Day 2--Tuesday--NightLight Ministries

Another full day--but not full from a schedule point of view. Rather it was a day full of trying to get my head around the whole issue of sexual trafficking. No matter how much I study the problem, read, watch DVDs, talk with missionaries, go to conferences...it's still just so hard to imagine this kind of thing truly exists.

We spent most of the day with Annie Dieselberg and NightLight Ministries. I have been familiar with Annie's work for years--having written articles on it, heard Annie speak, heard others speak of their experiences volunteering here. But it's never quite the same as seeing it yourself. As we toured the business and heard about the ministry, I was looking into the faces of so many young women who had experienced so much trauma in their lives--and here they were laughing together, talking about every day matters as they sat next to one another at tables making jewelry. It could've been any "normal" workplace--and, indeed, it is a "normal" workplace--but it is business as mission. What an incredible work God is doing here.

NightLight Ministries reaches out to women and girls in the strip clubs and bars in one of the worst red light districts in Bangkok. Because of Annie's shrewd business sense and her passion for this ministry, NightLight Ministries is able to employ 70-plus women in a jewelry-making business, giving them a competitive wage, provide life-skills training, and a strong spiritual foundation. Indeed, their ministry now reaches far beyond the borders of the neighborhood they occupy--Annie told us that some of their recent arrivals come from bars and strip clubs in other parts of the city. Through word of mouth, these women heard of the opportunity for new life that NightLight Ministries offers, never having met any of the staff of NightLight themselves. (For more information about NightLight Ministries, visit http://www.nightlightbangkok.com/.)

Annie shared with us many stories of hope, but didn't sugarcoat it. There are also stories of tragedy, stories of fear, and stories of frustration that they can't do more. But God is moving strongly here, opening doors and making it possible for NightLight to reach more young women every year. In fact, when they first began it was with only a handful of women; last year they had 40, today they have 72. Annie and I spoke some during a break about this exponential growth and Annie's dreams for the future of other ways to expand their outreach; one of the cofounders of the ministry who told us to call her "Beng" (because, as she said, most Americans can't pronounce her real Thai name easily!) had also shared with us her dreams as well. Annie, Beng, and the other women who gave birth to this ministry and have been part of its growth don't know the word "enough". It will never be enough--they will be always looking for ways to reach more women and girls, ways to give more women an opportunity for a life of dignity, ways to help more women find their true worth.

NightLight Ministries has now branched out into the U.S.--one of the Year One designated projects of the Break the Chains national mission project of AB Women's Ministries is NightLight USA. Based in Los Angeles, NightLight helps in the distribution of the jewelry that NightLight Bangkok produces--but they're also out on the streets, trying to get to know the neighborhoods of LA, looking for the clues and signposts of trafficking, beginning to lay the groundwork for ministries that may eventually touch the lives of women looking for a way out.

Pray for these ministries--and the many others like them around the world. Trafficking is a global problem--and it is a problem down the street from your own home. Educate yourself--no matter how much (like me) you may have difficulty getting your head around the problem. Talk to the men in your life, in your congregation, anywhere in your sphere of influence, about trafficking, prostitution, and pornography--the triple trident-spears of sexual exploitation and victimization of women and children. This isn't "Pretty Woman"--there isn't a Hollywood happy ending here, nor does any little girl dream of being a prostitute when she grows up. The causes are complex--cultural, economic, political, and more--but if each of us can simply become more aware of the problem and more aware of our own attitudes and assumptions, we've made a start.

Tomorrow we board a plane for Chiang Mai. I've heard rumor I should be able to still have fairly regular Internet access there--so hopefully I'll be able to post again soon. Meanwhile, perhaps the short plane ride to Chiang Mai will give me a little time to process everything I've experienced in Bangkok.