Moving throughout this city it is hard not to shut off your emotions and just observe what's happening with solely your mind. I think I'm doing a disservice if I do this and don't connect with my heart as well. We visited "Walking Street" last night. Under a fake cover of darkness and alcohol this strip exists for the sole purpose of sex. Hundreds of girls in the bars and on the streets- hundreds of daughters and sisters waiting to be sold. I saw a girl who appeared to be younger than 16 with a man who must have been 65. There was no smile in her eyes. There was another girl who held a sign describing the services offered-- there were tears falling with each person who passed by. Another women worker was lying unconscious outside a popular bar...
I find myself asking if this problem is just all too large-- is it all too terrible and vast for a mere me to have an impact on? But we can't get caught in that lie-- there is great work to be done; it has to be done; it will be done.
Many of us on this trip have said that we've heard the stories before but to actually see it with your own eyes- to smell it, her it, touch it, connect with it makes the statistical data come alive. These are souls, these are not numbers.
These are not numbers-- these are people. Here's a theme I've noticed from trip prep time until now. It's a theme I can't dare forget.
wow!
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