Some of you “met” my sister-in-law, Pam, when she was on Oprah earlier this year. Now she and the woman who is helping her write a book are traveling in Cambodia. If you have time check out her travel journal. Here’s an entry:
This morning we hit the pavement running and I wasn’t sure if my old forty-five and a half year-old body was up for the day. I was sitting there thinking about how I really needed to take better care of myself and put ointment on my scaly elbows. With that thought still on my mind I looked up to see the Phnom Penh street-cleaning women hard at work—picking up the garbage with their bare hands. The Cambodian people work so hard here. There is an unlawful energy about Cambodia that I don’t remember absorbing before this trip. Everyone seems to be recklessly driving and the sex industry is so in our face.
We went to meet with Don at Agape. He runs a shelter for girls rescued from prostitution. He is really cool and was so helpful to Aimee with facts and numbers. He has been working here for two years and has several Vietnamese girls in his shelter. He is working in a Vietnamese area and said that ten-year-old little girls “expect” to be sold when they turn ten. Chinese and South Korean men are paying more for the lighter skinned girls–so the Vietnamese girls are in demand.
He told us the story of a little three-year-old who had to be examined by a pediatrician-friend who was staying with him…you get the point–there was nothing pretty about our conversation with Don this morning. It was confirmation that TAL needs to become more involved with working in Cambodia. I am going to talk to Marie tomorrow and run some ideas by her. I don’t know what all this means but I know God is laying foundation on this trip.
We went to one of the brothels that had been shut down about two years ago. It is a vacant building that looks like a storefront from the outside. But behind closed doors there were chambers that were six by six feet. There were about 14 little rooms down a long hallway. Each room had a hand-painted number on the outside of the door. Inside was a wooden slat bed and nothing else. The rooms were personally decorated with magazine pages glued to the wall, hand-drawn crosses of markers and poems. The poem tells of how men come and tell these girls they are beautiful but they know they are called “dirty girls”. One poem told of how she was so unhappy (I will try to get all the words of this poem from Don). It is the saddest thing. In fact, Aimee and I said that the prison cells at least had ventilation and these girls were truly prisoners and sex slaves of the worst kind. I think I will have nightmares of those little rooms.
Upstairs there was a room painted bright pink where the girls had to go shoot up with heroin and then be filmed for sex videos. I sat at the doorway of this room and looked at the pink paint and thought, how sad, every little girl should have a pink bedroom but not a pink sex room where she is to perform the cruelest of sex acts with men.
It is really beyond and out of control. There are white single men just combing the streets here along the river. I think Aimee and I truly can only take one more day and staying here on the river. Thank goodness we are leaving because Aimee does not hide the disgust on her face very well. I laughed at her this morning when she shot a pissed-off look to a guy flirting with the waitress. It is just dripping with disgust here.
I came home this afternoon and had to lay down because I felt the trip was catching up with me. I thought about those little rooms before I napped and it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up.
Well, I have to go. My workhorse of a writer said we must pound some things out this afternoon. She is really coming up with some neat ideas and ways of introducing each chapter. I am getting very excited about the book!
In spite of being tired and missing my family so much, I have to realize that God is not finished with me yet. I have one more day to see what all He needs to show me. Hearing the stories about little Vietnamese and Cambodian girls being tortured and robbed of their innocence is what I need to remember. I must find and keep a fighting spirit so that I might be able to do something about it. I can see Tay’s little face in so many of these stories. I see MaiLia walking the streets selling books. I see young women like KeSey dripping in sexual body language. This is not acceptable that these men are coming here and these babies are being held prisoner.
Wait until you see the pictures of this place. It is the glue to all the stories I have heard through the years.
Wow! What can we do to help besides pray and send money? I am anxious to hear what comes of this trip and how we Christians can help.
We had our company meeting in Pattayah, Thailand. It was the sane way as described above. The west fuels this sex trade. I was ashamed our company picked a place such as this, not for self righteous reasons, but people were being exploited in such an open and you face manner. It was purest evil I have ever felt.
We are so sheltered in our American culture from most of what goes on in the world. May God help us to be more compassionate and loving toward all of His creation.
