WOW!

This is AMAZING.

What you see in the picture is the Bang Melea temple in the northeastern end of Siem Reap Cambodia. The temple was built in the Kingdom of Cambodia in the late 11th - first half of the 12th century. It's religious ancestry: the Brahamanic cult within Hinduism, main deity: Vishnu. Archaeologists assume that based on the 45 m wide moat that the temple was originally the center of a town or village. The temple is not often visited by tourists but it is quite large in size the outer enclosure of the temple is 181 m by 142m. 

Initially upon seeing the temple at a distance I assumed that it had been destroyed by invasion or by war. However as I got closer to the ruins themselves, I realised that this was not the case. Seyha, my local guide while in Siem Reap, told me that the temple didn't exist and stand for very long after it had been built. It may have only lasted for a century and then its worshippers had to vacate as the structure was seen to be unsafe. The walls, floors and columns started to crack and collapse. The temple began to fall apart because below the ground the roots of new trees started to grow beneath the temple's foundation. The roots of these trees wrapped themselves around the underground pillars and stones that kept the temple standing and began to shift its supports out of place. Bang Melea Temple, a temple erected to the deity Vishnu, was literally uprooted and destroyed by God's creation.

This taught me a valuable lesson.

God doesn't have to do much in order to destroy an idol. He doesn't have to send fire from heaven, he doesn't need to rain down brimstone, he doesn't need to send an army of soldiers to invade and destroy, it would seem that God's natural design, creation itself has an organic way of uprooting things that attempt to take away God's glory. The same goes for idols that we have in our own personal lives, God doesn't need to do much to destroy them, or bring them to ruin. idolatrous people, possessions, and positions all have a way of self destructing.

Brief Interview with Seyha: Underage Trafficking

Seyha is a tour guide here in Siem Reip Cambodia. He is the one who will be taking me to the brothel district to conduct more research and meet with the girls. He has been a tremendous help and has so kindly volunteered to share what he has seen and experienced first hand here in his home country. Enjoy. 

Pictures and Video Footage from Siem Reip

Arrival in Siem Reip

This is the City

The Market. I've never seen anything like this before.

Three of us on a moped heading to town, crazy experience!

Like Ordering Pizza

The Trafficking problem in Cambodia and Thailand is much bigger than what we have been told. I have learned a lot these last couple of days and as a result had stopped writing. In Cambodia they have what you call begging rings. These are people who are often kidnapped or deceived at the border and forced to beg for a living not because they necessarily want to but because they are forced to.

Children are found to be the biggest victims of the begging rings. As I walk through the streets of Siem Reip on almost every corner there are women holding children that are frothing at the mouth or whose eyes are rolling backwards in their heads or who are injured and bleeding or are missing a limb.... and automatically my natural response is to give money or do what ever I can to assist. However after several interviews I have found that the children these women are holding don't belong to them, and that they are not sick or ill but rather have been drugged, or are maimed and injured in some way by the Ring Leaders they work for. I have met several children like this, who have been rescued at the orphanage in Siem Reip. There is one little boy here Lao who was rescued after being arrested at the age of 3 for stealing...? I can imagine how effective the handcuffs were lol....He was in one of the largest begging rings in all of Siem Reip and stealing was what he was taught and forced to do. So when he arrived here at the Maddocks orphanage, he was always getting into trouble for stealing from other children and the staff. He is now 7 and is still addicted to stealing but people say his face has changed. That is Khmer for he "even though he steals he is different now."

The more and more research I do and the more questions I ask the deeper the problem of human trafficking becomes. There is so much more than what we have been told. So much more than Nefarious. The brothel raids are hard experiences. They are not as welcomed and liberating for the children as are imagined. Often times the children don't want to be rescued because the brothel managers whom they've been sold to have become like parents to them. It's the only life they know. They all look scared and kind of just run al over the place. Its like you have to sort chase them and garb them while you can. There are so many under age children hidden in these Karaoke bars and pubs.

Its becoming harder and harder to track down these brothels because although in some cases the girls just sit outside waiting for clients, in cases where the tourists are requesting under age children the brothel manager delivers the children to the hotels, just like you would order a pizza. I've become much closer to one of the main tourists here in town his name is Sehya. He is a Christian and has offered to set up an interview with one of the girls from the brothels in town who was trafficked at the border. She has to come to us somewhere in town we cannot go to her. The only reason we are able to interview her is because I am paying her for the hour, because we are women and because now she says that after many years it is her choice to work prostitution so she doesn't mind sharing.

On a somewhat lighter pizza note, I thought this was quite hilarious...

We Cannot Afford to Make a Name for Ourselves

ZOE International is an amazing organization. They are an Evangelical based organization and have completed a huge home (Safe house Shelter) for orphans in Thailand. This was an interesting experience. When I saw all of what Zoe had done, and the enormous safe house (75 children) they had built and heard all the wonderful stories about the donors that just came along and provided, I felt uneasy and slightly jealous...okay maybe very jealous. I felt like, "Man this is not fair this was my vision, God gave this to me." Isn't it amazing how quickly self can rise to the surface. After a long talk with a really good friend of mine, I call her my Paul, although she doesn't know that, she helped me to realize that the work that they (Zoe) are doing, though it mirrors exactly what God has placed on your heart to do should serve as affirmation for this call to ministry. She also said to me "Shantel the work is so great, too great, that we cannot afford to make a name for ourselves." When I spoke with Carol the founder of the home and organization she said to me, "I am so glad you have decided to do this work, there is so much room for help. If all of us, took in all the orphans who have been abused, trafficked or abandoned there would never be enough beds." She then gave me her card and asked me to keep in touch.

