|
|
|
 |
|
| Stories & Updates |
The Life of a Child Sex Slave - Posted 09/06/2007
Remember Nhu: What agape love looks like - Posted 09/06/2007
Our trip to Cambodia in October 2006 (by Kelita) - Posted 09/06/2007
Forgiveness: A performer (Kelita) finds the secret to real freedom (PDF) - Posted 09/06/2007
Girl, 6, embodies Cambodia's sex industry (from CNN.com) - Posted 01/29/2007
|
| The Life of a Child Sex Slave |
By Lisa Cheong, Ratanak Foundation Representative, Toronto
 Who will be the modern day William Wilberforce in our generation that will speak up for the modern day slavery of child sex slaves? This is a question I ask myself. God let us not sit silent and by our silence perpetuate the evil that is done to children who You have created in Your image. I attach a recent true story of a young girl whose life epitomizes the struggle and suffering of so many in Cambodia and around the world who are enduring such pain and suffering. Let us not grow complacent in believing that our hands are tied that we cannot respond to this atrocity that is taking place in our life time. God desires us to speak up for these. Let us press on to do that by beginning to bring awareness to this issue where ever we are. With God all things are possible! Do we believe that He can end child sex slavery? I am convinced that the battle is long but the battle can be won because He who is in us is greater than he that is in this world. Will you join me and many others to take a stand against this injustice?
Dalyn, 17, was once among the thousands of young children working as prostitutes in Cambodia. Now living in a shelter, this is her disturbing account of being a child sex slave.
Betrayed
I was living with my grandfather in Cambodia. As a normal, happy child I did not fear anything. Then, at 12 years old, a woman asked me whether I would like to work at a garment factory. I agreed and went with her. But she sold me to the owner of a brothel in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. I felt betrayed and cheated. I thought I was going to find work. I never thought I was going to be sold like that. There were lots of other boys and girls at the brothel. I overheard two pimps bargaining and heard one of them say my price was $150 (£78). My heart sank and I started asking myself where the hell had I ended up.
Intimidation
I saw many couples coming in and out of the rooms. From that moment on, I knew something was seriously wrong. I was frightened and desperately wanted to ask the children what kind of place this was. A group of men came into my room and told me to receive a client. I asked what I was supposed to do. They told me: "Don't worry, you'll know what to do. And if you don't, you'll do it until you do." I refused but they told me to shut up and said that "one way or the other" I was going to have to do as they say. They dragged me out of the room and I screamed and called out for help. They put a gun to my head. I pleaded for my life, telling them this wasn't the work I had been led to believe I would be doing. But the brothel owner said: "You didn't follow anyone here. You're here of your own free will. You are a prostitute and you came here looking to work as a prostitute." I said: "I'm young and I have my future ahead of me. Please don't make me do something like this."
Starved
But then he said I would be shot if I refused. He ordered in a group of men carrying electric cables. I cried and screamed out for help but nobody came. They starved me until I agreed to go with clients. I was locked in a cage with others underneath the brothel for entire days. I was only ever allowed out when a client came. Some clients were considerate and quite kind. Others were not. If I refused to perform particular sex acts, clients would beat me up and report me to the brothel owner.
The brothel owner would also beat me and tell the other girls in the brothel to beat me too. The psychological impact was horrendous. It lives with me even to this day. When it finally dawned on me that I was a prostitute, I felt a sense of utter disgust. I had become the very thing I most despised. It is slavery of the worst kind. They have total power over you - they get you to do anything they want. You feel like dirt and there is nothing you can do except follow orders. You could end up dead.
Rescue
I was scared right up until the brothel owner was arrested. Then I realised that we were being rescued. We were rescued by the police and the AFESIP, an organisation whose founder, Somaly Man, is a former child sex slave and famous figure in Cambodia. I was so relieved and happy. I do not know what the future will bring. I feel it is my obligation to tell everyone that they should do everything they can to prevent themselves and others going through prostitution and all the things I had to go through. By the end of it, you will end up lower then you can ever imagine... in hell.
Back to top
|
| Remember Nhu: What agape love looks like |
By Carl Ralston, Founder of the Remember Nhu Foundation
“Remember Nhu,” God spoke quietly to my heart.
I was listening to C&MA missionary Rick Drummond at a missions conference in Thailand in November 2003. He spoke about a 12-year-old girl who accepted Jesus as her Saviour, was baptized and started sharing her faith publicly. Her family would not feed her when she went to church, so her church family stepped in and cared for her. But when the Drummond's left for the United States on a medical furlough, this young lady’s family sold her to a brothel to be used as a sex slave.
