Posted on 12/20/2012 4:00:46 AM PST by Kaslin
BANGKOK -- Most of us can read about sex trafficking with a sense of detachment. It is only when we see its results up close that we are forced to confront the full extent of its horror.
Nana Plaza is one of several "red light" districts in Bangkok. It is less than two blocks from my upscale hotel, but worlds away from it, a distance, you could say, separating Heaven from Hell. Girls -- and that's what many of them are -- wear almost nothing. They are there to please. My guide points out a three-story structure. "The higher you go," he says, "the raunchier it gets." It looks raunchy enough on the ground floor.
In the song "One Night in Bangkok," a line describes my feeling: "I can feel the devil walking next to me."
Prostitution has been illegal in Thailand since 1960, but the Thailand Government Public Health Department estimates there are 75,000 prostitutes in the country. Some nongovernment organizations put the figure much higher. "Sexual tourists" come here, their visits set up by travel agents, as if they were booking people for a cruise or a trip to the beach. The newspapers constantly rail against corrupt officials who tolerate the sex trade and turn a blind eye to exploited women.
Into this den of iniquity have come Bonita and Roy Thompson, two Christian missionaries. Eight years ago they gave up careers as California educators to come to a place where they make less money and receive little notice.
Their payment comes in the lives of those girls they are able to save from a life of prostitution. Their ministry is called Home of New Beginnings
(http://www.homeofnewbeginnings.com/home.htm.)
At a Christmas party they give annually for the "bar girls," more than 200 prostitutes show up to play games like musical chairs and to hear a message from a former prostitute who tells her story of redemption, offering them a new life if they will only trust God.
A few respond. One is called "Nim," not her real name. Nim says she was abandoned by her mother and later sold by an opportunistic "auntie" to a couple who needed her to care for their aging parents. Nim says her work proved unsatisfactory and she was sold again to a bar where she was forced into prostitution.
When the Thompsons rescued her they took her to a doctor who estimated her age at 11 or 12. She had no formal schooling, but they tutored her and she is now in a regular school. Nim recently received a "character pin" from the oldest daughter of Thailand's king in recognition of her changed life and academic success.
The rescued girls live in housing run by the Thompsons. They receive an allowance that partially compensates them for lost earnings. Many send portions of their allowances to family, which they used to do with their income from prostitution.
"One of our girls," says Bonita, "is in her senior year at a university, studying chemical engineering. She is currently interning with a company that expects to hire her upon graduation. Another is in her senior year in textile design and has been selected by one of the top designers in Thailand to work with him on a project."
At a recently concluded conference on women's rights in London, attendees were told that ever-younger girls are being forced into prostitution because of declining economic conditions in many parts of the world. The Straits Times reports that, according to The International Labour Organization, "About 21 million people ... are in forced labour, meaning they have been coerced or deceived into jobs which they cannot leave. ...
about 4.5 million of these, mainly women and girls, were victims of sexual exploitation..." Overall, cites the ILO, "...the human trafficking trade was estimated to be worth US$32 billion (S$39 billion) a year."
The Thompsons are doing their small part, though the numbers seem overwhelming at times. Think of these girls as someone's daughter or granddaughter and even though some of those relatives may have sold them, the message of love and self-worth sometimes breaks through, even in the red light districts of Bangkok.
Girls — and that’s what many of them are …That’s bad enough. What are the rest of them, kathoeys?
God bless the Thompsons.
Sadly, our own country fuels this “trade” in humans. I know the military does...as Bankok is a “vacation” place of persons stationed at Diego Garcia.
Of course, the libertarians on this site would have us believe that prostitution is a “victimless” crime.
NOW’s response in 3,2,1...”Oh look, an all male golf club”
i thought the song ‘one night in bancock’ was about a chess tournament...
And sometimes you have to get really close to tell the difference. I got on a bus full of them once and for a few seconds thought I had died and gone to heaven. Luckily my friend clued me in and saved my dignity.
Where is the vaunted UN?
Probably waiting in line at the brothels.
"The games we play would NOT excite you!"
"The games we play would NOT excite you!"
I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine.
“Where is the vaunted UN?”
They are into African boys.
Sorry to burst your righteousness bubble, but while this article might have been mostly true 25 years ago, it’s not now.
Just about all the women, and that is what they are, not girls, are in the bars and clubs by choice for whatever reason. There are probably more underage, addicted, or coerced prostitutes on the streets of Vancouver, Los Angeles, and London, England than in the bars and whorehouses of Bangkok.
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And you know this how?
Because I keep up with the news.
You are right. Cal should have gone to London and looked into what the imported Muslims are up to long before worrying about Bangkok...
Roy and Bonita are wonderful people.
Many tragedies and blessing in their lives.
Roy actually married my wife and I.
Still together after 33 years.
Please pray for all those trapped in this industry.
Also, Cal also wrote a glowing story on Singapore’s economy the other day which was 100% true, but he obviously didn’t stop by Geylang or Orchard Towers. :)
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