God continues blessing AIM in great ways by providing outstanding people to serve  with us.  Laura Linner is the latest example.  The following formal announcement gives you some of the details, but sadly cannot reveal her heart for Christ and the girls she serves.  Please join me in welcoming Laura and praying for her as she prepares to take on this new challenge.

Agape International Missions (AIM) welcomes Laura Linner as the new Director of Rahab’s House Community Center in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Agape International Missions has fought sex trafficking with projects in Cambodia since 2006. Their first Community Center project, Rahab’s House Svay Pak (RHSP), began in 2007 by building relationships and meeting needs within the community of Svay Pak which had been ravaged by child sex trafficking in brothels. The result was an unprecedented transformation of the community.
Successful expansion into the city of Siem Reap with a new Rahab’s House community center began in late 2011 by AIM volunteer American staff, Steve and Lygia Gherebean. Instead of children held in brothels, sex trafficking in Siem Reap is perpetuated in the Karaoke Bars where young women are chosen and then taken off the premises. In many ways, this method is more psychologically traumatic because the bondage is more difficult for the women to see and escape.
According to Ms. Linner, “Rahab’s House Siem Reap aims to create an environment where victims can be saturated with the presence of Jesus that can bring healing and hope.”
Laura has a degree in social work from Bethel University in her home state, Minnesota. She spent the last year working in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, teaching English and doing outreach at Rahab’s House Svay Pak.
“My heart truly connected with the children and young women coming out of this horrific situation when I held the hand of a traumatized girl and realized I could have been her,” she said. “We are not intrinsically different. Yes, we have had different experiences but we are both daughters of the King, created to know Him and know who we are in Him.”
She will be overseeing staff for counseling, education and outreach at Rahab’s House Siem Reap.

Question From a Rescued Victim of Child Sex Traficking

This week has been a great one as weeks go, that is when it comes to rescuing victims of child sex trafficking in Svay Pak, Cambodia.  Two from a brothel, one from a karaoke club, and one from a virgin sale.  We thank God for the success He gave us.  One of the rescued victims had a question for me…"What is the vision for your ministry in Cambodia?  All the foreign men we know come to hurt Cambodian girls, not help them."

Her question and statement reflect the intelligence, courage, and resilience of these horribly abused girls.  And sadly they are a reflection on we men.  Foreign men in Cambodia, men around the world, it's time for us to choose whom we will serve. To quote Bob Dylan…

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks


But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

Please pray for the restoration of these girls, that the actions of foreign men in Cambodia will change girls'  perception of us, and for me that in the hundreds of choices I make each day I choose to serve the Lord.

IMAGINE...

Imagine self-sustaining employment that brings hope and removes the stigma from survivors of sex trafficking in Cambodia.  

Today’s garment factory workers in Cambodia work ten hours a day, six or seven days a week, earning about $60 a month.  Not enough to support themselves, let alone meet their cultural responsibility to help support aging parents and younger siblings.  

Imagine a factory where the girls work five, eight hour days a week.  And of those eight hours, one and a half are spent in academic studies.  A factory where every worker receives health insurance.  A factory where workers earn between $150 and $200 a month.  

Imagine no more, it’s a coming reality.  Check out the video below and see how it’s happening...

The Road from Victim to Victory

On a recent trip to the state of Washington we were blessed to hear a poem written by a young women that very accurately expresses the feelings of a sex trafficking victim become victor.  Please share this moving poem that brings both awareness and hope...

"In A City With No Hope" 

     by Linzie Joerres

 "There's a girl who's all alone

in a city with no hope

All around her, girls are dying,

she sees it and she's crying

'cause it all started with their trying

to find a better world than the ones they'd always known.

She sits alone on the damp floor in the looming dark.

Her face has gotten hard and dull and painfully stark.

Her heart is growing cold here

as she fights the fear of growing old here,

forever trapped here in these walls, in this cage.

She fights the rage.

She was lied to and deceived

by the hope of something more.

She was tricked into believing

that there was something worth fighting for.

The woman and man,

they opened up their hands to her,

promised life to her dreams,

made her think that these things

were obtainable, reachable,

but as she reached, the shackles came down on her hands,

and all of her plans

went up in smoke as they forced her to smoke

to get her addicted.

Her life thus far has been depicted as

Pain.

All of her life's gains

are now worthless, pointless.

There's no point to her life,

in her darkness there's no light,

but in spite of the disappointment and pain,

stepping out of doubt's rain,

one flame of hope is sparked

inside her heart

and her mind starts spinning.

Maybe there's a chance of winning

the freedom she's been longing for, striving for, dying for, grasping,

Now she's clasping the hands of a man who's faceless, nameless, 9th man today,

meaningless in this seemingly endless display of insanity.

She's trying to keep her sanity as he's screaming profanities at her

because she doesn't please him.

She doesn't want to appease him

'cause she's frightened

that it will bite her, too,

this bug that's killing the others,

but it doesn't bother

or concern the man who's plan is just satisfaction

from her actions.

He doesn't have to use protection,

there's no protection for this girl in a city

where no one's going to pity her, save her.

She's got no saviour,

just accusers who want to use her

as an object for their pleasure.

She doesn't know that she's really a treasure

that should be guarded, secured, protected.