As soon as Drummond told the group what had happened to this sister in Christ, God whispered to my heart what He wanted from my life. As His Spirit breathed “Remember Nhu,” I committed to do everything within my power and to use every talent and treasure God had given me to make sure that the use of children in the sex trade would stop.
Haven of Hope
Since that conference three years ago, my wife, Laurie, and I established the Remember Nhu Foundation to help children along the Mekong River in Cambodia. Like Nhu, most are Vietnamese refugees with few options in life. It is estimated that 70 percent of these children are sold into the sex trade. Learning how to help them has been a long process.
In 2006, I met with several people, including representatives from the C&MA, to develop plans for a training/learning/life-skills home—Haven of Hope—to help girls escape the sex trade. The Drummond's recommended that CoAi, a woman they know well, run the home and help set up businesses to give the children and their parents vocational training. The first home opened in January 2007, and we hope to open two more this year.
We returned to Cambodia later in 2006 to interview 22 girls whose parents told them they must quit school and earn money for the family. One of the few jobs open to these children is collecting trash to recycle for US$10–$20 per month. But without intervention most of the girls would be sold to brothels.
The girls’ stories are tragic: some have parents who are addicted to alcohol or gambling, and others’ parents are terminally ill, have abandoned them or are deceased. We were able to offer scholarships to all of the girls.
When can I start?
On one of our fact-finding trips, I called Trang, the woman who had led Nhu to Christ, and asked her to set up an early meeting with Nhu, who works in a hair and nail salon from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. The next day CoAi, Charles Harvey (a member of our advisory board) and I went to a diner at 7 a.m. to meet the namesake of the Remember Nhu Foundation. As we waited, it became 7:10... then 7:15... then 7:20. Nhu had forgotten about our meeting and was away when Trang went to get her. But just when I thought Nhu was not coming, I saw her at the front door.
I told Nhu about the home we planned to open to help prevent children from being sold into slavery and asked her how much she earned working seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Nhu said she made $70 per month in wages and $30 in tips. I asked Nhu to consider teaching personal hygiene, nails, hairdressing and life skills in the home and explained that she would receive medical care, two meals a day, her own bedroom if she wanted it and a salary of $100 per month. I told her she would learn English in the morning, be spiritually mentored by CoAi and would work only Monday through Friday.
During this conversation, Nhu had kept her head down and did not look at me, as is the custom in Cambodia. When she realized we were offering her a job, she swung her head up with a gleam in her eye and joy on her face.
“Well, what do you think? Will you work for us?” I asked.
“Can I ask one question?” she queried.
“Sure.”
“When can I start?” Nhu said.
At that moment every bit of energy left me. I had begged and cried out to the Lord on behalf of Nhu more than for anything else in my 15 years of being a Christian. I am sure I have shed gallons of tears and prayed hundreds, if not thousands, of hours and asked others to do the same.
And here was the first fruit of those cries to God: on September 19, 2006, at a diner in Cambodia, Nhu became the first official employee of Remember Nhu!
Christmas in Cambodia
Laurie and I had the opportunity to develop a relationship with Nhu during subsequent visits to Cambodia. We had been praying for her so intensely that we felt like she had become our adopted daughter. Since her mom and dad had abandoned her before she was a year old, we believe that the time we spent with Nhu was probably her first experience of parental love.
In November 2006, Laurie and I asked Nhu to help us shop for gifts for “our daughter.” We spent four hours with Nhu as she picked out stylish clothes, shoes and jewellery. Nhu asked CoAi, “Why do they buy so much for their daughter? They must love her a lot.”
The next morning we explained to Nhu that each year we give our daughter one major gift at Christmas. Since we had missed Nhu’s first 17 Christmases, we were going to celebrate them today, so she had 18 gifts to open!
I wish everyone who has prayed for Nhu could have seen her face when she opened the first gift, a pair of gray dress slacks. Her face lit up as she realized that when she had taken us shopping for “our daughter,” we meant her, our Vietnamese daughter! After opening all of her gifts, Nhu tearfully told CoAi that no one had ever done anything like that for her before.
Home of Darkness
Because Nhu would be taking these presents home with her, we thought we should go and meet her grandmother. After the Sunday evening service, CoAi, Nhu, C&MA missionary Debbie Vik, Laurie and I traveled to a village of shacks where Nhu has lived since she was one year old.
