It Ain’t Over Until Its’ Over

I took a little time off from jet lag. Here's one more story from Cambodia.

On Monday afternoon in Cambodia the two remaining members of our team and I left with our host to go to the Phenom Penh airport.  My 36 hour journey for home was beginning.  Next stop Singapore. An end had come to my exposure to Cambodia and its' never ending heartbreak.  I thought the stories were over, but as a famous sportscaster often says, "not so fast my friend."

As we walked into the airport, we walked by the line of girls pictured below.  None of us gave them a second look.  Our host came up behind us as we passed by the girls and commented that we all now know what modern slavery looks like. In response to our puzzled looks he explained the story of the girls:

Every day two groups of about 50 girls like the ones pictured are brought to Phnom Penh airport.  A young man brings them in and arranges their paper work.  He and the head airport official clear them through customs quickly as a group.  We watched as they went through all of this. Once through they board an airplane for Malaysia.

The young man leading the girls is a recruiter. He recruits 13 to 16 year old girls from the impoverished villages of Cambodia. He promises the families of the girls $2000 if the girls work in Malaysia for 2 years. If the girls work a 40 hour work week for the two years their compensation would be less than 50 cents and hour. This would be a pathetic sum by any standards if 40 hour work weeks were in their future.  Tragically, they experience something much worse.  Their lives take one of several turns in Malaysia.

Many of them will work in homes and other businesses where they will be physically and sexually abused.

Others will work twelve hour days seven days a week.  A portion of these girls will be fired with one month to go on their two year agreement and turned out on the street. Unfortunately, they are in Malaysia without a passport and no idea where home is or how to get there. By turning them out the $2000 is never paid. The girls are illegal aliens with nowhere to go. Prostitution is often their only option.

Some work the two years and complete their contract.  However, when payment time comes deductions for passport, food, and lodging are netted out leaving the girls' families with only a few hundred dollars for about 4000 hours of work. They are told their pay was low because the two years was a test to see what kind of worker they are. Then they are invited to sign back up for more years for pay that will never be realized. The girls have no say in the matter.  It is their parents that send them and receive the money if it comes. Who's to blame? The parents? The recruiter? Airport officials? The recruiters? The governments of Cambodia and Malaysia? The employers in Malaysia? The truth is they spread out responsibility, so it seems like no one is to blame. The reality is they are all to blame, and anyone who turns a blind eye to it is fully culpable.

From the time I hit Singapore on my way home until the present, I have been re-indoctrinating myself to a life of comfort and affluence.  I had an awesome dinner in Singapore.  I've had a few Starbucks coffees at home. I've bought stuff online. I drive where I want when I want. Slowly but surely the comforts of home scrub the visions of Cambodia from my mind.  They don't seem so bad, and they become a bit more distant each day.  However my first Sunday back in church was different. As I stood to sing in worship, the picture of these girls kept coming to my mind.  My two oldest daughters are 13 and 15 and could be in that group going to Malaysia. Last night while I slept 100 more girls were shipped off, scared, lonely, and vulnerable to a horrible life of forgotten-ness. When I go to bed tonight another 100.  Tomorrow night another 100, and so on and so on.

The complexity of the situation is paralyzing.  It is difficult to know what a Christian response is. We cannot be so overwhelmed that we do nothing; nor can we expect that we can fix everything if we just try hard enough.  However, we must be changed by the sadness we experience. God is sovereign and can be trusted that He will bring true justice to the world one day.  Until He does we must prayerfully find the sphere God would like to use us in.  For most of us that sphere is much bigger than we feel comfortable with, but we must listen to His leading and have the courage to move. The world is literally dying for help. A culture of abortion is not the answer. The light of Christ embodied in you and me is the answer.

So tonight when you go to sleep instead of counting sheep count Cambodian teens going off to a life of terror and slavery and ask God where He wants you to be Him to the world.