isn’t more being done to help these women? How can I help them? How can I spread awareness to all of the others who never knew about this either?”

Six months later I found myself walking down the dark streets with fluorescent neon lights lining the many bars in Patong, Thailand. I felt a sense of what it must feel like to be human prey, not just in the eyes of men looking to buy a woman for the night, but in the eyes of Satan. Lurking and hovering… to steal, kill and destroy. To literally devour each woman one by one. To bring torment and destruction. To allow these women to experience a degree of hell here on earth. Satan hates them. Each and every one of those women.

As I walked down the dark streets late at night, I looked forward to seeing the women that I had befriended. It was hard to swallow the fact that when I went to visit my girls at the bars, they would already be drunk before the night had begun. I guess I don’t blame them for numbing themselves to the things they have to endure on a daily basis; physically, mentally and emotionally.

Emerging myself into an environment like this moved me. How could it not?! Experiencing an injustice like this leaves me haunted and screaming for something to be done.

Is this one girl not worth fighting for? Aren’t they all worth fighting for!?

For me personally, sitting at home watching the movie and making myself aware of the issue just wasn’t enough. I had to actually get up and do something about it. So it’s not coincidence that God placed this opportunity for me to move back to Phnom Penh to live amongst these women, battling this injustice and advancing the kingdom in a place that He has already claimed freedom in.

The team is busy raising support this summer.  They need others who are similarly worked up about the issue who can’t go but want to do something about it.
 
Let me encourage you to read their blogs and pray for them.  They are brave – their families have the same questions about their safety that any of us would have.  They are being called into a dark place to engage in a heroic task.
If the issue gets under your skin, maybe it’s time to do something.  You may not be able to go, but you can send others in your place.

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