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Gillian Ferwerda of Women at Risk, International will be sharing amazing posts with us during the Redeemed series– I pray you will join us and be changed through it!

Outreach in Thailand

The safe house staff hit the street for another night of outreach. Walking into the bars, they purchase a drink with the women trapped there, buying time with her.

Time of peace, time with someone who actually listens to her instead of uses her. They tell the woman that there is a safe place for her with job training and education. She can escape to another life with hope and a future. Yet, many are too afraid to leave, trapped by fear and lies.

Traffickers have organized and purposeful techniques to keep their victims physically and mentally chained to beds of horror. Some victims are in debt bondage, demanded to pay back their ticket to the city where they supposedly were to find a good job. No matter how hard they work, how many men they serve, the debt keeps growing—for food, clothing, perhaps a medicine, for this, for that. Hopelessness sinks in.

Some traffickers use blackmail, brain washing, drug addiction, beating, chaining, etc. to keep people enslaved. Others use threats against the woman’s life or against her family or children back home—these are real, because often the trafficker met the family before bringing the girl to the brothel. In fact, some say that a major cause of American children to remain silent about commercial exploitation is that traffickers threaten to harm their younger sibling.

Lies play a major role, and girls are told that the police will arrest them, hurt them, deport them, etc. They are ostracized from anyone who could help. A cycle of abuse and kindness, twisting the concept of love, keep others emotionally chained to their trafficker.

Escape can be fearful.

And if they do escape—what then? Do they have a job? How will they provide for themselves or their family? What will they tell their families, many who will reject them if they knew what happened to them, considering these women “shamed” and “dirty.” Many have bought into the lies that there is no hope, that they are good for nothing else, that this is all they are worth. Other women have become hardened, so hurt they refuse to trust anyone offering escape.

Escape can be terrifying.

Prang’s Story

The safe house staff watched in disappointment as Prang got into a taxi with yet another customer. They had talked with her often during their outreaches. Prang wanted out, but fear had kept her from joining the safe house.

Through God’s orchestration, the staff saw her once again that night, broken and beaten. She had hit bottom, and this time agreed to escape. Even in this safe place, her sense of shame overwhelmed her and kept her in emotional bondage.

Image property of WAR Int'l

Slowly, through the love offered her, she began to learn that she is truly beautiful and precious, a “temple,” as her name Prang means. Because of the extreme poverty of Prang’s home village, ninety percent of the women end up in prostitution. Having been there herself, Prang has returned to her village to do preventative work by running a small silk craft co-op which employs other women.

What you can do!

Image property of WAR Int'l

Get involved first hand! Travel to the safe houses and visit the orphanages on our bi-annual Circle Tour!

Sponsor outreach—$15 pays for two drinks, giving the trapped woman twenty minutes with someone who loves her and a chance to hear about the safe houses and escape. Contact us at info@warinternational.org or 616-855-0796 or www.warinternational.org .

For you

God is also offering you and I a new life in Christ—but it can be terrifying. We have to die to self, let go of control, and let go of the sin that we have grown attached to, even while it enslaves us (Luke 14:27; 2 Timothy 2:21). There is a cost to be counted (Luke 14:28). But the joy and peace is overwhelming.

He gives us a new heart that is able to love, feel peace, and feel joy (Ezekiel 36:26; John 14:27; John 15:11). He gives us true freedom (John 8:36). We might be afraid to really trust that God is good enough to offer this gift for us, freely, and that he does not demand our perfect behavior first. But we come to him broken and sinful, and he takes us with open arms (Romans 5:8). His love restores us to be free from fear (1 John 4:18).

From Kristi: Want to know more about how to find freedom through Jesus Christ? Please email me – I would love to talk with you.