Last night I went to hang out with my kids. There's a little girl I work with who loves to learn English. She knows the entire alphabet now, and is even beginning to be able to sound out English words. It has been such a joy to work with her over the past few months. To play games, laugh, and bring joy. She doesn't live with her biological parents. She stays with a family member who brings her out to the red light every night to sell flowers. But I've seen a stark contrast in this family as compared to the others who have kids selling in the red light.
Her street mom isn't malicious. She's not mean to the little girl, she's not rude to me. It's obvious that she's trying her best, but doesn't see another way for their family to be making money. So for this family it honestly has been so easy to love them, as we encourage the street mom to not bring the little girl out to sell flowers. It's also obvious that she knows the dangers of this girl being out at night. She never lets her out of her sight. She's the only street mom that is with her kid all the time. Every other kid that I work with wanders the streets on their own.
These people are so blinded by what they're doing... but this woman is trying SO hard to love this little girl the best that she knows how.
Last night our english lesson turned into playing games for awhile. After we had been sitting for some time, a man approached. It's not uncommon for some of the foreigners that are walking by to stop and see what we're doing. Some watch for a moment before moving on, some ask what we're doing. But last night was a first. This older man stopped and began loudly ranting how he had been in the red light several nights in the past week and had seen this mother and daughter selling flowers. He then began pointedly yelling at me about how I was encouraging trafficking, asking what was wrong with me and how could I let her mother continue to let her do this. He told me that if I wanted to fix the problem, I should be telling her mother what a horrible person she was, and that she shouldn't be letting her daughter do this.
Instantly I was infuriated. Angered to the point of shaking and felt I couldn't see straight. I wanted to react, to yell back.... But I instead calmly looked up and said, "Sir. I'm aware of the problem here, and I am going to politely ask you to leave now."
He wasn't amused by this response at all. It only triggered him to become more irate as he yelled at me, and began yelling at the little girls street mom, "Bad mom! You're a horrible person, bad mom!"
I wanted to react. So badly. I wanted to tell him if it was as easy as telling her mom to stop - then this wouldn't be happening anymore! I wanted ask him what HE was doing in the red light district. But I kept my mouth shut. As the man walked away shouting at the little girls mom throwing obscene gestures into the air, I scrambled to collect my thoughts. I couldn't think straight in english, let alone Thai... All I could get out was to say sorry to the girls mother. To apologize profusely and for her to know that we loved her. I can see where this man would be coming from - but clearly he doesn't understand the implications of forced labor trafficking if he thinks this problem would have such an easy solution.
Shortly after we left. I couldn't handle being there any longer. My hands were still shaking, my mind was still reeling, and I was so angry I felt like I could explode.
I went home and a few of the people from the team staying at my house were sitting in the living room. I went up to my room to collect my thoughts for a few minutes, and then went back down and asked them to pray with me. I knew that if I just sat and stewed in what I was feeling, I was going to allow a bitter root to grow. I wouldn't be able to see the foreigners walking through the red light without being angry.
I began to pray that this man would begin to see Truth. That he would be brought to a place of repentance. The more that I prayed for him, my heart calmed, my mind calmed, and I honestly felt sorry for this man. I began to be grateful that if he was going to react - that I was able to be there to tell my kids and the street mom that we loved them in the aftermath of the the mans outburst. My heart sincerely changed for him. I learned a HUGE lesson last night.
I began to realize the importance of Romans 12:14 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse"
There's a very good reason he asks us to do that. And it's for OUR benefit. When people attack us, it's for our benefit to bless them. To forgive them. To not hold a grudge against them. Because when I go out next week I'm going to be able to focus completely on each of my kids as I work with them. I won't be brought back to the moment we had last night, hoping it won't happen again.
And honestly - that man is quite lucky that I was working with that little girl when he decided to have his little outburst. Because if I had been working with my boys... It may not have ended so well. Get together a few preteens with anger issues who are protective of you.... I think that situation ended as well as it possibly could have.
Hard lesson to learn - but worth learning.
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