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Global Urban Trek 2008
Red Lights and LeftoversJuly 7, 2008
On Sunday we had our first American team time.
We got together for 24 hours with all the Bangkok team from the three different sites for the first time since orientation. We enjoyed a great dinner at a nice restaurant and got to relax for a bit.
That night was the first time most of us experienced the Red Light District of Bangkok. Walking down Patpong, we watched as young Thai women danced up and down poles with deadened faces – prostitution was sucking life from them.
Every step we walked, people tried to get us to come in for a show. They offered cheap alcohol and no cover charge. Everywhere, Westerners were being pulled in to have cheap sex and fly back home, keeping it a secret.
It disgusted me. I couldn’t handle knowing these women were trapped in such an environment because people from my country are driving the industry that is shutting them in. After discussing the walk with my team, we concluded the sex industry is a result of a broken world with broken people. The customers are broken, the workers are broken, the pimps are broken and the governments are broken.
These people don’t need judgment from me, nor do they need us to turn away and act like we don’t know what’s happening; they need prayer. They need to know there is better life and hope offered in Christ.
We have returned to our sites, and this week has been a whole lot easier here at Baan Chivit Mai. We’ve grown much closer to the children here as well as the adults we work with. My host mother, Pa Eow, has even become comfortable with teaching us hard lessons.
One night, my team/roommate Leitia and I bought fried pork to eat for dinner and left the fat out to throw it away. With the little English she knows and the little Thai we know, Pa Eow told us that in Thailand, food is very expensive even if in America it doesn’t seem like a lot of money.
She proceeded to use our Thai/English dictionary to find a word and I knew what was coming. She found the Thai word for “to be ashamed” and pointed to it. Leitia and I don’t know if she meant to use that harsh of a word, but we got the point. There are hungry people in this world, people who can’t afford to be picky, healthy eaters, who would fight to have our leftovers. Leitia and I sat quietly, convicted.
From those few words I learned that while in Thailand, healthy eating is a privilege that we may be called to set aside to truly engage in this community. We have a lot to learn about being resourceful from our host families and when we say our grace, we need seriously thank God for our food – a simple yet profound lesson I don’t think I can forget.
- Jessica
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