Oklahoma Woman Works To Free Slaves In Bangkok’s

[churchill]

Along Bangkok, Thailand’s red light districts, bright signs promote the various clubs and bars such as Soi Cowboy, Nana and Patpong.

The first time Celeste McGee walked along one of the busy streets in 2007, she grew overwhelmed by the large number of prostitutes working in the bars there.

Most of them were known only by a number — remaining nameless to their customers and the world outside the seamy underworld in which they were immersed.

The Midwest City missionary had been preparing for the time when she could help rescue people ensnared in the sex trade in Bangkok, yet the reality was daunting.

"I’d done all this research, but when you’re standing on this street with 1,500 prostitutes, it crushed me. I just wanted to go home and bawl for hours,” she said.

"You look at these women, and their eyes are sad, empty, fearful or angry.”

McGee, 33, said she initially wondered if the problem was too big for her. She decided that it was too big for her — but not too big for the Lord.

She has started a Christian ministry in Thailand called DtonNaam, which aims to free people trapped in the world of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. DtonNaam, she said, is a word in the Thai language that describes the source of a stream or the beginning of water that provides nourishment.

McGee said it’s a fitting analogy for her efforts to help sexually exploited people find their way to new lives and new spiritual direction.

She hopes to offers them a way of escape.

"It’s heartwrenching,” she said.

"They are desperate to get out and have no idea that there are other options out there.”

From Oklahoma to Thailand

McGee said her eventual journey to Thailand was sparked when she learned about Buddhism, which is the prevailing religion in the Asian country.

She said she grew up attending Meadowood Baptist Church in Midwest City and graduated high school at Christian Heritage Academy. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in family psychology from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, McGee spent two years teaching college students in South Korea.

When she came back to America in 2001, she contacted the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board asking to become a missionary to Thailand.

McGee said mission board officials suggested that she obtain more counseling education and then submit an application. The determined young woman obtained her master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. In February 2007, she traveled to Thailand as an International Mission Board missionary.

She said she quickly learned that Thailand is a beautiful land filled with friendly people.

McGee said she became the main counselor for a ministry called The Well, which focused on aiding female prostitutes in Bangkok.

They befriended prostitutes working in some of the Bangkok bars and McGee said she had no problems talking to the women.

"It’s an easy conversation. They ask me ‘what’s a white girl doing in here?!’” she said, smiling.

McGee said after forming friendships and gaining the women’s trust, she and other missionaries took the women on fun outings like bowling or out to eat, away from the seedy environment created by greedy pimps and bar owners. She said a couple of times, the ministry purchased the women for an evening to spend some time with them. Most, she said, have only two nights off a month and work 10-hour shifts.

She said some of the girls are forced to wear school uniforms so they will appear younger, while others are made to wear immodest clothing.

"That’s their life. They live in darkness,” McGee said.

"To take them somewhere fun is unusual and unexpected.”

McGee said she had to remember the women by their numbers as she asked around for them on any given night. Some were known by nicknames given to them by others, but most were known only by number, she said.

She said the women’s customers, many of them from other countries, "are desensitized, too. They hear all these stories that the girls want this and that they like it. The girls are trained to tell them what they want to hear.”

Some of the women were forced into the lifestyle when their impoverished families sold them into prostitution, some for about $12.

"Women are trafficked in from the villages. A lot of times their families need money because crops have failed, a flood destroyed their home or a loan shark is pressuring them,” McGee said.

The Well had rescued 65 women at the end of the program this year, she said.

McGee said in January she learned that the International Mission Board was cutting some missionary positions due to budget constraints and her position would no longer be funded. She said she thought the timing was right to start her own ministry offering the same kind of help, but with a broader vision.

"I’d done

all this research, but when you’re standing on this street with 1,500 prostitutes, it crushed me. I just wanted to go home and bawl for hours.”

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-woman-works-to-...article/3392827

[bonobo]

If anyone, female or male, is forced into the sex trade, that is deplorable. If any minor is in the sex trade, voluntarily or not, that is deplorable. And anyone who offers services to such a person to help them escape from that situation should be lauded.

However, and this may not be PC to write, I doubt very much that the majority or even a significant minority of the sex trade workers are "slaves." I may be wrong, but I do think most of these people are voluntarily in the business. For example, a university classmate of a friend of mine got a cut in pay as a bookkeeper, so she started working part-time at a bar which caters to Japanese clients. Within a week, she quit her job as a bookkeeper. Within three weeks, she had a steady boyfriend, and she is now heading to Japan to live with him there. She tried to convince my friend to join her for the "easy money." I know this is just one case, but I rather think this example is more the norm than the exception to it.

[OxfordWill]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

[mrtoad]

Useless do gooders.

[lannarebirth]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

No sensationalism, no appealing to prurient interest, no cameras, no publicizing, no funding.