Nhu’s grandmother met us at the door and invited us in. The home consisted of wooden planks with many gaps, a roof of green tarp and a fl floor of dirt and a little vinyl. There were two rooms of about six feet by eight feet, with a total of about 100 square feet of living space for Nhu, her grandmother, two uncles, an aunt and nieces and nephews. They all slept in one of the tiny rooms.
A shrine to idols filled one wall of the living room. I was stunned by the spiritual darkness that permeated the home. In my moment of shock, Nhu’s grandmother asked if we were upset that she worshiped idols. Seeing where Nhu has spent the last 17 years gave me great respect for her courage in accepting Jesus as her Saviour. Nhu had taken a stand against the demon worship that surrounded her and then had to survive the evil of the sex trade. We truly can do all things through Jesus.
Our Favorite Hug
During our trip Laurie and I were blessed with the opportunity to talk, eat, shop, brainstorm, laugh and cry with Nhu. Normally, one of my favourite moments in Cambodia is the feeling of the jet wheels lifting off the ground to take me home! But this time it was different: we all realized it was time to say good-bye to Nhu.
Nhu put her head on Laurie’s shoulder and gave her a long hug. Then it was time for me to say goodbye. After choking back tears, I said that we felt like we were leaving our hearts behind. I told Nhu that it hurt to leave because she truly felt like a daughter.
I told CoAi that in the United States, I give my daughter a “side hug,” which I demonstrated on Laurie. I asked CoAi to ask Nhu if I could give her this kind of good-bye hug. Nhu said, “Yes.” I stepped toward Nhu, and she plunged her head into my chest and wrapped both of her arms around me. I kissed the top of her head and asked CoAi to tell Nhu that Laurie and I loved her deeply and wanted her to always follow Jesus. Those hugs were worth more to Laurie and me than anything we have ever owned.
In His great love for us, the Lord uses our life experiences and even our weaknesses to show His strength and to bless His children. During the last three years, many people have cried out to Jesus and given and served and fought for our sister Nhu. I feel that He’s made it all worthwhile in a simple hug.
In that moment, I experienced what I think agape love feels like.
Link to original article
Carl Ralston is the founder of the Remember Nhu Foundation, which ministers to children at risk of human trafficking. He and his wife, Laurie, attend Living Hope Alliance Church in East Canton, Ohio.
Update...
I was so excited to read this story because in late August of 2006 during our trip to Cambodia all of the women on the team actually visited Nhu several times, in the salon where she worked, without her knowing it. As we had our hair and nails done she was there working with other clients. We went only to pray for her while she worked. The pampering was just a bonus! We had heard all about Nhu through Brian McConaghy of Ratanak. In fact she is the Nhu as in NewSong.
Nhu is no longer working at the salon but is now helping other girls who have been rescued from the sex trade and is learning English. She is working with an Alliance church ministry program. There is an organization actually named after her called "Remember Nhu."
Back to top
|
| Our trip to Cambodia in October 2006 |
By Kelita Haverland, Director & Founder of Heavenly Night
It is just over 6 weeks that we returned from our trip to Cambodia. The whole experience was even more than we could have ever imagined. It was a life enriching experience that will be forever etched on our hearts and in our minds. Unfortunately I have to say that the country is one of the darkest, saddest and most evil places I have ever visited. There were so many times I had to restrain myself from just weeping outwardly. Coming home I questioned the lifestyle that I had been born into. Why them and not me?
The poverty in Cambodia is everywhere. It is in your face at every turn, on every corner. Every place the eye can see. The corruption of the government is a hard cold fact. AIDS is growing and spreading quickly leaving many sick and dying. There are still 10 million land mines. The child sex trade is rampant- people selling their own children out of poverty and out of greed. Prostitution is a way of life even for the locals. Foreigners prey on these naive and desperate people. Human life is not valued as we know it. It is literally another world. To come face to face with this reality does have an impact on so many levels. The entire time I was there I felt a heaviness that was only compounded by the oppressive humidity and heat.
We did however see the hand of God there too and that was the only thing that revealed any kind of hope to us. During our trip we visited many places where Christians are working along side of the people of Cambodia. Guiding them, educating, loving, feeding and clothing them, and teaching them about Jesus and His love for them. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS IN A VERY DARK PLACE.
Here are a few we visited...
