A night with prostitutes

A view from our boat ride while in Bangkok

         

             This is my last blog.......I think we visited here (not picture above, Rahab ministries) on our first or second night here but I have not had time to write about it, but it deeply touched me.
           While in Bangkok we visited a place called Rahab ministries.  Rahab ministries sits in a small insignificant building in the middle of a street that in the day looks like any other street, but that at night turns into a street filled with bars.  These bars are filled with women dancing center stage for the men that are pouring into the bars to be with them.  The girls are half naked , dancing provocatively around poles, and the men are wandering around the room looking to see which girl they will decide to be with.  Once the customer decides whom he likes the look of, he or perhaps she, records the number that the girl has pinned on to her bra and then pays the owner for the girl belonging to that number.  Customers pay  500 baht, the equivalent of about 15 dollars, to the establishment for the girl’s services.  Whether or not the girls themselves get paid is between the customer and the girl.  Sometimes, they are paid nothing. 
What Rahab does is provide these girls with the opportunity to start a new job, offers them a place to live, and food to eat. In essence, they offer these girls a new start on life.  I don't know if you remember, but in my first blog, I questioned how one gets involved in the sex trade.  It is not as if you just walk right into a brothel and say hi, how are you? can we help you in any way?    That is exactly what Rahab ministries does.  Two nights a week  two or three women go into those bars....please understand I am using the term bar loosely. It is like no bar you or I know. The name of one of these bars, for instance, says it all  THE PUSSY CLUB......Anyway these women from Rahab Ministries go into the bar and befriend these women.  We went with them.  Now there is something I never thought I would do.  Nothing could have been easier. These women were so friendly.  For me a little to friendly at first and way beyond my comfort zone when I started to receive the most sensual of back rubs. However, I was quickly rescued by one of my companions who said she would actually like a back rub. There were 4 of us there. Within five minutes 7 girls had quickly joined us.  They sat in between each of us and we bought them a drink. They happily chatted away to us, at first because they thought we were potential customers, and then because we were all just having a nice time getting to know each other.  The girls spoke limited English, but we used hand signals and lots of smiles to communicate.  The girls from Rahab do this twice a week. They get to know the girls, and  invite them to drop in at Rahab any time they would like for a visit. Once a month the staff at Rahab invite the girls they meet over for dinner. They invite about 10-15 girls and on average 8-10 come.  The women of Rahab, when the girls visit, are first of all, just kind to them. They treat these women with respect and dignity, they talk to them about love. The love of Christ.  They provide them with an opportunity to change their lives if they want. Many do and many have.  If one of these girls decides they want to get out of prostitution they are given a full time job making the most beautiful jewelry.  This jewelry is sold by rahab ministries and all the money goes to support these women.   It is quite amazing. Another thing that Rahab provides these women with is the opportunity to participate in a missions trip.These transformed women go on missions trips to refuge camps where children are living in terrible conditions. They people in these refugee camps have little in the way of food or basic necessities.  Did you know, by the way, that there is such a thing as substandard rice?  Apparently there is not just brown and white rice.  In fact there is a rice for the poor.  It doesn't really look like rice or have the shape of rice it is a bit more like slop.  That is what these refugee children eat.  It is very sad.  These women took some form of bulk food to these children, that to me looks quite slop like as well, but to those children it was a delight.  That is how little they have and how easy it is to make a difference in their lives.  We, the three of us from Victoria, were so touched by the needs in this camp that we felt  we should use money that was given to us before we left to support it. We were asked to take 400 dollars with us and if we found something or someone that was in need to donate it on their behalf.  That money, so generously given to us, is going to help feed those children and provide these beautiful women, who have changed their lives, with yet another opportunity to help others as they themselves have been helped.
        I think Rahab ministries is wonderful. The women in these bars, so often the recipients of disrespect and abuse, are shown love and respect and are given a chance to get out of that lifestyle, if they want to. What a difference they are making.  Another revelation for me is how Rahab ministries is embraced in this community. My assumption was that these bar/brothels would not allow us in. I assumed they would be afraid of our presence.  They are not.  They have enough girls.  If we steal some away they are not threatened.  In fact when we finished our visit to the bar we were by then recognized by some and as we walked by they smiled at us and guided back toward the Rahab building.  It is wide open. If any have a heart to help these women they won't stop you!

I am actually in Hua Hin today it is very nice here.  Yesterday I rode an elephant and held a baby tiger.  That tiger was a feisty little thing and growled at me and took a swipe at me, but I got a good picture though. I am about to go and sit by the pool.  A first on this trip. tomorrow we head back to Bangkok and then home.  I can't wait to see you all.  I miss you very much.
      

