A form of slavery

An excerpt from the inspirational book "HALF THE SKY" written by Nicholas D. Krisof and Sheryl WuDunn.

"You have to serve the customers," the boss told her as he punched her.  "If not, we will beat you to death.  Do you want that?"  Rath stopped protesting, but she sobbed and refused to cooperate actively.  The boss forced her to take a pill; the gangsters called it "the happy drug" or "the shake drug."  She doesn't know exactly what it was, but it made her head shake and induced lethargy, happiness, and compliance for about an hour.  When she wasn't drugged, Rath was teary and insufficiently complaint-she was required to beam happily at all customers- so the boss said he would waste no more time on her: She would agree to do as she was ordered or he would kill her.  Rath then gave in.  The girls were forced to work in the brothel seven days a week, fifteen hours a day.  They were kept naked to make it more difficult for them to run away or to keep tips or other money, and they were forbidden to ask customers to use condoms.  

 

 This is just a small glimpse of what a young, innocent girl may go through in the beginning stages of being a slave in a brothel.  Reading this book and hearing these stories brought me to tears.  As I flew through the pages, I was painted a clear picture of how horrific this life is that they are forced into.                                                                                                             




I still am in contact with the gentleman in my town- who took us to visit a girls home I wrote about in a previous blog.  He has said before that there were girls he knows of already- currently- that need to be rescued from this nightmare, they have no place to go.. and there is just no where to take them.


Besides speaking with and working with this contact, I also hope to take very cautious steps in rescuing girls out of brothels in Manila, one of the largest cities in the Philippines.  I know this may be dangerous, but believe that with God all things are possible.  I have listed some statistics below to give you a better idea of how big of a problem this is.

Come be apart of changing lives forever.  Rescuing the helpless, the ones who can't fend for themselves.  God wants to use us to reach his children.  Join me in building a home that will house girls who have been sold into slavery.  Girls who have been beaten, neglected, and broken.  With your help they will can have new hope, a new home, proper schooling, safety, and a family.  Please consider being a supporter of this work God has placed deep in my heart.





Ok.. on a slightly different note.. one more bit of information.  The girls will get to have a mother and father.. because I am engaged!  I am thrilled to share that God has blessed me with a wonderful man, Anthony.  I have fallen head over heels in love with him.  He is a hard working, dependable, fun, smart, loving man of God, who I met in the Philippines.   We plan to be married this year!  I am in the states now, and have been able to share the news with family and friends.  Thank you all for your love, excitement, and support.  I'm so grateful to God for what is ahead.


Thank you for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for God to give me guidance and wisdom in the next steps ahead.  He has been speaking to me about many more things, but has made it clear that I must trust his timing.

Love means living the way God commanded us to live.  As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.  2 John 1:6

Some statistics found on google and wikipedia-

There are estimated to be 375,000 women and girls in the sex trade in the Philippines, mostly between the ages of 15 and 20, though some are as young as 11.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies state that there are more than 1.5 million street children in the Philippines and many end up in prostitution and drug trafficking in places such as Manila and Angeles City.

Government and NGO estimates on the number of women trafficked range from 300,000 to 400,000 and the number of children trafficked range from 60,000 to 100,000.  According to the US government reports, the number of child victims in the Philippines range from 20,000 to 100,000, with foreign tourists, particularly other Asians, as perpetrators.

An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines are involved in prostitution rings, according to Minette Rimando, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'S International Labour Organization's Manila office. Based on the statistics provided by the Visayan Forum Foundation, most victims are between 12 to 22 years old.

In 2009, the Philippines was downgraded by the US State Department to a “Tier 2 Watch-List country,” with Metro Manila being a major source, destination, and transit area for girls and women. It is considered by UNICEF to have one of the world’s worst child trafficking problems. Accurate prevalence figures on sex trafficking are extremely challenging to generate due to the underground nature of human trafficking, but child trafficking estimates for the country hover around 100,000 annually.