"Women from Uzbekistan arrested." For years I have read headlines such as these in the Bangkok Post and been troubled by the increasing numbers of Central Asian/Eastern European women trafficked to Thailand. These women have been elusive and difficult to contact. Right before Christmas, our breakthrough came when the NightLight outreach team discovered a gathering spot where these women wait for clients. The women have come from Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. Most of them speak Russian, some speak English well and others not at all. The women stay a month at a time as they are able to renew their visas or until their pimps move them to another country. They work every night alternating hotels in Bangkok so they will not be too easily identified.
Kayla is a friendly 17- year-old Russian who has just started prostituting. She speaks very little English. We learned a few Russian words and asked to practice with her. While we were chatting, her cell phone rang. Kayla, very matter of fact, told us it was her mamasan. She told us her family in Russia had many problems. The mamasan gave her a job starting with a debt of $4000 to work off. When she pays off the debt, she plans to send money home to her family. When her phone rang the second time she took off with no explanation. The next week when we returned, she was gone. She had been transferred to Singapore. With the additional travel to a more expensive country her debt to the mamasan will increase and her chance of escaping, decrease. Lola, an Uzbekistani, tried to warn her of how the mamasan inflates their expenses to increase their debt. The women do not speak Thai and do not know the exchange rates in the countries they work. All the money and arrangements are handled by the mamasans and papasans.
Lola is 32 and has a 13 year old daughter. Lola graduated from university with a history degree. She found a job at a petrol company earning $35 a month which is the average for her country. When she lost her job and her options ran out she ended up a victim of sex trafficking to Hong Kong. A regular client told her the mamasan made $7500 a month off of her and helped her to escape. Now she freelances in Bangkok and keeps a careful record of all her clients and expenses. The boyfriend visits once a month. She dreams of someday making it to America and possibly working as a maid. In the meantime she sells her body night after night.
Trafficking of Eastern European and Central Asian women all over the world is multiplying quickly. A few years ago, I read in the Bangkok Post that 114 women from Uzbekistan had been arrested in Bangkok within one year. More recently the reports and numbers seem to be increasing. Internationally, the trafficking of women and children is now tied with illegal drugs as the second most lucrative financial scheme for criminals worldwide. While drugs can only be sold once, a woman's body can sold over and over for hundreds of thousands of dollars before she wears out or dies. A recent CIA report estimated that every year 700-000, to 2 million women and children are trafficked internationally for sexual exploitation. It is an international crisis. It is a form of human slavery that reaches beyond the grasp of the law and into every country, state and city and community. These women are trapped often in horrendous life-threatening circumstances in our very neighborhoods.
We are excited that God has opened a way for the NightLight team to know and better understand these women and their situations. We continue to seek prayer for guidance and direction as to how we can practically assist these women through intervention, assistance, rehabilitation and support systems when they are repatriated. The task is enormous and the obstacles are challenging. It is a God-sized problem and in His hands we are confident He will provide a way to make a difference.