The safe Houses and Safe Haven Village

The safehouses are quite wonderful. One of the houses we visited had 5 children. Three children rescued from the streets and two biological children of the mother chosen to head the safehouse.  What is wonderful about this program is that the mother actually adopts the children . They are a true family. The mother, her name has slipped my mind, has created a beautiful home, so neat and tidy complete with little pink curtains on the window.  The children’s drawings are hung with care on the wall. They have  a little place where she teaches them some lessons. You can tell they take great pride in their home .  When we got there we were served water and cookies.  Amazing when you see how little they have, that they share it so easily.  What a gift to be part of all this!  What a difference these houses are making.  This difference is most noteable in the 3^rd safehouse that we saw.  Now we were told these safehouses were right on the border.  We had no idea that meant like 20 feet away.  I took a picture of the tree that marks the border between Cambodia and Thailand.  The importance of this location is, of course, that it is a prime area for sex trafficking. 

       We were told before we came that one of the functions of  the safe house,  in addition to reporting on the activities of sex traffickers, is to educate children in the home and the community about how to recognize traffickers and their tricks. In essence how to keep themselves safe .  It was easy to see how these safehouses would be able to do that in this community.  When we showed up so did about 4o children. They were eager to hear what we had to say, and to play with us. It really felt like a close knit community

We painted the children's faces. They loved it

It really is a safe haven. The complex is gated to keep the children safe. 

 The school at Safe Haven. Flag was lowered for those who died in Phnom Phen

We also visited Safe Haven Village.  This is different than the safhouses.  It is like an orphanage.  But, the children are not all orphans. Chomna has adopted them all.  There are about 40 children here. Talk about amazing.  All of the children here were thought to be at risk and brought to safe haven either by Safe Haven staff or by the police after they rescued the children after out of a brothel or some other situation to dangerous to leave the child in. The children are all fed three good meals a day, attend school and are taught a trade.  They are starting up a chicken coup. They have 50,000 dollars already for this development.  They still need 7000 dollars to pay for the electricity.  Their goal is to make safe haven completely self sufficent. They are also building a complex to house new pastors while they are undergo training workshops. There is a also a welding shop and a woodworking shop in the complex and they grow their own rice. Talk about self sufficient.

He Ate Frogs to Survive

 Left Ralph: Head of Hope for The Nations  Right : Chomna, Founder and head of CHO

I must tell you the testimony  of Chomna.  He is the founder and  head of Cambodia Hope Organization. What a testimony.  When he was a little boy the Khmer Rouge, in order to weaken the family, divided the children from their parents.  Chomna was taken from his parents and taken along with many other children into the jungle.  At night they slept under the trees. It was very hard to sleep, Chomna said.  There were many bugs and  in the rainy season you were always wet and uncomfortable.  Crying was not allowed. Complaining was not allowed. If you did either you would be killed. Not usually with bullets as there were only a few of these.  They often used bamboo fronds to cut your throat which, he explained, often did not kill quickly and was more a method of torture.  Many died from malaria, wild animals or snakes.  They were given very little food but were forced to work very hard.  If they did not work hard they were beaten.  If they ran away they were shot. Many, however before they were shot were blown up by land mines.  If there were two or three together when the land mine blew it would give away the location of the others who would then be shot. At some point Chomna decided he would risk it and run away.  He did get away. It took him 2 months alone in the jungle to find his way home.  He survived by eating frogs and other things that he could catch. He did not dare cook them for fear a fire would give away his location.  He made it home.

At some point, Chomna’s mother was ill. He tooke her to the hospital to get her help but hey refused them because they had no money.  He knew then and there that he wanted to be a doctor so that this did not happen to others  Chomna began work assiting doctors at the Cambodia - Thailand border.  All the doctors were from Thailand (there were no Cambodian doctors..most would have been killed by the khmer Rouge) At night, the doctors had to return to Thailand. So Chomna, and others like him were left without doctors and had full responsibility for the patients.  This was very hard.  Vietnamese would come with their inujured comrades take their machine guns and shoot between Chomna’s legs demanding that he fix their friend or die.  He would do what he had to and became an expert at performing amputations.  He learned a lot from the doctor he worked with.  This doctor spoke to him about Jesus and had him pray with the patients.  He did not think much about what the doctor said but he liked him and did not mind listening to him.  After one of his many scares with the Vietnamese, Chomna decided he would become a monk.  There they would provide him with all his needs.  Food , clothing shelter.  He completed his training and was two weeks away from becoming a monk.  As it would happen, and I could be wrong as sometimes his accent was hard to discern, he was also supposed to be baptized in 2 weeks.  He noticed this and began to question which God he should serve.  So he prayed to both Gods and asked for an answer.  One night shortly thereafter he had a simple dream.  On one side he saw Budha and the temple and it was dark.  On the other side he saw Jesus and it was light and he had his answer.  But he was afraid.  How would he live? How would he feed himself?  He went to the monks.  When he told them they kicked him out of the temple that night. But, Chomna said, God provides and his friend who still worked at the hospital would bring him home the patients leftover food.  Shortly after Chomna met a women named Kim, fell in love and got married.  The wedding and the illness of his mother in law took all the money he had saved.  Without money his dreams of being a doctor could not be realized but he felt God calling him to come to Poipet to work with needy children.  He sold his house (missing part of the story here) for 5000 dollars and began a little something called CHO in Poipet.  The money ran out. But still he believed that this is what God was calling him to do.  The more he prayed the stronger he felt about this and the support began to arrive.  Today CHO is partnered with Hope for the nations and many others.  It has taken us three days in Poipet to see what CHO partnered with these other organizations had done and how they are changing a nation.  The scope of their influence is perhaps most noteable in the fact that the mayor of Poipet has asked Chomna and Hope For The Nations to help with the development plan for the city of Poipet.  What an impact that can have.  God willing what an impact that will have.

