All around the world, people are eager for the Christmas holiday. School projects and work assignments pause as we take time to rest and enjoy Christmas day.
But for many girls in India and Thailand, their occupation in the sex industry has no respite. Day in and day out, they are forced to sell their bodies to provide for their families. There’s no peace. No calm. No joy.
And while this season is supposed to inspire hope, these girls have little hope of ever escaping this way of life. Without an education, they have no other options.
But this Christmas, YOU can change that and help introduce one girl to freedom for just $50.
In Thailand, the sex workers in the red-light districts are often girls who came to the big city from poor rural villages, hoping to make enough money to send home to their starving families.
They may have started out thinking they could get a job in a factory or as a waitress. But before long, many discover that their only choice is to join the city’s booming sex industry.
When they go to work, they have no name. To the bar owners and the customers, they are just numbers.
As they paint on a smile each night, the only thing that gets them through is knowing that the money they are making will help their families survive.
And in the Banchara tribe of India, the pressure on girls to provide for their families through sex is even greater. In fact, it’s part of a 500-year-old tradition called nari mata. According to this custom, the oldest daughter must enter the sex industry to pay for her brothers’ marriage dowries.
Some girls start selling themselves as young as 12 years old and work their entire lives, subjecting themselves to STDs and early pregnancies, to pay off the massive dowry debts.
This was the case for Dove. I’ve changed her name to respect her privacy, because even at the age of 29, her past still haunts her.
Dove was pressured by her own parents to enter the sex industry when she was just 14 years old. Customer after customer, she would do her best to bring in enough money to meet her family’s needs.
Eventually, Dove got married and had daughters of her own. She doesn’t want the same life for her daughters. She knows there are now Freedom Homes where young girls can go and live. With help from generous donors, these girls can attend classes there and receive an education. They can have the second chance that Dove always wanted.
“I would greatly recommend such homes where the girls can stay there and get an education,” Dove said. “This will surely make a major difference in leading a dignified life and showing a positive impact to the Banchara people.”
This Christmas you can give a girl the opportunity to leave the sex industry, receive an education, have a safe place to live, and experience the love of Christ.
You can help introduce one girl to freedom for only $50. Your gift will provide essentials like shelter, medical care, trauma counseling, education or vocational training, and more to give a girl her a second chance at life.
When you think about it, Christmas is a holiday all about being set free as the beloved carol “O Holy Night” reminds us:
Chains shall He break
For the slave is our brother,
And in his name, all oppression shall cease.
Will you help break the chains of cultural and sexual slavery for a girl this Christmas?
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