[Lost in LOS]

praise the lord .............. and all the sex workers

[GrahamF]

While admirable, I think she would be better served to go back to the USA and try and help the thousands of women who are penned up in "massage parlors" across the country. The media is rife with stories about this going on in the USA.

[Ulysses G.]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

This is it.

True sex slaves exist in barbaric brothels for Thai men a few miles away, but these puritanical nuts want to "save" women who have chosen sex work as a career - for the high wages - because they are servicing white guys.

What a bunch of hypocrites!!

[mrtoad]

.

McGee said in January she learned that the International Mission Board was cutting some missionary positions due to budget constraints and her position would no longer be funded. She said she thought the timing was right to start her own ministry offering the same kind of help, but with a broader vision.

This is the crux of the matter, she's not getting it, and has lost her job.

I wonder if she has a work permit?

[slapout]

As she is from Oklahoma she could have cut down travel expense/time by heading" south of the border down Mexico way" .With all the rules the Baptist's have against vices, real and imagined, if the girls were to put 10% into collection plate the church may have continued funding.

[Harcourt]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

Taking Bonobo's point completely, especially about the deplorability of it, if you, Oxford, really feel that way, (and I have no doubt that you're right), then contact the woman and steer her to where she can do her Lord's work better.

[cdnvic]

Why isn't she doing anything about the sex slaves in Oklahoma, or the rest of the USA?

[mc2]

the lady she is hugging looks like a tom

wonder if ...

http://www.facebook.com/people/Celeste-McGee/522248618

Edited August 15, 2009 by mc2

[Maizefarmer]

Great, good for her .... but why do all these efforts to free the natives from this or that vice have to be associated with their Christian committments - why can't folk just get on with it?

There are hundreds of Western organisations doing this or that in Thailand and elsewhere in South East Asia, and for the most part they do a jolly good job of helping a lot of folk, but they all associate their efforts with Christianity, and in some way try to impart this on those they set out to help.

It would be so much better if they could just get on with it unconditionaly.

[mc2]

they get brownie points from god for converting the unbelievers.

thailand is crawling with these people.

actually i consider it another form of exploitation ("debt of faith"), although obviously freeing genuine sex slaves is the lesser of the two evils.

[sanmiguellight]

She hopes to offers them a way of escape.

"It's heartwrenching," she said.

"They are desperate to get out and have no idea that there are other options out there."

mmmmm Maybe theyre well aware of the best possible option to get out of their situation ..... marry silly farang and exploit him.

McGee said after forming friendships and gaining the women's trust, she and other missionaries took the women on fun outings like bowling or out to eat, away from the seedy environment created by greedy pimps and bar owners. She said a couple of times, the ministry purchased the women for an evening to spend some time with them. Most, she said, have only two nights off a month and work 10-hour shifts.

Would seem i've done the work of a missionary myself without even knowing it!

[pavlovsdog]

Houston is a major hub for child traffickers. (Houston's hidden crime)

A 2007 study from Shared Hope International found 400 child trafficking victims being exploited in Las Vegas in a single month.

At least 100,000 children are used in prostitution every year in the United States.

The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years old.

(America's Trafficked Children Are Being Arrested, Not Rescued)

[Harcourt]

Great, good for her .... but why do all these efforts to free the natives from this or that vice have to be associated with their Christian committments - why can't folk just get on with it?

There are hundreds of Western organisations doing this or that in Thailand and elsewhere in South East Asia, and for the most part they do a jolly good job of helping a lot of folk, but they all associate their efforts with Christianity, and in some way try to impart this on those they set out to help.

It would be so much better if they could just get on with it unconditionaly.

I agree with you, but to be fair, although she has formed a "mission" with a stated Christian background, we don't know if she actually proselytises.

[PeaceBlondie]

My usual advice is "let Thais fix the problems of Thailand." But they don't.

[sendbaht]

I'd tell her to go back to Oklahoma and drive up and down a few streets in Oklahoma City or Tulsa. Do your "good work" there, bye bye.

Edited August 15, 2009 by sendbaht

[mc2]

harder to convert back home.

in thailand they are more vulnerable.

[LaoPo]

However, and this may not be PC to write, I doubt very much that the majority or even a significant minority of the sex trade workers are "slaves."

The article is a typical example of news in the holiday season.

However, I agree with your "majority" but disagree with "significant minority". There IS such a significant minority (kept as slaves in rural brothels) although not visible for Farang, whether living in or outside Thailand.

Although a very long time ago I witnessed this for myself in the dark sois of rural Thailand in the south; the girls were chained to their beds, some of them shocking young.

I wasn't prepared to see what I saw and couldn't believe my eyes....TiT! I was sickened and laughed off because of my disgusted comments to the Thai who took me there; they found it quite funny...... Sex slavery doesn't just happen in India and/or other countries...in Thailand as well.