There's no protection for this girl in a city with no hope.

Her body

 is racked with pain

from thousands of beatings

Scars eating

away at her soul and her back

reminders of the lashes received

When she fought back

rolling and thrashing

around on the floor.

Now weak

She can’t fight this war anymore

She’s trying to think rationally, to think clearly,

But clearly, she’s become

A casualty

There's a knock at the door,

she gets up from the floor,

bracing herself for more.

She wishes it were over and done,

man number 12, the day's barely begun.

But this man doesn't have the same look in his eyes

as all the men who had come before,

all who shared a similar guise, before.

This man stretched out his hand

not to condemn her or harm her,

but to disarm her doubt.

He told her he wasn't there about that.

He was there to save her,

to be her Saviour,

to show her a hope she had never known before.

She falls to the ground in shock and disbelief,

so afraid that once again she's being deceived.

He picks her up off the floor

where she fell down,

then walks out the door,

his voice in her ear

drowns out

all her fears and insecurities.

She finally has security and protection

because this bold man took action.

For her sake, he put his life at stake,

and for once in her life of trying and striving,

she's now thriving,

experiencing freedom and a life of HOPE."

WHY DO I WORRY ABOUT POSTING PEDOPHILE PICTURES?

I only have one worry about posting pedophile pictures.  That worry is based upon the fact that we do it sporadically.  And the reason we only do it sporadically is that it is very difficult to get a good picture.  It’s not due to the lack of opportunity, foreign pedophiles come to Svay Pak daily shopping for children to abuse.  The difficulty is getting the picture of someone who does all he can not to be photographed.  So as you look at the picture below please remember dozens of men like him come shopping in Svay Pak every week.  And please pray for the success of our Cambodian staff as they are making a huge difference as fewer and fewer pedophiles are finding shopping in Svay Pak successful.

Encouragement from Dr. Rebecca Johnson, PhD.

Someone told me there are now over 200 anti-trafficking organizations in the USA alone, then quickly added, “and most of those are awareness raising only”.  In the midst of the explosion of anti-human trafficking organizations, how do we distinguish the dreamers from the doers, the good from the good intentions? 

            Don’s Blog this week is being (politely) hijacked. After being a short-term volunteer with AIM the past 5+ years (7 trips) and being here in Cambodia these past few weeks, I wanted to briefly share some thoughts.

            In recent years I have had the privilege of serving, both in the USA and abroad, with numerous agencies fighting against modern day slavery.  While each organization has its strengths, I am an enthusiastic cheerleader for Agape International Mission. 

            “Jesus moved into the neighborhood” is how a friend described AIM’s involvement in Svay Pak.  AIM’s work in restoration of the sex trafficked and in community and national transformation (education, health care, training, children’s programs, evangelism discipleship and more), is bringing the light and love of Jesus into unimaginable dark places of lust, greed, abuse, torture, poverty and slavery.  AIM is providing practical assistance as well as God’s message of hope to many, many despairing people. AIM IS making a difference.

            I recently wrote about AIM to some friends, “This is a front-lines, genuine, “doing-it” ministry, where the leadership doesn’t limit God, is humble, God-dependent, and every penny is wisely spent.”   This brief statement coveys my observations and sentiments – AIM is a quality, God-honoring organization.  (Dr. Becca Johnson, 12/14/11)

           

What Are They Thinking?

I have spent two of the last three weeks in Siem Reap, Cambodia.   It is there we are opening a new Rahab's House, but more about that in future blogs.  What I want to write about today is the experiences I had over those two weeks, and what they seem to revealed about those who benefit from the sexual exploitation of children.  Both of these experiences took place in five-star hotels along the main street in Siem Reap.

 The first involves 2 Western men somewhere between the ages of 45 and 55.  Every morning for five days these men would bring to the breakfast buffet 2 teenage Cambodian girls they had purchased to use as sex toys while they vacationed in Cambodia.  Each day as they arrived the men would be laughing and joking, all smiles.  However, the girls worked very hard not to make eye contact with anyone in the restaurant, but when that eye contact was made their eyes revealed deep shame.  That shame would grow every time the men tried to hug and kiss the girls.  But the men seemed to feel no shame at all, and absolutely no concern for the shame of the girls.  I wondered what are they thinking?

The second incident occurred in the lobby of the other five-star hotel.  I was standing there talking with friends when a Western man in his 60’s walked through with a teenage Cambodian girl.  Holding onto the girl’s arm he took her to the elevator and up to his room.  Certain that a hotel as nice as this would not put up with such nonsense I went to the front desk and explained what had happened.  To my surprise the front desk clerk said, “It’s okay sir.  The lady paid her $20.”  I relied, “What do you mean?”  She answered, “Our our hotel has a very strict policy about the ladies.  If the gentleman wants to bring a lady to his room the lady must pay $20.  You see it is okay sir because the lady paid $20.”

Is it that simple?  I'm beginning to believe it is.  Those who benefit from the sexual exploitation of children simply think it’s okay.  And the only thing that will change that thinking is a transformed heart…a heart that allows one to see others through the eyes of Christ.

Note:  Efforts to confront the men while not in the presence of the girls were unsuccessful.  But we’ve not given up.  To the contrary we are just getting started.