Marie Ens from Saskatchewan is 72 years old and runs an orphanage and AIDS Centre called "Place of Rescue. What an amazing work she does there and has for years. We visited this place and immediately fell in love with the beautiful children. This was Keldon's favourite stop on the trip. I think the kids enjoyed having him there too. He gave them several sets of hockey mini sticks and wore them all out with their new game! This place touched Gord's heart as well, as one young boy became rather fond of him and stayed close by his side throughout the day. The team prayed for all of the people with AIDS. Gord and I were both sick that day which was a huge disappointment to me but Keldon went and did his thing with the boys!
CCAM - Cambodian Christian Arts Ministry, run by two Christian women was another orphanage we had the privilege of visiting and watching them perform. These former street kids and gang members had the poise and manners like I've never seen. We presented the 46 children of all ages with some beautifully knit dolls we took over which were donated by some women in Toronto. These kids LOVED this simple gift and were so appreciative. Even the boys!!
Chab Dai run by Helen Sworn is an organization supported by Ratanak with a coalition of 20 Christian NGOs that seek to end sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Cambodia. Chab Dai has developed an innovative project in rural areas of Cambodia to increase awareness and education of sexual abuse and trafficking, through a training program for churches. Because foreigners are going into smaller villages and preying upon families in order to get to their children there is such a need to educate those in the rural areas. Through this organization pastors are being educated and are helping with current cases in their communities. This has had such an impact that now the Village and Commune Chiefs are going to be attending training provided. It is through programs like this that God is transforming communities and empowering His people to fight on behalf of those who are oppressed.
The day we visited with Helen, Gord and Keldon were taken out of town to visit a male and female prison. The ministry leader told Gord his testimony as he drove them there. He had been a former policeman who was very corrupt but now through this ministry more than half of the prisoners had been converted.
"NewSong” project otherwise known as The Agape Restoration Centre and run by AIM4ASIA was where I was really longing to visit during our trip. The girls that live here are those who have experienced the 'worst of the worst' having been sexually exploited, tortured and abused in ways that we can never imagine. Some of them have STDs and are HIV infected. But here at the centre, each of them is being restored to a life of dignity, their hearts, minds and souls transformed through various lessons, counselling, and the powerful, healing message that God loves each of them.
This is what God had prepared me for. It was because of the piece I saw on TV only 9 months earlier that I was even in Cambodia. Now here I was! Because of the very tight security only 2 members of our 8 person team were allowed to visit the centre which had just opened before our arrival in August. I was very grateful to be one! Lisa and I spent about 3 hours in total at the centre. Before meeting with the 16 girls ages 10-17 we prayed throughout all their bedrooms, common room, healing arts room, counselling room ,dining hall and for their house mothers.
The directors of the centre were very busy ( and gracious) so they allowed us to spend a lot of time on our own with the girls. The young teacher was able to be our translator which was wonderful. Looking into the eyes of those girls and being able to sing to them was so precious for me. After I finished singing my "Caged Bird" song, Bella, who could speak some English - looked over at me and said "You make me cry". I knew that the song had touched the girls as they were all quiet. As I sang "Amazing Love" I asked them to sing along and wow- they didn't hold back. Then we all sang "Jesus Loves Me" together.
I told them about my life growing up and the losses and abuse and encouraged them to feel their pain and not keep anything inside. I told them that God had given me the gift to write music and sing and that they needed to find something for themselves that could help to express their own pain. I told them that God had sent me there especially just to sing for them because He loved them. I told them that He had healed so much of my pain and that He could heal theirs too. I could only begin to imagine the depths of their own experiences. They all told us their names, new ones that they had chosen. They seemed excited that we were interested in knowing. And then we asked if we could pray for them. With that they all bowed their heads and folded their hands. It was as if they were all 5 years old wanting to please. So subservient. So obedient. It was a God appointed time. After this we then went down to a small swimming pool where they played and swam. We just hung out with them and enjoyed their smiles and giggles. There were some hugs when we had to say good- bye. I held back the tears. I was leaving a piece of my heart there with them. I knew that some of them would make it but not all would.
At every place we visited we took time to pray with these Godly and dedicated missionaries. I know that God used our prayers to encourage them and show His love for them. What a privilege that was. I have the utmost respect for these people.
Please...
- Pray for these girls and boys and for ALL the people that God has called to make a difference in some very dark places of this world.
- Be thankful for the rich country that we live in and our democratic government.
- Pray that God would break your heart with the things that break HIS and then... make that thing a part of your life!
Back to top |
|
|
|
