Close to the end.

We are now done with our service time and have come to the beach to debrief all that we have seen and done.  I find myself wondering how do I debrief these girls..... let alone myself.  How do I get past the sadness of seeing the 16 year old prostitute, who Jenny and I took into our mother hearts a year ago, on the back of a moped, high and totally out of it. I can tell myself that I am really not seeing her right there in front of me being taken to be sold. But it would be a lie. We were just on our way to buy tee shirts at a shop and she came past our tuk tuk.  I wanted to jump out and grab her and take her to a safe place.  I wanted to scream and push the man off his moped in front of a car.  I wanted to break down and cry for the her.

Then that night we went to a couples house who live right in the center of the garment factory area. Such joy and hope at their house.  They live and breath bringing freedom to the girls from this area.  They open their house, give their food, time and love to anybody who walks through their door.  We brought food for 100 and saw God multiply it to feed150.  Kids who sat still and listened, and responded to love pouring out of Rotha, who herself had worked in factories and knows their horrors.

Low to High. High to Low.

The village where Vonny lives and desires to see the kids have hope in their future. He stood in front of the church and made them all laugh and smile in spite of their hard lives.  We were welcomed into a home there, and were fed and given the families beds.  I was so proud of my team.  What a stretch for them.  90 kids in a small open air church who do not speak their language, but they poured out love even though it was a hot and crazy morning.

The pain of hearing about the 12 year old girls who are sold early to make sure they are still virgins and can go for a higher price.  How do you debrief that?????  But the hope you feel when you visit and organization called Chab Dai, that works hard to bring these girls justice.  There is no clock for some of them in their day.  No quitting time.  If they need to work till 11:00pm they do it.  What amazing people!!!

The Grace and Peace Gals who work everyday in this hot and sticky climate to bring education to the children of Svay Pak. They endure all and more that I have seen but I get to fly away and they will stay to continue the fight. 

Seeing hundreds of family members at the airport to say goodbye to their young adult children who are going to South Korea to work as farmers and manual laborers and will not come home for 4 years. They are only hoping that their children will be treated well.  They have no real idea.  There have been many stories of those who think they will be getting jobs only to become slaves.  We stopped by the airport to get ice cream and were caught in the human wave as they cried and said goodbye.

This hit home to me because in 1 month I will be saying goodbye to my daughter, but for her the unknowns are so so small, and Lord willing I will see her at Christmas after a mere 3 months of being apart. 

Please pray for us as we spend these next two days in quiet times, taking, thinking and maybe even crying.  The girls have been wonderful and they have worked so hard and given so much.  I am so blessed to have led them on this trip.

Keli