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Below are two recent articles that tell why the SHE Centre is needed so much.
When Moon was 12 weeks old, her birth mother sold her to a local Burmese woman, who raised her like a slave. When Moon (not her real name) was 3 years old, this second "mother" forced her to wash dishes in a restaurant eight hours a day. When Moon turned 13, the woman sold Moon's into the commercial sex trade in Thailand. Moon was one of an estimated 1 million children worldwide who annually enter the multibillion-dollar industry of commercial sexual exploitation, according to UNICEF. "I cursed every god. But in my heart, I believed someone would come and help me," Moon says. She was right. After nearly a month in the brothel, the police and International Justice Mission, an evangelical ministry, rescued her. That was four years ago and since then; local missionaries introduced Moon to Jesus and tried to help her earn a decent living—a challenge for someone without marketable skills. Moon says that since then "I have realized that I have value and worth. And now that I know God, I can always pray for his help whenever I have a problem." Moons is now married with children of her own but also with her knowledge of human trafficking helps reach other women and children and train staff to work with victims of trafficking and exploited street kids. Moon's identity has changed from rescued to rescuer, from victim to counsellor, thanks to God's redemptive love. But hundreds of thousands of women and girls around the globe are still waiting to escape.
Christianity Today January 2007
This headline below was in our local newspaper, the Phuket Gazette, this last weekend (03 / 02 /07)
Phuket investors implicated in human trafficking bust
Twenty long-neck Karen women (Paduang) were sold to a group of Phuket investors for 10 million baht (£140,000) police said on Thursday. Mae Hong Son Provincial Governor Direk Konkleeb urged officers to extend the investigation to arrest those behind the alleged human trafficking. One of the women, identified only as “Som-O”, told police that they had come from Doi Kor province’s Ti Mo So District in Burma. The woman appeared to be very stressed, so police placed her under close watch to prevent her from committing suicide. Another Paduang told police that Som-O early last year had married a Bangkok businessman – although he was allegedly already married to a Thai woman. The woman added that the businessman wanted 20 Padaung from Ti Mo So to be sold to a group of Phuket investors for 10 million baht. The Padaung, currently being held for further questioning at Mae Hong Son’s Muang District Police Station, were to be handed to Immigration police for deportation.
Unfortunately stories like these are not uncommon and why there is such a need for the SHE Centre. When complete the SHE Centre will be able to offer a place of refuge to many others with similar circumstances to “Moon” and “Som-O” please partner with us and help make a difference.
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