Terrify No More

I just finished one of the suggested readings for my trip to Cambodia and it was intense. I learned so much.

I learned about an organization that isn't just working to rescue young girls, but their mission actually works to stop the sex trade in Cambodia. They don't just save the girls and leave the brothels to replace the girls. They don't just buy the girls out to leave the brothels with more money than they would have even made on her before. They take the girls, put them in aftercare facilities, and work with Cambodian police to arrest the perpetrators. They do whatever it takes to stop this thriving business.

I learned so much about what I will be walking through when I walk the streets of Phnom Penh in less than two months. In less than two months I will see the places I read about... I will even meet girls just like the ones I read about.

I read so many stories of slaves gaining a freedom they were tricked out of earlier in life. So many of the people caught in slavery were tricked there. So many of the girls are tricked by older women and then sold. So many of these girls are sold by parents, aunts, or uncles... even husbands. So many of the people in slavery are bonded by a debt that was gained by a relative so many generations earlier that they don't even know their name. They are bonded by lies and threats. It's so frustrating!

But it's something I think everyone needs to know about. Dateline did a report on it, actually on the specific raid that took place in the book. I found it online and found it crazy to see the stories I read.

Well there is my little rant about Cambodia and about the new realization I have had on how much slavery there is in the world.

I am in awe that God is letting me be a part of this mission.

It was a calm evening at Sonic. I was about to take an order out and the phone rang, before I could make it out the door my manager told me it was for me. When my mom started the conversation with "everything is okay..." my mind went somewhere else. Why is it when we hear a phrase like that we assume the opposite? Lydia and James were still in Joplin and my first thought was that for some reason they would be coming home and they were in an accident... but it was something I couldn't have made up in my own mind. The words "dad" "stroke" and "brain aneurism"(ended up no brain aneurism) were involved. That's about all I got out of that conversation, other than gathering that I should stay somewhere that night.

I went home and got my things ready for school the next day and went to the Killions. It still confuses me why I would choose to go there instead of the comfort of my best friends home... but then again it makes sense. This is when I figured out that they really are my family too.

I walked in and it was really confusing. I told Blaine I was staying with them and he was just like, alright. So we watched TV and worked on homework... then Cathy came. She didn't know about my dad. That was probably one of the worst parts. It was less than two hours after I found out and I had to actually say it out loud to another person who had no idea. How do you get those words out? How did I? I have no idea. After that moment I decided to shower and sleep.

April 3rd, 2006 was over. I had no idea that that day would begin something new in my life and in the life of each person in my family. There were days harder than this one to come, but this day was significant. Three years later I can only say I am thankful for that day and everything that has come with this journey.