I have been in China a week already. How time has flown. The last few days have been incredibly overwhelming.
As you walk the main streets of this city you are completely unaware of what lies behind the bright lights, shopping malls, tourist attractions and traffic until you begin to venture down the back streets and dark alley ways.
Monday night a small team of us deviated from the main streets of the city where we found ourselves roaming the dirty streets of a brothel district. A minimum of 40 brothels are said to be operating illegally in this one area.
We walked by beat down old dingy shop windows where girls as young as 14 years old sat dressed in next to nothing on display for sale. These shops are beauty spas and hair salons by day however sadly by night they become dirty brothels profiting on the sale of women's innocence.
Most of the girls I saw sitting in these shop windows were void of emotion. It was as though they were completely desensitized to what they were being forced to engage in. It seemed to me that their only option was to disconnect their soul from their body. This disconnection would be the only way for them to get through another day.
We witnessed three older Asian men walk down the stairs of a run-down old six story building smiling from ear to ear, whilst others waiting inside. It is said that this particular building houses up to a hundred or more girls all whom are forced to work in this rape for profit industry.
My heart broke as I watched a 14 year old girl dressed in a tight short pink mini dress apply her lip gloss and wait expressionlessly for her next client in a shop window. I was overwhelmed with disbelief as we walked by hair salons were young girls were having their hair and makeup done in preparation for the evenings work. We witnessed mafia bosses standing on street corners zoning the area whilst police on motor bikes drove on by not even concerned by the illegal activity that was happening right before their very eyes.
I have been well aware of the harsh realities of this sick industry for sometime but when you actually look into the faces of the women and girls trapped in this unjust world your heart crumbles. These women now are more than a number consisting within an overwhelming statistic but rather a life. Their faces have each been imprinted on my memory. All I saw when I looked at each of these women was beauty, worth, hope and a future.
They are each somebody's daughter, somebody's granddaughter and somebody's friend. They each matter.
I have spent the last two days working within an organization that is restoring dignity to women who have been objectified in this horrible trade. It was an honor to sit opposite each of these ladies and help them make jewelry. I participated in one of their English classes and also took the opportunity to worship and pray with them during their devotional time. It was encouraging to see these women dance and sing before their Creator. Each of them has a broken story to tell yet have all been restored to the light. They have each now been given hope, opportunity and a future.
I now realize that because I have seen and heard, I am responsible. We are each called to do something. I encourage you to prayerfully consider how you could be a part of changing the world of the one. Her dignity, opportunity and hope all is in your hands. Don't underestimate what you can do with the resources the Lord has entrusted you.
Let's choose to make a difference in this life because with our one voice, one heart and two hands we each can do something. In fact, I believe that we can do the impossible.
~Emma Jolly
