Chiang Mai (by Zach)

We've been in Chiang Mai now for a little over a week now. It hasn't gone quite as we expected it to go, but it's still been good. We've had a number of things planned that have either fallen through or have gotten moved back. There has been some frustration, but I really think that we're making the best of the situation. Our team has been able to meet quite a few people, which has been really fun. Tomorrow night we're inviting our neighbors over for an Ice Cream Social. How social of us...

We've been learning a lot about the issues of prostitution here in Thailand, and specifically the northern part of the country where we're located. I think I've learned more about this issue this time in Thailand than I learned my other 4 times combined. It was more of a focus for our team coming here this year, and so we've tried to make it a priority in terms of how we're spending our time.

Last week we met with two different organizations who are working with women coming out of prostitution. The first one is called Garden of Hope. It's an organization that provides training and skills for the women, so that they have other means of creating income. The other organization that we heard from was International Justice Mission. They are a large organization that does some incredible things around the globe. In Thailand, their work invloves rescuing women (and girls) who have been trafficked and are now being held against their wills as sexual slaves. Both organizations are doing great work here, attempting to be a part of the solution to an issue that is overwhelming here in Southeast Asia--the sexual exploitation of women. I apologize if the language seems graphic, but the issue itself is inherently graphic. There are no easy words to describe what is happening here.

It's been a very eye-opening week for our whole team. The issue of prostitution is a very obvious one here, as the city we're in is littered with bars proudly selling women. There are so many layers to the issue: Who are the girls? Where did they come from? How did they get here? Who's making the money? Why is it ok for men to purchase women so openly? What happens after the girls' value is diminished (with old age or disease)? One of the most disturbing things we learned is that the blatant prostitution that we see is only a very small part of the extent of the problem. Western tourists make up only a very small percentage of the overall number of people soliciting prostitutes here. (Thai nationals make up 95% of the customers)

The challenge for me personally is to continue to have hope in the One who is bigger than all these issues. It's too easy to focus on the surface circumstances and get completely overwhelmed by them. The issue seems too big to do anything about it. And the reality is that I can't "solve" the problem by myself. There's a quote from Mother Teresa that says: "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." That's what I'm seeing as the mission for our team here. We've done a lot of praying, a lot of learning, and had a lot of conversations. On some days that doesn't seem like enough, but we're doing all that we can.

Last night we went on a prayer walk with a couple people from Garden of Hope in one of the main areas of prostitution here. The two people we went with had spent quite a bit of time in the area, so they were very familiar with everything. As we walked down the street, girls in the bars came running out to see our two guides. It gave me a boost of hope/faith to see that happen. Our guides were loved and respected by the girls because they had been coming to this area consistently over a 6-month period. It helped me see the power of doing a few small things, and how those seemingly small things can make a huge difference.