I have done no justice to Chomna’s testimony.  He really needs to write a book!

In the three days that we spent in Poipet we have seen CHO and Hope for the Nation’s involvement in CDC, School on a mat, sewing schools, bike building classes, safe haven village (complete with its school, welding shop, pastors school), three safe houses, and the khmer Rouge Village.  In addition to this, during our short visit, we saw three other ministries that were visiting Chomna to see how they could help the people of Cambodia. Truly amazing!

A Tractor Ride to the Khmer Village

A visit to the Khmer Rouge Village

What an adventure today was.  We visited the Khmer rouge village. They live in great poverty, quite isolated from everyone else.  The road to the village was washed out in one section and they were trying to fix it. They kept saying half an hour but an hour after we got there we decided to walk over the flooded part of the road and catch a tractor.  The sun was beating down the entire bump ridden ride there.  Being pregnant the bumps brought on an urgent need to pee; however I soon put this out of mind as my two options seemed to be: 1.pee in full view of everyone or 2.cross the Danger Landmines Sign.  Talk about a reality check.. Anyway I choose option number 3. Sweat it out.  The temperature today is in the high 30’s as it has been the entire time here in Poipet.

            When we got to the village there was no one there.  We had taken so long to get there they had gone back to work in the fields.  We waited for someone to gather the children and wiped some of the dust off of our sweating faces.  When the children arrived we told them stories about Jesus and played some games with them.  We had taken lots of gifts…bracelets, toy rings, candy, dolls…the children loved it all.  When I was handing out some hair ties to the mothers they could not grab them fast enough, and they accepted the little bottles of shampoo and lotion that I had as if they were pure gold.  It was wonderful to be able to be with them and to share with them. Everything would have been so much easier however if we did not need a translator and could actually speak the language.  Not that they seemed to care. They were happy to hug us and to play our games.  They are a very friendly people.  They have beautiful smiles.

 These are the necklaces and handbag that Rachel asked me to give to the children

            On the way back we had some left over balloons and candy and as our tractor rode by the shacks/homes on the road we had blown up balloons and we threw them to the people.  It wasn’t the children who came running it was the men.  They were grinning cheek to cheek  chasing those balloons and all the children giggled when we threw them their candy.  It would be so amazing to hand out something like Christmas baskets in this village.  The need is so great and the people so lovely and grateful.

            I’m not sure if you heard or not but there was an accident in Phnom Penn two days ago.  I told you there was a huge boat festival going on. Well during one of the celebrations 10 people passed out on a bridge (perhaps they were electrocuted).  Someone panicked and yelled the bridge is falling, or something along those lines, and the people panicked and stampeded.  379 were killed and another 300 are injured some of them are still in critical condition.  I don’t know exactly what happened but somehow many of them were electrocuted by the lights hanging overhead.  This morning all of the churches of Cambodia are gathering to pray for the people and all the businesses are closed until noon.  We are on our way to the CHO (Cambodia hope organization) head office.  They meet every morning to pray before beginning work.  This morning they will pray for those in Phonom Penh and we will join them.

            I will talk to you soon I hope……miss you all......forgot to tell you about school on amt the other day

School on a Mat

CHO and other organizations are training up teachers to provide children with school on a mat.  After driving down the very dusty, very bumpy dirt roads found all over Cambodia (I can’t imagine what they would be like in the rainy season) seemingly in the middle of nowhere you find the greatest little school.  The school we visited had 24 students. The teachers teach all the regular subjects but they also educate the children about sex trafficking and how to avoid sex traffickers.  We had a lot of fun visiting these children it was a delight to see their friendly, smiley faces and they were all so full of hope.  We asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up and we got all the typical answers hairdressers, teachers, doctors , and pilots. This is amazing if you consider that these children are growing up in a society that has lacked teachers , doctors and pilots…..

