AsiaStories

The men and women who work in this massage parlor had never heard about the true meaning of Christmas. Christmases for these men and women weren’t filled with advent calendars, gingerbread men and presents. There weren’t any links in paper chains to rip off to show how many days were left until Christmas.

In India, the devadasi (day-vah-dah-see) system, a Hindu practice of temple prostitution, has existed for more than 5,000 years. In the state of Karnataka in southern India, starving families dedicate hundreds of girls each year to the goddess Yellamma. The children are forced to begin a life of prostitution at age 11 or 12.

Nicole Dell and her friends from America never pictured themselves singing Karaoke in a Thai bar, but they threw caution to the wind when they realized it was the easiest way to have uninterrupted conversations with the bar’s sex workers.

Kathleen Jones* visits India’s brothels five days a week to share Christ’s love with the women working here. She is 69 years old and has been working in the red light districts of India for over three years. With four children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren at home in the United States, coming to India was not an easy decision, but Jones says she knew it was what God called her to do.

The young Chinese woman steps from a back room into the soft, pink light of a small brothel. She adjusts her short dress and black stockings. A middle-aged Chinese man follows a few steps behind, handing her the equivalent of $60 U.S. Transactions like this happen every day in brothels throughout China, a Christian worker says. By praying and sharing, she hopes to bring the Gospel to China’s commercially exploited women.