'Nightlight' Guides Thai Prostitutes Out of Sex Trade

BANGKOK -- Thailand is known for more than just military coups and political uncertainty. It's also home to the world's largest sex trade industry.

Each year, tens of thousands of tourists from around the world travel there to fulfill their sexual fantasies.

One Christian ministry in the heart of Bangkok is helping young prostitutes and tourists find a way out of the morass.

Mint's Story

At age 14, Mint quit school because her family did not have enough money to support her studies. She wanted to escape poverty so she left her rural home to work in Bangkok. But here she met a man who got her pregnant.

"After giving birth, I brought my son to the province," she explained. "I went back to Bangkok to work in a massage parlor but later on I was enticed to go into prostitution because I needed the money."

But Mint had to bear the shame and face the danger that goes with prostitution.

"I was always doing drugs and drinking," she recalled. "There was no way I can do the work without getting drunk first. One time, someone smothered my face with a pillow and tried to rape me.  At that moment I remembered someone told me I can pray to God. And so I cried to God to help me, and I survived that night."

A few months later, a Christian introduced her to Nighlight Ministry.

Nightlight rescues women and children trapped in the sex trade industry. It also trains women in silkscreen and jewelry making so they can support themselves.

"I experienced God's love when I came to Nightlight. We get to read the Bible and worship. He gave me a new life and now I want to serve Him," she said.

Increased Prostitution and Human Trafficking 

Nightlight founder Annie Dieselberg says prostitution and human trafficking have been increasing in Thailand since the ministry's founding in 2005.

"Thailand has very good anti-trafficking laws -- excellent, but it's very hard to enforce them," Dieselberg told CBN News. "I hate to say it, [but] there's a lot of corruption."

Last year, Nightlight assisted 26 trafficked women, mostly from Uganda, to return to their homes.

"We know that God's heart is out there with these women. He longs for them to know that there's a way out," Dieselberg said.

Outreach at a Coffee Shop
 
She said she's grateful that CBN's Orphan's Promise provided funds to remodel the Nightlight Outreach Center. Deiselberg then turned the ground floor into a coffee shop.

The Citylight Coffee Shop is at the heart of the red light district in Bangkok. It's strategically located in between two bars.

Through the coffee shop, Nightlight Ministry hope to reach out to more women caught up in prostitution and even male sex tourists.

"Men and women can come in off the street to get a good cup of coffee, and there will be people available who are willing to listen to their stories, to begin building relationships with them and out of those relationships, then we earn the right to speak into them, to give them hope," Dieselberg said.

The center is also used for prayer and worship, Christian celebrations and medical clinics.

A transformed Mint also helps in the outreach programs.

"God has given me a burden for the women in the streets. I invite them to our parties where there's free food and I paint their nails. I share Christ with them to give them hope in their lives," she said.
 
Together, Nightlife and Orphan's Promise are giving more and more women like Mint a better opportunity for a new life.