Praying for Children at Risk: Sex Trade

Praying for Children at Risk: Sex Trade


Adapted from "Children at risk in the 10/40 Window," Global Prayer Digest, January 2001.

Forced Prostitution in Thailand
Thailand means "Land of the Free," but there is no freedom for Thailand's one million prostitutes, of which 80 percent are under the age of 16. Many are as young as eight.

Destitute parents are often promised that a rich couple who cannot have children will educate and care for a child in their home. The truth is, this child is sold to a brothel and is forced into prostitution. A huge debt is posted to her account and she must work until the account is paid in full. These are children without hope or a future. Time magazine tells us 50 percent of Thai child prostitutes are HIV positive. Others estimate that number to be as high as 80 percent.

The Thai people are almost all Buddhists, and very few ever find the Savior. Ironically, their Buddhist faith, which emphasizes celibacy as a spiritual virtue, has not affected their daily lives.

Father, deliver these little ones! Make it possible for Thai children, sold into bondage, to be set free. Convict corrupt leaders who protect the large sex industry that hold children in such slavery. Provide a way for believers to reach them with the love of Jesus and the total freedom He offers to all that follow Him.-MH

Operation Rescue
Operation Rescue has become a reality! Thai girls under the age of 15 are being brought out of lives of forced prostitution into a life of hope, dignity, and respect. But more importantly, their lives are being transformed through new life in Jesus Christ.

World Missions Far Corners, Inc., with cooperation from the Voice of Peace radio programming, and a concerned women's group, have established a foundation for the purpose of placing rescued girls into a home with other girls, where a Christian couple serves as foster parents. There they are loved and mentored as they are taught a trade. An added praise: Within that concerned women's group are 20 retired school teachers who are very familiar with the educational system, especially in the area of need in giving help to these rescued girls. When the girls are rehabilitated and are old enough to make their own way, they are supplied with the necessary tools to get them started and give them an opportunity to support themselves.

Father, we thank You for Operation Rescue. Encourage prayer partners to be faithful in upholding this ministry of salvaging young lives for Your glory. Give each of the reclaimed a joyful and radiant new life in Christ that will draw other Thai people to You.-MH

The Case of Cambodia
The two men stood in the shadowy door of a popular brothel in the heart of Phnom Penh's red light district. Five hundred dollars was exchanged. This was not the fee for one night with a prostitute. This "fortune" was paid to redeem a young girl's life from prostitution. The same horrible patterns of Thailand also apply to neighboring Cambodia.

But God is opening a better way, and there is new hope. Seten Lee's organization, Kampuchea for Christ, received a generous gift from the US, providing funds to build a home for these girls on a plot of land close to Phnom Penh. It will provide housing, food, counseling, and vocational training for these girls as they leave their degrading lives of prostitution.

Though less than one percent of Khmer people are Christians, and the vast majority follow Buddhism, groups like Kampuchea for Christ are showing that Christ offers a better way.

We thank You, Jesus, for paying the price to redeem us from a life of sin and eternal separation from You. Use Kampuchea for Christ to redeem the lives of thousands of innocent Khmer girls.-JS/PD

Nepal
"Look in their eyes." Anuradha Koirala said to a group of policemen in Birnanagar, Nepal. "These girls think they are going to get jobs in India, but they become prisoners in tiny windowless rooms where they service dozens of men each day. I was a prisoner in one of those rooms for 13 months. God has not only made our eyes to see those who are suffering, but He also made our hands to serve them. This is how we can meet the challenge to stop flesh trade in Nepal." Anuradha Koirala has been named "The Mother Theresa of Nepal" for her tremendous efforts to stop sex trade.

A US-based non-government organization in Nepal has estimated that every year some 40,000 women and girls are abducted or falsely lured into forced sexual slavery, primarily for the brothels of Mumbai, India. The sex trade falls into two categories. One is that in which the family sells the girls; in the other the young girls are lured by false job offers.

Lord, may these suffering girls know You as their Savior and Comforter. May the flesh trade in Nepal be stopped. Protect Mother Koirala so she can continue to rescue those being led to spiritual slaughter.-PD