“…the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,… to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isa 61:1-3)

Social justice is not an option. It is a mandate. While our giving and doing is significant, Jesus had something in mind to teach us when the command was given. Why will the poor and oppressed always be with us in this fallen world? They serve as models to remind us of our dependence. While we are more likely to think we can do most things on our own, they understand they need help. They are also a reminder of our own greed and self-centeredness. Is there enough food in the world today so that no child dies of hunger? Are there enough natural resources to shelter the poor? Do we need to reconsider the inequality of wealth in our world? What is our responsibility to that inequality?

Jesus was our model for social justice. If we follow Him, we follow His mandate. Jesus was a revolutionary – especially where women were concerned. In a culture fraught with injustices toward women, Jesus honored and elevated them. Nowhere was this more obvious than when the woman, known in the town to be a sinner, crashed the party at the home of the Pharisee and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and expensive perfume (Lk 7:36-50). Here Jesus taught the Pharisee about his own selfishness, arrogance, and pride; while accepting, acknowledging, and forgiving the woman who humbly wept and kissed His feet.

Bangkok has many women who “have lived a sinful life.” Like the woman in Luke’s Gospel, they are mostly anonymous. That anonymity is maintained in their work places by the use of buttons with numbers. Their customers need never know their names. Objectified, dehumanized, they are chosen like entrees off a menu in a cheap restaurant. As with the nameless woman in Luke, these women are known only by their shame, by their sin. Who are they? What is their story? Why are they doing this? We know they were not born pursuing self-destruction. No one dreams of this. It is driven by despair, by poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, domestic violence, and greed.

The following are quotes from two of these anonymous women:

“I work three months now. The first two months I cry. I cry every day. I cannot do. I cannot do. The third month I look at mirror. I say, ‘You must do this! There is only you. Your mother is old and takes care of your two children and blind brother. You must do this! You must use your head not your heart.’” With only a grade six education, employment is limited to factory work and construction. Neither pays enough to support five people.

“I so tired. I so tired!” She began to cry. “I want someone to help me! I want someone to hold me! I want someone to pay my debt!” The family’s debt continues to grow, despite her efforts and taking as many as ten customers a week. Her family does not own property, so when the rice crop failed on their rented property, they had no collateral with which to borrow money from a bank and so were forced to borrow from a village loan shark in order to buy plants for the next crop.

In response to these and other stories, Home of New Beginnings was born four years ago as an outreach to prostituted women who serve men from developed countries. Our logo states that Beginnings is a place of safety and hope. Safety from what? As prostituted women they are at risk from traffickers¹, “johns” (customers), and pimps. The following stories will illustrate:

Traffickers
A young woman – now twenty – came to our English class and told us how she was deceived by a woman who promised her work with good pay. She was sold three days later to a brothel in Malaysia. She was beaten and drugged to gain her compliance and “seasoned” by four traffickers who gang-raped her. She became compliant and the beating stopped, though the drugging did not. She was made to serve 20 – 25 men a day. With the help of a “john” she managed to escape and made it back to Bangkok where she now works in the sex industry. She views herself as damaged and cannot go back to her family. She has no education.

Another young woman was offered good pay for working in Bangkok. She waited in the jungle with many other young women and children. While waiting, she was gang-raped by her traffickers. When the refrigerated truck came, the door was opened in the back but the truck was full. They were told to “make room!” The truck was emptied and the few men and larger women were positioned on the floor of the truck and the others were told to sit on their shoulders – for the 12 hour trip to Bangkok where they were sold to various bars, massage parlors, and factories.

“Johns”
One young woman, a street-walker, had taken this customer before and she trusted him. This time, when she got to the hotel room, there were five other men waiting in the room for her.

Another street-walker, having worked just one month, acquired the AIDS virus. She worked another month but quit, recognizing the risks. While she may well have passed the virus on, it was a “john” who infected her to begin with. And he used his size and power to keep her from using protection.

Pimps/Families
While it is difficult to use these two words synonymously, it must be known that some of the girls we meet in the bars are being pimped by their boyfriends, husbands or parents. Parents often encourage their daughters to work in the sex industry in order to find a Western “rich” man to marry. Husbands and boyfriends pimp their women in order to pay a gambling debt, or to continue the habit. One such girl was required by her husband to take at least one customer per night. He threatened certain death if she did not. He followed her to hotels and waited for the payment. If she did not take a customer, she was made to sleep on the doorstep.