Peace.
After teaching for over 20 years in schools with large populations of Southeast Asian students…after knowing so many brilliant and beautiful Cambodian girls…this can’t do anything but break my heart.
Wow, thank you for letting us know about this-what a sad ordeal-I am thankful that they are helping girls get out of such an awful situation. We are very blessed and sheltered to this kind of stuff, which can be bad b/c it is easier to ignore when not in front of us.
Please thank Pam for what she and her organization are doing, and I pray that opportunities continue to arise for them to save these precious children…
Mike…what struck me in reading this is how God can turn the deepest sorrow into something beautiful for His Kingdom. That’s what He’s done with Pam. I pray that her experience would continue to overflow into the lives of the helpless, broken, and hurting. It breaks my heart to know what they are going through and it also thrills me to know that He uses the broken and hurting to accomplish His will. I’m so grateful for that and for Pam. Please give her our love.
Brandon
Makes me think of Isaiah 61: 1-4. We can argue all day about things like vocal chords vs guitar chords, but is seems to me that our calling as a church is to love, encourage, rescue and restore the places and people long devastated. God may not take all of us to Cambodia like He has taken Pam, but we are all a team within the Body. So may we pray, support, and tell others about what God is doing through Pam and others like her. And may the Lord bless, protect, and empower Pam and those with her and may the Lord rescue those precious girls with His mighty hand.
As I read I was repulsed, nauseated, brought to tears and anger while imagining what these little girls are being made to suffer. I too ask, what can we do to help these babies? Yes, I pray for their liberation, and I pray the Psalms of David begging God’s vengeance upon those that are “causing these little ones to fall.”
Special blessings are awaiting Pam as she and her group continue to rescue children all over the world.
I try to check Pam’s blog daily. I met the “magnificent 7″ at the village of Hope in February. Pam is doing a work that is truly blessed by God. Your last post, “God Weeps,” must describe how He feels when He sees these young women and children being forced into sex slaves…I certainly breaks my heart!
Pam is an “every woman” who inspires me to believe we all can make a difference in this world! God bless her heart and her family as she makes this journey! I think most of us just don’t want to believe these type things happen to little girls. I can not imagine. I do not even want to. But I thank God Pam is willing to tell the real stories we need to hear and to bring light to those dark, dark corners of our world.
And off the subject…
For some reason it bothers me that a post about A Cappella music gets 128 comments and this only has 10. Do we not comment when we agree with the writer? Do we not know what to say? Someone on this blog once said people only bother to comment when they feel passionate about something… So what does that say about me? us? this blog community? our little tribe? No answers here. Just thinking “out loud” here.
God bless your sweet sister-in-law!
SG, I think we just don’t know what to say. But, you said it so well. It is heartbreaking to hear about these stories. And Pam is an inspiration - I love how she makes herself available to be used by God and is passionate about defending and protecting those who are in hopeless situations. Her light is shining brightly in the darkness, and she is influencing many people.
SG: While it is tempting to make the comparison, the speechlessness you notice may also be a good sign for the tribe.
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.
— Proverbs 10:19
SG - could it be our contrary nature nudges us to engage in blog conversation when we disagree with the subject matter?
If we are in agreement, there is not debate. So I prefer to take the quiet “no responses” as a sign that we are prayerfully agreeing with Pam and her work; that we are spending the time bringing these children to the Throne of Mercy and asking God how might we better engage in His work where He is. IOW, unfortunately disagreement brings everyone’s opinion out into the light. I’m thankful we are in agreement with Pam and her group and hopefully we are all taking a more active part in support of her ministry.
And - thank you for your sweet loving heart. We can hear your tears for these babies in your questioning words.
My former next door neighbor was Every Woman too- “just a mom” like any of the rest of us- until they adopted two children from Cambodia a few years ago. They were so distraught at the condition of all the children they saw during their trip that they began working to move to Cambodia themselves, where they have lived since 2004 running a children’s home called Bykota House (named after their home church in Missouri). God bless Pam and Rhonda and the other “average” women out there who are making such a difference in these precious lives.