Phil@Stop the Traffik

She had invited us through the front of the Thai massage parlour, into the back area where the women wait, watch TV and get ready. We sat there listening as she poured out her anger and frustration.  It struck me once again how the normal face of exploitation is boredom and exhaustion, punctuated by violence and fear. It was an ordinary living room, sofas, chairs, cigarette smoke, a TV showing Thai programs and a security camera giving a view of the front door. They were on the lookout for police making checks or violent customers. Whichever came, they were afraid.
As we talked about what was happening, the woman opened up and told us about the trafficking routes, the debts imposed on the women and the forced prostitution that followed. She kept coming back to the same word "trust". Could she trust us? Could she trust the Belgian authorities? How could she trust anyone? After years in Belgium, she tried to look after the younger women in the massage parlours, but it was hard to help them. It was a picture of a life on a knife-edge.

We offered help with visas, with alternatives to life in the massage parlours. We tried to show a way out. Again and again she asked “Can I trust you?” There was no way to prove that she could. All we can do is be consistent, keep going, keep showing up, keep trying to help. Eventually, perhaps, we will gain enough trust to really help. When you are isolated and abused you can close up to everything, even to those trying to help you. When she asked why we would try to help her and people like her, we pointed to the fact that as Christians we believe that everyone is of infinite worth. By the end of the conversation her eyes glistened with tears.
One of the many problems with a society that treats everything as a commodity is that there is a massive erosion of trust. Women find it hard to trust men, children are wary of adults. Parents look at strangers to find the danger that could be in them. Few people trust the advertising agents, and no one trusts a politician. Only when we recognise worth instead of looking for a bargain, and value people above products will we rebuild the trust that we all so desperately need. For many of the women we work with, it is the key to freedom.