A WOMAN’S PLIGHT

Tiharu, his village and churches

“You know where you’re sitting, that’s where I do my business,” the woman across from Shanti* said, her hand patting the bed on which they were resting. Thus began Asha’s story of working in a brothel, one of many that Shanti heard on her stay.

Shanti had come to offer support and guidance to the local training center in addition to hearing Asha’s story. A few years ago, a center called The Skipping Stone had been built right outside the brothel’s entrance, offering programs that teach these women how to sew and make jewelry, as well as providing entertainment, safety, and news of Christ’s hope for their children.

After having built relationships with workers at the center over the past few years, some of the older women working in the brothel (in this business, that means women over the age of thirty) revealed that they wanted to leave their current situations and support themselves through the trades they had learned. Unfortunately, these women had nowhere to go to begin supporting themselves.

Shanti decided to visit the brothel herself and to see what the living conditions were like for these women, to better understand their plight and to see how the center could better provide assistance.

Upon reaching the brothel, Shanti was disturbed by what she saw. There was nothing glamorized about the camp—these women and their children lived in tiny tin shacks that were made up of only one room. The more fortunate women were able to set up a tin partition, separating their children from the business they conducted in the next room.

Coupled with their dire living situation is the darkness these women live in, working in the midst of a place that has not yet seen the love of Jesus. There, the perpetuating belief is that these women have earned their position working in brothels, either from ill deeds they performed in past lives or from the ill deeds of their parents. Thankfully, the light of Jesus is entering here and starting to change the conversation surrounding how these women can support themselves and the opportunities that are available to them.

If you want to share a kind action you have witnessed in your own life, please comment below or email us at info@theskippingstone.com and we will be happy to present your story of The Ripple Effect in this space.

*In this and all subsequent posts pertaining to The Skipping Stone training center, all names are changed for the safety of those involved

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