How To Free A Sex Slave – Part II

December 12, 2012 / Erin Kirk / 3 Comments

Yesterday I posted about Sarah – a 15-year-old victim of sexual slavery in SE Asia. It was our second highest page-view day ever, and we are almost halfway to funding a raid on a brothel with The Exodus Road partners. Thank you!

Twenties are the denomination of the day. Will you take one out of your pocket and help us fight the fact that every 60 seconds a child is sold for sex worldwide?

Which brings me to a question that has been bugging me since we started this.

Q – Why is there a supply of child sex slaves to begin with?

A – Because there is a demand for sex with children.

Aaaaaarrgggggghhhhhhhhhh.

So, is anybody prosecuting men who solicit prostitution? Why do some people decry that, as unnecessary government intrusion into commodity transaction between consenting adults? But who ensures the consenting part? Who ensures the adult part? Is this really a “victimless crime?” What’s the relationship between prostitution and human trafficking of women and children?

Tomorrow’s post will get a little sticky, especially for those fellas who believe prostitutes happily trade their bodies for money. Do you believe that? Tune in tomorrow.

Sarah’s Rescue…

Several weeks ago, the team of investigators The Exodus Road helps fund, engaged the local government in Cambodia to raid Sarah’s brothel.

It was a collective effort of several NGO’s, two of which work with The Exodus Road, and several government and police agencies. It was a professional operation, spearheaded chiefly by our lead investigator. It took three days and resulted in the discovery of 8 underage victims and the arrests of the brothel owners.

After weeks of waiting, Sarah’s door was kicked in. The note she scribbled to the investigator on a piece of currency which said, “Please rescue me,” finally got answered.

And while it did require more time, money, and manpower than first assumed, the team pursued Sarah’s freedom with tenacity.

After her rescue, Sarah was transferred to a government facility, but The Exodus Road coalition kept lobbying for her. Now, Sarah and other victims rescued from the brothel, are being transferred to an after-care facility in The Exodus Road network. There, they will receive counseling, rehabilitation, education and therapy. They are welcome to stay there while they decide whether or not to return to their home countries….

So yes people, it’s painstaking. It can be slow. It’s expensive and it’s heartbreaking, but it’s working. Sarah by Sarah, it’s working.

Will you help rescue more Sarahs today?

How To Free A Sex Slave. Part 1

December 11, 2012 / Erin Kirk / 2 Comments

This is the story of a real 15-year-old girl, sold into sexual slavery in SE Asia. Part one, today, is about her. Part two, tomorrow, is about the coalition of investigators, NGO’s, and volunteers working through The Exodus Road to free her and eight others.

We have raised more than 30% of our $1400 goal to fund a brothel raid. Thank you! We have exactly two weeks left. I know every charity in the world is asking for money right now, but if it moves you that there are more slaves now than at any other time in human history, jump in with a ten, twenty or a hundred and become a part of the solution.

We met Sarah in a brothel in Cambodia.

There was a line of prostitutes behind a glass wall, a fishbowl they call it. They were sitting on high bar stools, with heavy make-up and short skirts, numbers pinned to their shoulders, displayed for the customers on the other side of the glass.

And then, they brought in Sarah. She was “fresh,” the pimp had told our lead investigator over the phone. Sarah was dressed in street clothes, head down, hands fiddling nervously with a napkin. She was 15 and had been sold by her mother in a neighboring country several days before to work off a debt which her mother owed. Sarah’s virginity had been sold three days prior for $600 USD.

Sarah could not speak the local language, was kept under close watch daily, and had no access to a cell phone or any communication from the outside world. She had been slipped illegally across borders by a system of traffickers that has become a global highway of modern day slaves.

With covert cameras, our investigators were able to record the sale of Sarah for the night, capturing valuable evidence that could be passed on to the trusted authorities in hopes of the pimp’s prosecution. Later, behind a closed door, our operative was able to call a social worker who spoke Sarah’s language. He explained that he was there to help her, not to hurt her, and that he could aid her escape if she wanted. Unfortunately, Sarah was too scared to run, too scared to trust a stranger, understandably.

The following day, our investigator returned to visit Sarah in the brothel, just blocks away from a crowded local market. She scribbled a note, “Please Rescue Me,” on a bill and slipped it to him.

She wanted out, but didn’t know the way.

Immediately, our investigator gave his testimony and video evidence to the authorities and asked the government to conduct a raid on Sarah’s behalf. It was believed that 10 or more girls were also being held against their wills at the same brothel where we found Sarah.

Want to find out what happened? Donate $20 to the non-profit Exodus Road and tune in tomorrow.

You Can Feel Jesus In Your Bones.

December 8, 2012December 9, 2012 / Erin Kirk / 2 Comments

I read a story once about how a woman, who was deaf from birth, listened to music.

She would turn a record up really loud and place her hands on the speakers, until she could feel the vibrations move into her chest and overtake her body. The rhythms would eventually articulate and she could fill in the melody with her mind.

Knowing Jesus Christ is like that.

We’ve all heard the mockery in people’s voices when they talk about someone who has “gotten religion” or is “high on Jesus.” It’s not their fault; they just don’t know you can feel Jesus in your bones. They don’t know it’s possible for a deaf person to “hear.”

But it is.

When people shouted at me about Jesus, I couldn’t hear them because I was deaf; but I wasn’t blind and I could see they were shouting, which made me resent them.

But when I finally put my hands on that Bible and read it, I was surprised by the tiny hum that rose in my chest. As I read more, the hum grew stronger and engaged my heart, my imagination and my gratitude. When I read more, the drums picked up and created rhythm; the cellos formed a baseline and the violins and piccolos chimed in with a melody. All together now this internal orchestra has surged into something fine and true that I really want to share.

But try as I might I can’t explain it to you. You have to put your hands on the speakers until you can feel it in your own bones. Then you’ll know.

The Israel Philharmonic (Wikipedia)

Some people like Bob Goff, Joyce Meyer, Matthew Barnett, Chris Caine and Nancy Alcorn, play gorgeous music with their lives, but I’m still a young orchestra, and I’m sometimes pitchy or behind.

However, I’ve committed to practice and to follow the world’s greatest conductor, who promises the more I practice the finer my music will become. He is the most reliable speaker upon which to place your hands.

So with that, here is my tiny, little solo – a birthday present for Him.

I am raising money to counter human trafficking in SE Asia with The Exodus Road. In a week, we have raised nearly 30% of our $1400 goal. We have until Christmas.

The Exodus Road is playing some beautiful music right now. Please put your hands on their speakers, and when you’re done, put them in your pockets and help them play more.