They Say She Will Live

       Today, I sat and held hands with a woman who looked like she was dying.  Apparently she was on the way to better health and staff thought that she may live.  She has AIDS.  Because of the sex trafficking and massive prostitution in Cambodia many are dying of AIDS.  Husbands visit brothels and then return home to their wives.  Husbands die, leaving the wife to raise the children alone.  Shortly thereafter the mother becomes ill leaving no one to look after the children.  This makes the children prime targets for sex traffickers.

The women below is 22.  Her mother, father and Uncle are all dead.  She is alone. Thanks to the CDC she is recieving medication and care.

         We have been looking at many of the things that Hope for the Nations in Partnership with CHO, Cambodian Hope Organization, and other agencies are doing for the people of Cambodia.  One of the things that they have built here is the CDC (center for disease control).  Without this place the women above probably would  have died.  We met many others.  All the patients here either have aids or tuberculosis.  Hospitals here are not like at home (excluding ones like this funded by outside agencies).  Chomna, the head of CHO, told us how he once went to the hospital carrying his very sick mother.  When he arrived they asked him how much money he had.  When he said he had none, they sent him and his mother away.  All the stories here are the same.  But it is not without hope. The centers we are seeing here are amazing and the cooperation between some of the organizations is awe inspiring.  I can not wait to tell you more about them.

        We also visited two micro-enterprises.  One enterprise, a bike mechanic shop, was started 5 years ago and since then has trained 200 boys and started 50 new businesses.  The other one that we saw was a new sewing school.  This one has just been started.  After one year of training the girls will be given micro loans for a sewing machine and fabric so that they can start their own businesses.

The Killing Fields

Above: One of the many bones unearthed by the rain


Wow, what an eye opening day today was..  We visited S-21 and the killing fields.  S-21 is an old school in Phnom Penh that was converted to a prison and place of torture during the reign of Pol Pot. Today S-21 is a museum and you can tour through its many rooms and see the devastating pictures of all the torture and atrocities that occurred there.  Visiting here sure explains a lot about why Cambodia is where it is today.  The thing that stands out most is that every one you meet has been affected by what took place during the Khmer Rouge regime.  In an effort to create a new Cambodia in line with their ideals, they killed one third of the population.  Their main target was the intellectuals.  Teachers, lawyers, doctors, and, in fact, anyone who wore glasses.  Within three days the capital city of Phnom Penh was empty of all its inhabitants.  The people of Phnom Phen were forced to walk out.  Many had large journeys to make to find family to live with. Our bus driver told us he and his family only had to walk 30 km but because of the massive number of people being forced to evacuate it took them 2 weeks to make this journey.  They were forced to leave so quickly that they could not take much in the way of food or water.  Many died of starvation. He said this was the second way that the Khmer Rouge killed the Cambodians. Starvation, he said, was cheaper than bullets.  It is estimated that half of the 3,000,000 that died, died by starvation. Our bus driver went on to describe how  he saw dead bodies floating past him as they journeyed down the river.  He was only 7 years old.  He lost an uncle, aunt, and many cousins.  He was with his brother when he died.    Our tour guide at S-21 lost her mother and father and the tour guide at the killing fields had much the same thing to say. No one in Cambodia was untouched.

        Walking around the killing fields, for me, was terrible.  Even though I have been to many of the Nazi concentration camps, I was unprepared for what I would see here.  Because of the rains the graves are now all very shallow.  We were walking over clothing that was coming to the surface from the graves below. Our tour guide picked up 3 or 4 teeth to show us as we walked by. And we all stepped over a human jawbone that was beginning to be unearthed.

            There is so much more I could say but again time does not permit.  The very worst of what I saw is pictured below........The details of which are to gruesome to share

           

 

Hard to Keep Up

         I have so much to write and tell you and so little time. In half an hour we are leaving for Siam Reap..a six hour bus ride away.  I am not adjusting well to the time change at all.  I wake up every morning promptly at 3 am, 4 if I'm lucky and I can't get back to sleep.  We are leaving Phnom Penh where we have been for the last two days.  It is too bad we are leaving as there is a huge boat festival here.  Apparently the population has nearly doubled.  It is quite a sight to see so many mopeds zipping about.  Some of those mopeds are carrying 4 people.  Often sandwiched in the middle is a little baby, cute to see, but seems oh so dangerous especially given they don't wear helmets.  Had a great time touring the city last night but yesterday was a very hard day. We went to the killing fields.  So sad.  I will tell you more about it when I can but for now I have to go.  Keep me in  your prayers.