Another desperate single mother with small children sacrificed her oldest daughter by selling her for a bride price at the age of ten in order to feed the others.

At Beginnings, we desire to remove these beautiful young women from this culture of violence and restore their ability to hope and dream in this safe environment. Beginnings is a residential program. Our goal is to “…bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isa 61:3). We do this by creating a new family, giving them shelter, food, a weekly allowance (most of which they send to their families), and an education, both formal and informal. Medical care and counsel are also provided. Over thirty women and children ranging in age from 12 to 45 have lived at Beginnings. Currently, we house ten young women; three are full time University students, three are in Bible school, and two in vocational training programs. The remaining two are working on literacy and completing their grade six certificates.

At Beginnings, there is freedom to laugh and to weep, to work and to play. There is both joy and grief. There is rest and responsibility. Over time, there is the freedom to feel, to question and most importantly, the freedom to dream, again.

Jesus was clear in His acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding of the woman who wept at His feet. He knew her story – not just her sin. That is our model. That is our mandate. Jesus also identified with the poor and oppressed. After all, it was His path as well. As followers of Jesus, we are to be personally connected with both His death and His resurrection; both the Suffering Savior and the Risen Lord. It is much easier to focus on His resurrection – His life-giving, transforming, joyous celebratory resurrection. He came that we might have life. But, we cannot ignore the suffering, excruciating, humiliating death He endured on the cross. Without the cross there is no reason to celebrate, there is no resurrection, there is no life. It is His life-giving, transforming, desperate, agonizing death that we must also explore and absorb. It is the suffering Jesus that brings life – that leads to the glorious resurrection. Perhaps we ignore His death because it is uncomfortable; it brings guilt; it focuses on the unpleasant. As His followers we dare not forget the cross. We turn to the poor, the oppressed, the violated, the exploited and ask them to teach us. They know about powerlessness, rejection, suffering, and loss. We cannot ignore them because it is uncomfortable or unpleasant. To do that is to ignore the cross.

We do this work for them. We do it for ourselves as well. We must remember His death. These young women have so much to teach us about the suffering Jesus and about ourselves.

About self-sacrifice: We know nothing about giving up everything, including the rights over our own body, to serve our family. These young women daily risk danger from “johns” and endure ridicule by the same culture that traps them in despair.

About weariness: These women work 12 hours a day, 28 days out of 30.

About resilience and never complaining: Having experienced abuses of every kind, they continue to work and to complete day to day tasks without a negative word.

Jesus told the Pharisee, “You didn’t wash my feet. You gave me no greeting. You didn’t put oil on my head.” What is keeping you from connecting with the oppressed? Is it discomfort? Is it the unpleasant surroundings? Guilt? Pharisaical arrogance and pride? When you see the poor and oppressed, are they anonymous? Do you know their name, their story or just their sin? Jesus commands that we become an instrument of hope to the vulnerable, the voiceless, and the invisible. Opportunities abound. Do it because you have so much to give. Do it because you have so much to learn.

References
1. Definition as relates to sexual exploitation: “an act or attempted act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, and harboring or receiving a person by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (words in bold are not in the original) – The Palermo Protocol – United Nations – adopted November 2000

With an MA in Leadership Development and after 36 years as a teacher and principal in the United States, Bonita and her husband moved to Bangkok where she works with prostituted women and children. Presently, she is partnering with Thai women in an outreach called “Home of New Beginnings.” It is a residential holistic program which offers vocational training, English, computer skills, continuing education, counseling, and consistent teaching about Jesus, His healing power, and His principles for living.

If you want to find out more, participate or donate to their ministry, you can contact Bonita by:

Home of New Beginnings
P.O. Box 1300, Nana Post Office
Bangkok, Thailand 10112

Email: beginningsbkk@yahoo.com
Website: www.homeofnewbeginnings.com

You can also mail donations to:

International Foundation Beginnings Acct. #125.004
P O Box 23813
Washington, D.C. 20026-23813
USA

The New International Version of the Bible has been referenced.

Photo provided by author.