Now picture for a moment, you are with your own precious children or your nieces and nephews and all of a sudden they vanish from thin air, never to be seen again. They are screaming out at the top of their lungs for help, but no one is there to hear their pleas of desperation; no one is there to offer them hope, freedom or comfort in their time of need. Instead, their little bodies are sold day after day, multiple times a day in the sex market. Their precious childhoods robbed, their innocence stolen, their budding lives crushed.

Preying on the innocent
Tragically, millions of vulnerable children around the world are lured, tricked and trafficked into the sex industry, forced to have sex with clients 10, 20, 30 or even 40 times a day. They are praying, hoping, believing each day that the next client that walks through the door will be their liberator and not another abuser.

In Thailand, there are many extremely poor hill tribe families that find themselves in dire circumstances. So desperate in fact, they feel their only option for survival is to let their own young children leave home to find work in a bigger city away from the safety of parental protection. With little education and no real job skills, these children have little chance at finding a decent, wholesome job, which makes them high risk candidates for human traffickers and their deceitful lies.

Two little girls
One such heart wrenching true story involves two childhood best friends. Recently, Destiny Rescue – a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing children from sexual slavery and exploitation, rescued two beautiful little girls, Fa and Meesa, from a horrific injustice. Fa – 15 and Meesa – 12 grew up in the same hill tribe village in a fairly remote area of Thailand.

Fa, the oldest girl, grew up with an abusive step-father. She longed for the day she could get away from him and often dreamed of the moment when it would become a reality. One day, an unfamiliar man came into the girls’ village and offered the step-father money if he would allow Fa to go with him to work in a “respectable” restaurant a couple of hours away from the village. Fa, excited to get far away from her evil step-father, jumped at the opportunity. She was elated, so much so, she asked her best friend, Meesa, to come along.

Meesa grew up in a loving Christian home. She felt loved and valued by her parents and had developed a positive self-image because of her upbringing. Over time, her father injured his leg and could no longer work, which caused unbelievable financial problems for them. With little or no income coming in, they could only afford to live in a one room bamboo hut that leaked continuously during rainy season. The clothes they wore were the only ones they had, which were battered, torn, and faded. In addition, they owned a couple of dishes and a few household items, but that was it. Week after week and month after month went by with no real improvement. Their faith began wavering, and they struggled to believe that life could get better.

Then all of a sudden, Fa appeared, telling her friend, Meesa, that she could go work with her in a restaurant to help support her family. Meesa and her parents thought it was a good idea, so they let their 12 year old daughter go. The family’s prayers had been answered, or so they thought.

Innocence lost
The man that came into the village took Fa and Meesa to the restaurant, showed them around and then led them to the back where they would be living. Shortly after they put their stuff away, he took them out back to a shack behind the restaurant. He forced them into a small room with a young man. The young man ripped off the girls’ clothes and made them do horrible sexual acts to each other while he watched and then proceeded to rape both of them. This went on for a couple of days with various customers. Meesa, the Christian girl, cried out to God for help with all her might.

These precious little girls had been lied to, tricked and violated beyond comprehension. Their lives had been so utterly traumatized and physically damaged that they had to be sent home to heal and recover before the brothel owner would come back to pick them up again. The girls were so scared and ashamed that they did not have the courage to tell their families what had happened. And they knew it was only a matter of time before that evil man returned.

Rescued and redeemed
While the girls were at home healing, they remembered some of their friends had been rescued by Destiny Rescue who had been in similar situations. They immediately contacted their friends and asked if Destiny Rescue could help them. Their friends told the Destiny Rescue staff and a rescue team was dispatched. Meesa and Fa had been liberated them from their horrible situation.

They are now safe, living in a Rescue Home supported and staffed by Destiny Rescue, where they can be healed from their former abuse. Fa, the older girl, was amazed that Meesa’s God had answered her prayer so quickly. Because of this, she wanted to place her trust in this same God that answered prayers; she became a Christian! Now the two of them are taking steps toward wholeness with God’s help and the once dark shadows that covered their faces have since been replaced with smiles, laughs and hope in a God that can redeem any situation!

I have personally seen these beautiful children and hundreds of others that Destiny Rescue has rescued from the sex-trade take brave steps forward in their healing process. Now they are voices, beacons of hope for the millions of other children still enslaved around the world.

If ordinary people and organizations like Destiny Rescue are not willing to go into the dark corners of the earth to set captives free, who will? These kids will remain trapped with little or no hope of escape if we do nothing! God wants us, His people, to actively stand up and get our hands dirty…to be a voice for the voiceless, for children around the world that can’t fight for themselves. He wants us to fight against this injustice, against human trafficking, against child sexual slavery. It must stop!

The Bible says, “Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute” (Proverbs 31:8-9 MSG).

Will you join the revolution?

To learn more about the work of Destiny Rescue and how you can practically get involved in the fight against human trafficking, go to destinyrescue.org.

** Disclaimer: To ensure the protection and safety of all Rescue Children in Destiny Rescue’s care, we change certain details of their stories and their name. Image used is not an image of the children represented in this story.