On my shirt, I am wearing a button that says "Day 1 for Joy and Bo". I decided that I am dedicating this month to two girls I met in Pattaya this past summer. One is still in prostitution (most likely) and the other one has the risk to be. I met Joy on a bar outreach with the Tamar Center, an organization that reaches out to prostitutes in Pattaya, Thailand. Every Wednesday and Friday, the staff of the Tamar Center go out to the bars and invite the women to English classes and their training. On the outreach I went on, I got to talk to a woman named Joy. I talked to her for about 40 minutes in Thai, and I really enjoyed getting to know her. I was not able to have an extensive conversation, but I was able to find out quite a bit about her life. Joy is in her mid-20s and has a 7 or 8 year old son. I asked her if how she felt about her job, and she said that she didn't like it, but that she was doing it for the money and to provide for her son. Some say that prostitution is a choice, that the girls choose this lifestyle when they could make money another way. I believe that the problems are so much bigger, and there are many factors that are driving her into this industry. In a lot of ways, it doesn't seem like she has much of a choice at all.
Bo is a teenage girl who lives in one of the slums that Pattaya Slum Ministries visits. I connected with her a lot when I was there. I remembered one of my favorite days when the after-school kids club was cancelled because it was raining and the kids still came to the PSM center. Bo grabbed my hand and we ran around to various places in the neighborhood. Bo stopped going to school a couple of months ago and still has not returned. When girls are not in school, it is more likely for them to get into the wrong crowd and start prostituting themselves. I am fervently praying that this does not happen for Bo. One thing on her side is that she does continue to go to the PSM clubs, where she learns about God and his love for her. The staff of PSM are investing in her life, and she has friends who know Jesus.
I know that God hears my prayers for these two girls, and he is powerful enough to pull them out of a life of prostitution. I am thankful for the ways he is saving other women from this life through organizations like the Tamar Center and Pattaya Slum Ministries. I am praying for the redeeming and restoring to continue. Please join me in prayer for Joy, Bo, and many other women who are in a life that they don't deserve.
29 days starts today. I'm pumped!
I am standing by some pictures of my favorite people in Pattaya, including Bo and Joy. =)
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