Monday, March 29, 2010

Yesterday (Friday) began with a 5 AM departure to the Angkor Wat temple area – expecting to see a beautiful sunrise. We are confident the sun did rise – but we didn’t see it as a layer of clouds got in the way – followed by some light showers – which did at least cool things down a bit. Today we will tour the temples and hopefully gain a little more insight on the history and spiritual development of this land.

It is amazing the number of people that we have met serving God in Cambodia who have attended and been impacted by a North Point Church. Yesterday we visited the new office of the International Justice Mission in Siem Reap and there met Laura, a recent graduate of UGA, currently serving on an intern assignment in Phnom Penh. She had attended both the Athens and North Point campuses and seemed excited for some connections from home. She and one of her co-workers joined us for dinner – at our guesthouse. We also met Heather – a young woman from Marietta (Mount Parin North) who works with White Dove, an organization working to rescue and equip young women.

IJM is just in the process of opening a new office in Siem Reap as they seek to develop a presence and expand their influence with the Cambodian government and legal systems. Pray for them as they seek to locate indigenous Christian Lawyers, Social Workers, Administrators and Investigators. This is not an easy task in a country primarily made up of Buddhist and Hindus. Less than 1 percent of the population are Christian.

Bonnie did a great job of describing for us issues of sex trafficking in Cambodia and the niche that IJM was seeking to fill. Bonnie is a Social Worker and part of the team who engages when an orchestrated rescue is being planned. IJM investigators will have determined that “minor girls” are being prostituted in a certain establishment and will coordinate with Cambodian Police and Courts so that a successful raid and rescue can be initiated. They not only want to free the girls – but also collect sufficient evidence and forensics to lead to a prosecution of the perpetrators. Prior to the raid, the IJM investigators and operators will have collected video and physical evidence of the child abuse – but hopefully keep their investigation secret enough that word is not leaded out and the young girls moved to another location and out of reach.

When the raid takes place, Bonnie and her social work comrades will immediately take charge of the under-age girls. They will provide them a care kit containing many things that help to put the child at ease, including some fresh appropriate clothes, toiletries, maybe an Asian Doll or some games to play. A raid can be very traumatic for a little child who is already grossly traumatized and distrustful on anyone – especially men – and often policemen. Local police sometimes turn their heads, for the various favors that they are offered at the Brothel - free of charge.

Many of these children do not have legal documents reflecting their birthdays – they in fact are likely in the country illegally. They have been told to lie about their age and to do everything they can to protect their owners. It is a difficult task to separate truth from fiction in this environment. The local police need to treat these girls as the victims of abuse – regardless of whether they are in the country legally, and regardless of whether they had the physical opportunities to flee. Children can easily be put under the mental and emotional control of an adult who controls their food and self identity and continually threatens physical harm to the girls or to their families or children. IJM works as an advocate for these children along with local indigenous lawyers and social workers. The children will be assessed in a placed with an appropriate church or NGO who can lead them towards recovery from extreme abuse.

Once the child is through the various crisis stages – IJM will work to see if effective testimony can be given. This testimony is critical for a comprehensive prosecution of the perpetrators (Brothel owners, recruiters, etc) As stated in Isaiah 1:17, it is important to “rebuke the oppressor,” but the greatest impact of a successful prosecution is the testimony that it provides to other pimps and brothel owners, that they are no longer safe from substantial prosecution – and that they are likely to find themselves behind bars in very difficult circumstances.

While the release is very important to the individual girls that have been rescued – the greatest impact comes from improvement in the police and legal systems, equipping the indigenous people to care for their owns. Rather than just individual lives being saved – IJM works to eradicate systems of injustice which if allowed to continue will result in an ever increasing number of victims, regardless of how many are rescued.
IJM has a primary focus on underage children who have been taken into this sexual darkness. While it is true that their systems are designed to protect the minor rather than attack prostitution in general, adult prostitutes of legal age may also benefit from IJM’s actions if they are seeking relief and another way of life.

Prostitution isn’t necessarily illegal in Cambodia, as long as the woman is over 18. It is however illegal for a business or individual to be involved in the buying and selling of sexual services of someone else. This sometimes makes the prosecution strategies more difficult and complex, thus experience is paramount.

Pray that this new IJM location will be blessed by God and that they will be able to hire the Christian Staff that they need to make this new office effective at transforming the rule of law in Cambodia – protecting children in ways that the church may find difficult to address.

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