Today we visited a slum near Bangkok. It’s places like these where the cycle of cultural slavery truly begins.
In these neighborhoods, there are few jobs and even fewer schools. Entire families have lived in the same shacks for generations. And from the day they are born, girls in the slums bear a terrible burden. They are taught it’s their responsibility to provide for the family so they can survive.
Without an education, these girls are often forced into making an unimaginable choice — sell their bodies or watch their families suffer. But for $50, you can help introduce one girl to another choice: freedom.
You can see it in the eyes of the people in these slums — poverty has stolen their dreams.
They have been so forgotten and mistreated by the world around them that the simplest gifts bring them joy. As we handed out bags of aid supplies, one woman burst into tears after we gave her a mosquito net.
When you see these horrible conditions, it’s understandable why so many girls are willing to do anything — even sell themselves — to help their families escape this life of barely surviving.
They are desperate for hope.
But hope is a rare commodity in the bars. If no one intervenes, these young girls will work here until they are forced to retire … possibly because of an STD or pregnancy by a customer.
This is no life for God’s precious children. We have to rescue and renew these girls trapped in the sex industry.
One girl, whom I’ll call Malai, never planned to work in the bars. She had a respectable job. It paid very little, but it was enough to get by. Then, her father became sick. With no one else to pay his medical bills, Malai was forced to make that difficult choice. For the past six months, she has spent most nights selling her body at a bar.
Every night, Malai comes here with one desire — to make enough money to rescue her family. In her mind, there’s no time to think about her own personal desires.
Our hopes, dreams, and passions are a part of what makes us who we are. When girls like Malai come to work in the bars they lose those things. They even lose their names, becoming nothing more than a number pinned to their clothes.
But God knows each of these girls’ names and their hearts, and He wants them to be free.
Will you help introduce a girl like Malia to freedom today? For just $50, you will help provide things such as a safe place to live, education, counseling, medical attention, outreach, and more.