CAMBODIA: Hagar

(http://www.hagarproject.org/)
The day we visited all of the Hagar sites was a life changing day for me (and I never say that). We visited the center for the after care program for the young girls, ages 7-15 yrs old, who have been severely and brutally raped by a family member, stranger or in the sex industry...

First, we had a short exercise to give us a glimpse of what it feels like to be a victim of sex trafficking, and I volunteered... I sat in a chair and they read one of the girls' personal stories of her aunt selling her into sex slavery and threatening to do the same to her sister. I was supposed to imagine that I was the girl in the story. With each statement they draped a dark, heavy and HOT blanket over me, one after another. Remember it is 100 degree weather, 95% humidity without air conditioning…it sucked! I started out feeling sad and sorry for myself, but I could not really put myself in her mindset…no amount of blankets could come close to illustrate what it is like to be in forced prostitution at the age of 12. So then I just got pissed off…I was pissed at her parents, her aunt, men and society in general. And I stopped caring about the additional blankets, the heat and weight, I just felt alone and really pissed off! They gradually took off the blankets one by one as they illustrated her life after surviving and being rescued out of the sex industry. Of course I was crying and could barely talk and then the rest of the group lost it.

After the chair and blanket exercise, the young girls performed a dance that was a personal story of one of the girls' experience and how she described her life after she went through the after care program at Hagar. It was a story of a Lotus Flower...to make a long story sort, a lotus flower grows deep in the dark and dirty water, but it has a strong stem and it grows above the water and blooms a beautiful flower. And this is how one girl described her life before and after being a child sex slave.

After the dance they changed and we took them for ice cream and coke at Lucky Burger (like McDonalds) which is a huge treat for them. They were very shy at first but when we motioned for them to come with us, they all rushed us and grabbed our hands and started pulling us and hugging us, they were so loving and full of hope and joy…it blew me away! I can’t imagine having hope and joy after what they have been through but I know that is from my Jesus…and only he can restore hearts and lives like that! Three of us piled in their vehicle and crammed in the back of their truck with some of the girls. One girl held up her hand and said, "1, 2, 3..." and they started singing and clapping and laughing, I realized it was a worship song that I recognized the tune to....then she held up her hand again and pointed to us and said, "1, 2, 3...go!" And it was our turn to sing for them...we spent the whole car ride singing worship songs....we were singing in English and they were singing (the same song, I think) in Cambodian. It was one of the most touching moments in my life. That day and those girls will stay in my heart forever!