Week 8: Intimacy & Advocacy

Sex & Money

Morgan Perry

    This week has probably been my favority week so far.  I learned an incredible amount and we had the "Angelina Jolie of Human Trafficking" come and speak to us...  The one and only Morgan Perry. If you don't know who this is, she is the producer of the documentary Sex & Money (if you haven't seen this drop everything and go watch it) and the soon to be documentary Liberated.  She also works for the non-profit organization Exodus Cry in Kansas City.  She is seriously the most selfless, inspiring, so on fire for Jesus, passionate, and God fearing women I have had the pleasure of meeting.  She talked a lot about why our society is the way it is and what the cause is for the increased rate of Human Trafficking.

    Very few people know about how prevalent Human Trafficking is in today's society.  Most think that it happens in foreign countries but the actuality is there are millions of women, men, and children being trafficked in the U.S. each year.  Why are there so many people being trafficked?  The fact is, if there wasn't a demand then there would be no need for supply.  So, if there were no men buying women for sex there would be no women on the streets prostituting their bodies in the first place.  

• In Germany and Spain there is approximately 1.5 million purchases of sex each day. 

    Who are the victims of sexual slavery?  They are mostly women who have low self esteem, have run away from home, live in a broken home, are starving for attention, and are in survival mode.  Most of runaways will be picked up and trafficked with in 48 hours.  The evils of sexual slavery are; theft of innocence, forced labor, rape, physical trauma, and abortions. The average age of entry into prostitution in the U.S. is 12-14 years old. 

• Of the women who are slaves 95% of them are assualted and 75% of them are raped.

    Why is human trafficking so bad in today's society?  Why are there more slaves today than in any other point in history? The simple answer is porn culture and party culture. 

    In porn culture the message that is displayed about women is that they are available, disposable, and they only exist for male pleasure. The message to men is that it is all about their pleasure and that women are instruments for their pleasure.  The highest rated genre of porn in the world is torture porn and the second highest is barely legal- meaning porn stars are dressed up as children and are having sex (some rape scenes) with men. Some people will argue that porn is not a form of trafficking and that there is nothing wrong with it, but the cruel reality is that 99% of porn stars are being trafficked or have been trafficked, because trafficking is not just the abdustion and solicitation of women. By definition it is the recruitment of people by the means of threat, coercion, or deception for the purpos of exploitation. So, when people buy porn they are supporting human trafficking.  

• Porn releases dopamine into the brain and becomes as addictive as heroin
• The average age of first exposure to porn is 7 years old

    In today's party culture millions of people world wide flood to the beaches to celebrate their spring break. Many of the girls are raped and assaulted. For example last summer a girl was gang raped (on video) on Panama City Beach with thousands of people around and yet no one did anything. Rape has become so normalized in our culture that no one even thinks to help a girl that is being raped on a beach in front of thousands.  This is today's party culture. All the young guys partying want sex, money, and alcohol. All the girls crave attention so much that they are willing to give it to them with no thought.

    If you would like to know more you can check out Exodus Cry's web page or A21 Campaign's web page.

    Sorry this post was a tad depressing, but I think it's important to let people in on what's happening with Human Trafficking in today's society.

    I have just a few short weeks before I leave for Africa and I could still use your support.  You can donate by following the following link: gofund.me/taj8tg8.  Thanks for all your support.  Please pray for protection for both of our teams.

Week 7: Mexico Outreach!!!!!!

    Sorry this post is late, it has been such a busy week! Oh, and sit down on the couch and get comfy because this post is bound to be long! (: Attention: Week 8 will also be posted right after this.

    All About Mexico:

    In total we spent five days in mexico - three days in Ensenada and two days in Tijuana. We arrived on Tuesday night and for someone like me- who has never been out of the country- it was a bit of a culture shock as soon as we crossed the border. I couldn't believe that one second we were in the U.S. and in another second we were in what seemed like a whole different world. It looked completely different from what I was used to in 2 seconds flat. We arrived at the church/missions center that we would be staying at around 10 pm in Ensenada.

   
    The next morning we woke up early to eat breakfast and do morning worship/devo before heading out to a migrant camp- a small community of people that consists of the men and their families that work in the fields.  They live in little cement block type rooms with little to no roofs and no doors (some have sheets hung up to give a little bit of privacy). It amazed me at how they live. That their "sewer system" runs right through the middle of their land and that they have no electricity or running water. When we arrived there were no men (because they were out working in the fields) and all the women were washing the clothes on a scrub board. The kids were walking around aimlessly, throwing rocks and playing in the dirt. It was so quiet yet so chaotic at the same time.

