We recently posted a blog called “The Recruitment” which talked about how some girls in Thailand have been trafficked into prostitution – information we were given by locals here in Bangkok. We have since come to learn that this sort of recruitment happened very often 20 years ago, but not so much anymore. However, what now happens is a trickle down effect of those earlier days of recruitment which is, frankly, just as horrible.

Now many girls find themselves as third and fourth generation prostitutes, as their mothers and grandmothers were involved in the occupation and passed down the understanding their was really no more lucrative way to make a living for a Thai woman. Sadly, these girls follow the footsteps either for lack of knowledge or simply for monetary gain.

Other girls come to Bangkok knowing full well that they are going to work in a life of prostitution but they feel they have no other choice because of the depth of poverty that strangles their lives. Though the prospects of true love become increasingly dismal as they enter the trade, many girls hold on to the hope that among their clients, they will eventually find a “farong” or “foreigner” who will marry them. They hold onto the hope that a foreign husband will be a ticket to a better life.

Some girls start out in Bangkok working as a waitress at a restaurant until they find that they can’t survive on so little money, so they turn to work in the factories – which means 10 – 12 hour days sometimes for meager pay. Very often, someone at the factory will spot them and recruit them to work at a bar, offering better money. Enticed by the thought and tired of the monotony and grueling hours at the factory, they accept, only to give into the temptation of easier money at the price of their dignity.

It is a great pleasure to experience this month in Bangkok hearing firsthand accounts of brave men and women who have been and are currently on the frontlines of expanding the Kingdom of God.

One such story that amazed us away came from a missionary who was working in a country that was closed to the gospel. He worked for over 30 years with a people he discovered and he language transcribed their language for the first time in history and as a result – this people group also had the scriptures for the first time in history! After many years of difficult work, the scriptures were translated and printed in a neighboring country with the intention of taking them covertly into this closed nation.

Border checkpoints were tenaciously seizing Bibles and it seemed impossible for the Bibles to get to the people group they were meant for. But God has an interesting sense of humor….

A local official was harassing the missionary and accurately guessed the contents of the boxes needing to be transported across the border. After much conversation with the missionary, the official decided he would take on the missionaries challenge and, energized by own his ego, he decided to accompany the Bibles and assure their safety in the border crossing.

They were successful in getting them to the capital city! But one slight problem… it was still an eight day walk from the closest access road into the mountains to where the village was located. Stuck at an impasse, the missionary prayed and soon received a call from the US embassy asking for his assistance in finding a missing Peace Corp volunteer who was lost in the mountains. Since the missionary was the only Western person familiar with the terrain, he was asked to lead the expedition.

Ironically enough, the transportation lined up for him was nothing other the King’s own helicopter! The missionary refused the "adventure gear" the US embassy offered and simply asked to take his own gear – which was already packed in his boxes. They were happy enough to oblige, but little did they know his "gear" was Bibles for the people group he had spent his life with.

When the helicopter landed in the middle of the village, the believers were, at that very moment, deep in prayer that God would work a miracle and provide a way for the Bibles to reach them. They were astounded that God’s answer to their prayer arrived in the King’s helicopter!

This missionary couple has years of stories like this one and currently writing a memoir of their experiences.

Rahab Ministry’s goal in befriending the prostitutes is to gain their trust and introduce them to an alternative life filled with hope, fulfillment and transformation from the inside out. This happens for most of the girls when they come to grips with the desire to leave the life of prostitution behind and ask for help.

A girl will come to the Rahab office and ask for work making jewelry. Many times, the girl will also choose to live in the Rahab house, a beautiful 18-room home where former prostitutes who desire to be transformed, live together, grow together and learn about Jesus.
Read the full post…

Today I (Janelle) went with some of the ladies who are on staff at Rahab Ministries to minister to some of the girls who work in prostitution in Bangkok.

The way Rahab Ministries makes the initial contact with a bar girl is to actually go to a bar, sit at a table and order a soft drink so they can strike up conversations with the girls who work there. Today, we went to a couple of places in the tourist bar area of Bangkok. Sex tourists from all over the world come to this area to buy a Thai girl to spend the night with or just to get some attention from them while they are having a drink.

Everywhere I looked there were foreign men (all white in this bar) – a drink in one hand and the other hand wrapped around one of the young bar girls. The girls are required to allow a bar customer to do whatever he wants to them, touch them, feel them, kiss them – after all, that’s why… Read the full post…

Rahab Ministries started a hair salon in order to be able to be in contact with the girls who work as prostitutes in the red light district of Bangkok. One of the reasons why a hair salon is so effective is because the girls every evening before they report to work at their bar or brothel, they must get ready for the night.

Around 6pm each evening, approximately 30 girls, come to Rahab’s salon to get their hair shampooed and styled and to prepare their makeup, etc.When they come in, they sit down on the big, comfy couches or find a place on the floor where they can chat with their friends, eat some dinner, and just be girls. For the first hour or so that they are there, they are very talkative and they laugh and enjoy each other’s company just as any girl would with her friends.

But as they wash their hair and prepare their makeup, the salon slowly becomes quieter and quieter. During this transformation time, the girls become almost like a "character" that they must be for the night. Rahab’s staff suggests that one of the reason they cake on the makeup is that they are portraying a "character" and subconsciously want to mask their true identity. Somehow it helps them to cope with the reality in which they must exist. By the time the girls leave the salon, they are transformed into a different character. It’s almost like being backstage at a theater and watching the actress get ready for the show.

Some people criticize Rahab Ministries for having a hair salon. They argue that they are only encouraging the girls to be prostitutes. But the truth is, the girls have to get ready anyway and this is the one connection point the Rahab staff has with the girls on a daily basis; and it becomes a time where they have a guaranteed hour of one-on-one ministry where they can share with the girls a hope in Christ that exists beyond what they know.