I thank God for the rebuke. I thank Holy Spirit that he attacks my pride, vanity and self glory. That he did not allow these things to go unchecked in my heart, but that He is continually searching me and reading my heart. God sees us as we are and he gently reminds us that it is not about us - at all. I am not a superhero. All the courage and strength you see comes from remaining in HIM. The Stoplight project could never have gotten to where it is now if it was just me. If it was just an idea. GOD gave the vision. Gad gave the growth. And it was the help of an awesome team that has helped to bring it to fruition. 

Previously the Stoplight Project had two primary goals : 1. Create awareness in the SDA church about sex trafficking. 2. Build a Safe home/ Shelter for women and children who have been exploited abused and sex trafficked. 

I now establish a third.....

 3. Build bridges with other Christian organizations, with shared vision, so as to complete this work together as the Whole Body of Christ.

How does it happen?

Below I posted some footage of the travel up to the Hill tribe villages. Two tribes Akha and Karen. I wanted to share some of the scenery with you all, as well as some insightful conversations, I hope you can hear them clearly, but if not what I am saying is that the area that we are headed to is one where people are being trafficked from frequently.

(The Village Leader's wife, she knew I was taking the photo)

How does a person get trafficked:

Situation #1: A village family works the fields, farming, agricultural work, and does weaving in order to generate income and provide for the family. The children attend the village learning center during the day if they are not assisting their parents. Then one day a man comes to the village promising a young girl or child's family that she can make more money and have a better life than the one she currently has in the village. the family wants the child to have a better life so they agree to allow her to migrate to the city to work. The man offers them some early money telling them that they can expect that she will make this and more. The girl goes along with it expecting a better life. The offer is very enticing especially when the man has money in his hand to give the family right away. The girl has no idea she is going to work prostitution and often the family never sees her again. Not even the family is aware of what she is going to end up doing, they just want the child to have a better life and they know that if she can get a good paying job in a retail store or restaurant than she can support her family in the future as goes with Thai custom/culture.

Situation #2: the man shows up and tells the girl she can become more, and have more. Iphone, Ipad mini, Mac computer, jewelry, make up, better clothes maybe he will even be her boyfriend. She goes wanting the materialistic things. The social value is tempting and they often give after hearing of such possibilities not knowing that they will be forced to work 24 hour days taking up to 35 clients a day.

Situation #3: There is a person in the village taking money for information about where they can find little virgin boys and little virgin girls. They find out where and when the children are most vulnerable. Then the children are taken.

Trafficking Government Tensions & Risk Reduction

Early this morning I had a big meeting with the One Stop Crisis Center (OSCC). They are a government organization that works primarily in hospitals and it responsible for handling and taking care of all cases of abuse and suspected trafficking in the area. When i arrived at the hospital they were currently handling to cases: a young girl age 12 brought into the hospital who was abused sexually and violently by her father, and another case of abuse for girl in a brothel. The meeting went well. They didn't have many statistics to share, real cases to discuss or any helpful methodologies in after care trauma care therapy. Most of the children and young women that are brought to the OSCC are from Hilltribes; the most vulnerable group when it comes to labor and sex trafficking. The children often don't know how old they are, neither do they have any identification to prove that they were born in Thailand. So after running a bone test to determine the age of the individual if they cannot prove legal citizenship they often are deported back to the bordering country they migrated from and left as orphans,  which in many cases results in them being trafficked again.

(Every name and picture used has not been taken or used without the consent of the individual recorded or photographed)

I had the opportunity to meet with Pee Ko who currently works for TRAFFCORE an organization dedicated to rescuing and investigating cases of persons trafficked. My meeting with him was very insightful. Before coming to work for TRAFFCORE he formally worked as an undercover investigative agent for an NGO in Thailand. He worked in the regional police department as well as for the NGO. He also spent time working with the police department. While working with the police department he saw many levels of corruption. Many of the police officers were married to or affiliated with in different ways many of the Karaoke bar, Pub, and restaurant owners. He found that almost on every level bribery with money was involved. According toe Pee Ko, it is often the police who warn the brother managers when a raid is about to go down and so they tell them to hide all the underage children/workers that they have.

Pee Ko has been working in the are of human trafficking for the last 10 years shifting into different specified areas of interest but has never left the field human trafficking. He said that his work is very sad but that someone must do it. When he first got involved in the work he did undercover visits to the brothel auctions and Karaoke bars and wrote up reports to submit to higher trustworthy government officials as evidence for what was taking place. He said that this work was difficult because often while working with a case (a child trafficked into a brothel unwillingly) within days of him writing and submitting his report the child would be moved and disappear forever.

He made a very good point: Most NGO's often try and assist at the end of the problem - when the situation is at its worst  - when a person has have been trafficked - but  there are several leading causes that work towards a young child or teenager being trafficked. He says trafficking is the end of the problem it is better that we work to alleviate the initial causes. (poverty, lack of awareness, little to no education or knowledge)

It has been tiring and frustrating meeting with some of the government officials. Trying to track down information or get statistics or even understand the problem more clearly is difficult. The trafficking problem becomes more and more complex the more i hear stories in the villages and sit down with officials. But i have come to realize that little to no information is a lot of information.

(On the way up into the mountains)