     We spent around two hours there playing soccer, painting nails, doing hair, and just goofing off with the little kiddos. It was amazing to see how quickly they became attached to you because they so badly want human interaction and attention. Just to see how happy they were to just walk up and shake your hand and to just play something as little as peek-a-boo with them. Even though neither of us knew what the other was saying and we were having one sided conversations in our own languages it didn't matter.

 

    Later that day we went to a rehab center for girls that abuse drugs. There were twenty some girls there and we all sat in one big circle and sang worship songs, shared our testamonies and our dreams. It was cool to see how we live in completely different cultures yet still have the same desires and aspirations for our lives. It was an incredible experience and towards the end we gathered in a circle and prayed for healing over the girls and for their future dreams. Two of the girls eneded up accepting Christ that day and to be able to witness that was something I don't ever want to forget.

    The second day we started off by going to an orphanage that was about 45 mins away from town. We were able to help them clean-up their property and just hang out with the children. They have about 30 kids in total but when we were there 15 of them were at school. It was mostly teen girls that were at the orphanage while we were there. We got to talk a lot with them through translators and hear some of their stories. 

    Later that night we went to the Red Light District. Some of us did a prayer walk- where we walk around and prophecy over people or ask the people on the streets if we can pray for them and what for- others handed out burritos and cookies to the girls on the street or the homeless people. As we were doing this the abandoned building that we parked our vans in front of caught on fire. What are the odds of that happening? The enemy clearly didn't like the fact that we were out praying for the people of the Red Light district, but even though the fire department had to come and it was a huge ordeal we didn't let it stop us from continuing our prayer walk. Oh, and our vans were okay!

    The third day we took off for the YWAM Tijuana base, but stopped in Rosarita to go shopping and to the ocean. It was our only free time during this outreach and we were determined to make th ebest of it. After eating the best tacos and bartering with the people at the shops we took off for the beach. 

     About 10 of us girls actually got in the freezing pacific ocean and swam in the waves. Erika (my bff and crazy roommate all in one) and I got seperated from the group a bit and at first we thought we were okay, but out of nowhere we started to get pulled out further into the ocean. All of a sudden we couldn't touch and as we were trying to swim back to the shore we weren't moving. 

     At this point the waves were just crashing over us and we were just swallowing water. We started to "yell" for help- I use the word yell lightly because you cant really yell when choking on water. Erika and I literally had one of those moments that you see in movies where the two charcters are about to die and they look at each other one last time. As we were doing this one of those trucks that are like beach patrol pulled up with their sirens on and this gets the attention of one of the other girls on our team that went through life guard training. She turned around and saw us and was able to pull us back into shore. As sson as we reached dry sand Erika and I both started choking up water. It is pretty safe to say that this was THE scariest moment of our lives.

 

      That night one of the staff members of Tijuana took us to the largest Red Light District in North America. I thought Vegas was bad, but I had no idea what was in store for me when we walked through the district. Girl after girl after girl was just ligned up on every club wall for blocks. It shattered us to sit there and watch men pull up in their cars and the girls get in one after another. Over and over again. To see the corrupt police in Mexico do nothing about it. To sit there and literally just watch it happen. We learned about how if the building above the clubs had child curtains or blankets hanging in the windows that means they do child sex trafficking. Can you imagine walking by and seeing a Winnie the Pooh sheet hanging in a window and knowing what goes on up there, but being able to do nothing about it? It leaves you broken and angry. As we walked by I kept asking God, "What has happened to the world you created? How can our world be so corrupt that this happens everyday and not only in Mexico but in our very own states and cities?" We walked away from the district feeling disaapointed and unbelievably sad.

    Even though there were some very hard moments, Mexico was such an amazing and once in a life time experience. We witnessed a guy with sores on his legs be healed, a women with crippled legs be healed, and were able to witness to so many people. I wouldn't have changed anything.

Ps. As it is starting to get closer to outreach I am still in need of funds to be able to go. Any amount of support or prayer would be much appreciated! Please help me show the unreached children in Africa who Jesus is. You can support me by sending a check to YWAM Las Vegas for Katy Melton or by going to  GoFundMe.com/taj8tg8 .

XOX,

Katy Melton