Boxes and boxes of roses. Yes, over 500 roses to be handed out to the women in the red light district for Valentines Day. Due to the gracious gift from a church in Florida, we were able to bring smiles to women who are struggling to cope with life. We had a team who delivered roses to the women working the day shift, and then a team who delivered them to women working the night shift. Within just a few hours we made contact with hundreds of precious souls.
Volunteers sorting the roses
Along with the roses we also had a Valentine card to give each person that said, “Happy Valentines Day! God cares for you!” It also had contact info in case someone wants a follow-up visit or is just wanting to talk. They are all in desperate situations.
Starting on the "day shift"
As we approached each window, we held up the rose and card indicating that we wanted to give them a free gift. We had to convince several that they were free, because nothing is free, right?! Some would say, “This is free? Why would you want to give me this flower?!” I explained that I care about her and that I love her for who she is inside, not for how she looks or what she can do. (more…)
Sometimes my mind has a hard time processing the bits and pieces of information I receive on a given day as I interact with those who are caught in a life of prostitution. A life that is light-years away from the world I was raised in. I never knew a world like this existed. I grew up in Small Town, Texas…a good little conservative, Baptist girl who never lacked love and acceptance, and who thought that getting drunk or taking drugs was the worst a person do. Prostitution & sex slavery was only a subject in movies…movies I never saw but knew existed.
Today one of the prostitutes that I am friends with (for her safety, I’ll call her “Fran”) told me the whole story of something that happened just one month ago. Through an interesting series of events, she became friends with three women from her home country of Romania. They had been beaten, starved and forced to prostitute themselves, sometimes locked in rooms for days at a time. In Romania they were told they had been given jobs in Belgium picking crops and working in fields. When they arrived here, they discovered that those jobs never existed. When Fran first saw them, one girl especially was skin and bones. You could see every bone in her body.
Fran realized what was happening to them and, to make a long story short, brought them up to the ministry center so we could help them get out of the country and escape their pimp. They had been trying to save money to buy airline tickets by holding back 5 or 10 Euros from every “client” and hiding it from their pimp. They hid the money in condoms in a particular body cavity until they could get by themselves to hide it in a better location. When I heard her say that today, I almost burst into tears, but held it back because I didn’t want her to stop talking. Those three young women wanted to be free of their pimp so badly that they were willing to do anything….whatever it took. (more…)
Those are the words that I heard yesterday while talking to a woman in her window in the red light district of a city near me. I have heard those words several times in the past year, and every time I feel so helpless and without concrete answers. Of course I say that God will give them strength, that He will direct their steps and that He loves them very much, but I have nothing to offer them that will give them rent money or food on their tables. We teach them how to make and sell jewelry, but it’s hard to make enough jewelry to pay your rent. It is such a conflicted feeling. My heart soars with the fact that “L” wants out. She is 50+ years old and has worked in prostitution for 33 years. She knows no other life. It’s the quickest way to get cash. She doesn’t want her children and grandchildren following in her footsteps, and she feels so much shame. She keeps saying, “Next week I’m leaving.” And next week never comes.
Although I’m thrilled that she wants out, I am clueless as to how to counsel her to do it. She was quick to show me her laptop and Psychology book for a college course she is taking. The laptop was opened on her chair in the window. I loved seeing the light in her eyes as she talked about this course. The book is written in Dutch, and she was having to use Google translator for the harder words. (She is from Dominican Republic and Spanish is her main language.) It makes her feel more like a normal person to be studying this. I’m happy for her.
If only we had a safe place nearby where we could take them to be cared for until they get established in a legitimate profession. A place that would put as much emphasis on their internal life before God as their outward, practical life. I desire to see these women come alive with the revelation of God’s fiery, intense love for them. To see life in their eyes and smiles on their faces. They need someone to constantly hold their hands for at least a few months, to continually say, “You can DO this!” They need someone to say every day, “Hey, let’s pray together. God has the answer.” They need someone to help them get visas and work permits, etc.. There is SO much need! (more…)
One of my favorite websites and one of the leading organizations affecting sex trafficking all over the world is Exodus Cry. Every month they choose a city to highlight and to raise awareness of the sex trafficking epidemic in that particular area. The city in focus this month is Jerusalem. This subject is close to my heart, not only because of the horror of sex trafficking, but because of my intense love for Jerusalem. Brothel owning and pimping is illegal in Israel, but prostitution is legal. The population of Israel is over 7.5 million and every month there are 1 million purchases of illicit sex in the nation. Those are huge numbers. Over 80% of women in prostitution in Israel are trafficking victims. They can be bought with no penalties or prosecution.
Orit Zuaretz, a member of the Knesset in Jerusalem, has been used of God to spotlight this problem within the Knesset and also the United Nations. This month the Israeli Minister of Justice, Ya’akov Ne’eman, is considering sending a bill written by MK Zuaretz to the Knesset to be voted on. If it is passed, clients would be penalized for purchasing victims as well as educated about what they are actually participating in globally. It would be a huge blow against sex trafficking in Israel. MK Zuaretz is actively trying to raise awareness in Israel concerning this problem in her country. Recently, in a Tel Aviv shopping mall, shoppers were faced with a living reminder of what it all means. Here is the story in the HaAretz newspaper. (HaAretz is one of the two main news organizations in Israel).
If this is an issue you feel strongly about, go to this website where you can voice your support of this bill to cabinet members. And please pray for the Members of the Knesset that they would understand the importance of this bill, and that they would choose God’s law making holiness a standard in their government. Pray that the awareness of sex trafficking in Israel would increase greatly not just in Israel but globally.
This is about real people who are trapped into being bought and traded for sex, children included. This breaks my heart. I can’t imagine what it does to God’s heart.