All these so called well fare people trying to rescue sex workers in the Farang touristic areas have no clue. They wouldn't be allowed in the "real" world of sex in Thailand. They would be disposed of by the powerful sex bosses in a split second

LaoPo

[kblaze]

from a neutral point of view, it's kind of amazing the immediate negative reactions this post got

[OxfordWill]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

Taking Bonobo's point completely, especially about the deplorability of it, if you, Oxford, really feel that way, (and I have no doubt that you're right), then contact the woman and steer her to where she can do her Lord's work better.

I'll add her to the list, Harcourt.

kblaze- why is it amazing? She's plain wrong on the whole fundamental of her mission. Just wrong, offensively, damagingly, uselessly, wrong. No doubt good people gave good money in good faith, who would want to be the one to tell them its doing absolutely nothing to help girls out of sexual slavery? Not me. Or, if you prefer, think of the girls in sexual slavery who could have been helped if she had done some proper research and found them? Their suffering continues. Its not enough to say oh she tried her best. If you set yourself up to do this line of work you should be held accountable, and she has failed, if we are to believe the journalist reporting this.

Edited August 15, 2009 by OxfordWill

[Orac]

McGee said she had to remember the women by their numbers as she asked around for them on any given night. Some were known by nicknames given to them by others, but most were known only by number, she said.

I have yet to meet anyone who didn't have a name - maybe they just didn't want to talk to her ????

[LaoPo]

from a neutral point of view, it's kind of amazing the immediate negative reactions this post got

That's not surprising since most of the "old soldiers" in Thailand, meaning Farang people who come here since decades, shake their heads with yet another biased story about the sex trade.

A sex trade, business if you like, which was already in place long before the first Farang ever set foot on land in the harbour of Bangkok, 100, 200 or more years ago.

When a small local newspaper posts a headline like: "Oklahoma woman works to free slaves in Bangkok’s sex trade" it's like feeding a hamburger to the Oklahoma people because, in their minds, Bangkok, Thailand and sex trade must be synonymous words for sensational news; in other words, it must be the Sodom and Gomorra of the Far East. I'll bet that 99% of the locals don't even know where Thailand is on a blank map

There are hundreds of thousands of people out there trying to help people in underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa, S America etc. and the lady in the article is likely one of them. But, as I said, it's Holiday time and a typical example of such news.

People need (news) food every day....better than no food at all.

Apart from this it's understandable that people post negative if they read such utter nonsense by this Ms. Celeste McGee, like:

"He was a "lady boy,” the street name for male prostitutes who dress and act like women. McGee said she knew many of these young men worked the red light districts, some in gay bars. Others worked in bars where customers thought they were women for awhile. She said many of these young men had been severely beaten by enraged customers who were surprised when they discovered their gender.

She said some of the young male prostitutes she befriended had been raised as girls.

McGee said DtonNaam will offer aid to females, but also will work with these males entrapped by the sex trade.

Along with the despair and feelings of hopelessness that many of the female prostitutes often express, the male prostitutes have gender identity confusion, she said."

She has no clue and is out for publicity.....look at the video interview...

LaoPo

[pavlovsdog]

from a neutral point of view, it's kind of amazing the immediate negative reactions this post got

Obviously it is plain to see this woman is a PC fruit-loop. Dangerous given the right set of circumstances and an equaly naive self rightious audiance. More to do back home:

Houston is a major hub for child traffickers. (Houston's hidden crime)

A 2007 study from Shared Hope International found 400 child trafficking victims being exploited in Las Vegas in a single month.

At least 100,000 children are used in prostitution every year in the United States.

The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years old.

(America's Trafficked Children Are Being Arrested, Not Rescued)

[StatlerandWaldorf]

Christ.. I bet the cowboy, nana and patpong girls are loving this woman and her organisation- another source of freebies. Why cant they take their good intentions and money and use it where actual sexual slavery goes on. only need to travel a few miles in any direction away from voluntary services of the cowboy, nana and patpong girls.

Exactly what I thought, these girls have a quota to meet for barfines etc (so I hear ) if this woman is paying their barfine AND taking them out for dinner they will be laughing, before returning to work probably the same night.

[DP25]

The Well had rescued 65 women at the end of the program this year, she said.

Suuuuuure....and you're paying them all 50,000 baht per month, and they're STILL secretly working at Soi Cowboy behind your back. What a retarded article.

[pavlovsdog]

The Well had rescued 65 women at the end of the program this year, she said.

Suuuuuure....and you're paying them all 50,000 baht per month, and they're STILL secretly working at Soi Cowboy behind your back. What a retarded article.

Well I have rescued 65 girls also (approx over the years) at an average of 2000 baht per girl. So - yes - she is paying way over the top.

Oh, and I wonder how many guys out there have paid one of these young ladies a fair amount of baht per month to stay out of this terrible buisness, only to find that as soon as their ass is on the plane they're straight back on the pole. Thats why I prefer to rescue them for just one night each