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By Jen Prettner and Idelette McVicker

“Why did you buy me?” asked Film, a young girl who dances at one of Bangkok’s go-go bars. “We didn’t buy you,” said Jen Harmenzon, one of three Canadians who recently visited Thailand with Linwood House Ministries. “We paid for you to come out, have ice cream and go home for the night.”

We had noticed how sad she looked, explained Jen. So they called her over and asked her name. Then, as soon as Pu (a former prostitute) asked how old she was, “Film” started crying. She told them it was the first night she’d have to take off all her clothes on stage and she didn’t want to do it. That’s when they decided to pay her $24 bar fine for the night.

For Jen Harmenzon and Sue Todd this was their third visit to Bangkok and the Home for New Beginnings in two years. It was Gwen McVicker’s second trip. It’s a ministry they believe in, because in many ways it mirrors the work they do with women on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

A Place for New Beginnings

Estimates vary around the number of sex workers in Thailand. Some say about 200,000 to 300,000; others studies suggest numbers closer to 3 million—men, women and girls lining the various sex establishments in the Land of Smiles.

“It’s an assault on your senses,” said Canadian Sue Todd. “ I call it Coney Island meets Sodom and Gomorrah.”

In sharp contrast, the Home of New Beginnings—founded by American missionaries Roy and Bonita Thompson—is a place of grace in this hyper-sexualized chaos. Located just three blocks from one of Bangkok’s three major red light districts, Home of New Beginnings helps women who want to leave the sex trade. There is room for ex-prostitutes to live, learn a skill like sewing and learn about God and the gospel. They also learn English to help get a better job. “The core of what they do there is relationship, coming together and learning to live as family, says Jen Harmenzon. “More than a program it is about building relationships with each of the women, walking out their unique journey.”

Not many women make the shift to leaving prostitution, however. “To us it seems like a no-brainer,” said Gwen McVicker, president of Linwood House Ministries. “To them leaving the bars is a big step, because that means they’re giving up on the hope that one day a rich man will come and whisk them away.” It’s also hard when they can earn enough money selling themselves to provide for parents, siblings, grandparents, children and sometimes even husbands. Retail or other jobs simply don’t offer the same earning capacity.

Façade of Intimacy

Unlike many other countries where men buy prostitutes, in Thailand it’s not strictly money for the purposes of sex. “There’s this whole façade of courtship and intimacy,” explains Sue Todd. “Some men buy the women for days at a time. There’s wooing, dining, shopping. The big thing is getting someone to take you to the beach.”

She adds: “You see these men sitting at the bar pouring their hearts out to a girl, but most of them don’t even speak English. They just smile and nod. Smile and nod, interjecting the occasional English word they know into the conversation. It’s such a distortion of intimacy.”

Pu’s New Beginning

One of the highlights for Gwen, Jen and Sue was reconnecting with Pu, a former prostitute. “When we first met her two years ago, Pu had just arrived at the center,” said Gwen. She felt she was too old to continue being a bar girl and had been discarded by her family.

“She was very depressed and cried a lot,” said Gwen. “Pu is a new person today.” Now she goes out to the bars—even to the one she used to work at. She talks with the bar girls, gives them some of her home-baked banana bread and shares gently how she found peace through Jesus.

Pu’s story demonstrates the power of a new beginning. There is hope for many more if they so choose.

“We have felt a call to pray for the women of Thailand,” said Sue. “For them to ‘get up,’ to see and embrace the value, dignity and worth that is theirs, to unite and demand their rightful place, to no longer allow themselves to be victimized. Isaiah 61:4 says, ‘They will rebuild the ancient ruins … the cities long destroyed.’ May it be so for the women of Thailand.”


globalgirl FACTSHEET: Prostitution in Thailand




About Jen:
Jen Prettner is a Third Year Communications major at Trinity Western University in B.C., Canada. She gets to spend summers with her parents in sunny Northern California. Her job at Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble keeps her busy during the day, but she enjoys writing late into the night.