Prayers For Justice - A Prayer Guideনমুনা

Pray For Children Lured By The Sex Trade

It’s evening in Thailand, and we can see the glow coming from the game parlors. Boys as young as six years old gather to have fun and find relief from the heat in the air-conditioned rooms. Gaming may seem like an innocent past time, but in Thailand, these unsupervised gaming parlors serve as easy access to sexual predators. The “recruiters” lurk about, looking to pull boys and young men into the sex trade. The children are enticed by the lure of easy money and accommodations much nicer than their own home in the slums.

Wanchai Wankasamsan serves on the front lines of these streets, educating boys to this danger and saving them from the sex trade. He is the director of a Compassion-assisted child development center at the Chiang Mai Acts of Grace church.

The access to quick money becomes an addiction, holding the young boys in its grasp until it’s too late. Thailand’s sex trade often leads to STDs, broken family ties, lack of education and mental health problems. Often, it leads to death.

“But we don’t wait for them to get to that point,” Wanchai says. “We want to get to them before they’ve entered the sex trade or are addicted to computer games. We have to pull them into our community.”

After trying several strategies, Wanchai and his church started a soccer ministry for at-risk children. All the children in the slum were invited to join a team of children from the church and learn to play soccer. Compassion joined in to help children in poverty and rescue these boys from the sex trade. “After we joined with Compassion, we were able to increase our reach to 30 children and counting!” says Wanchai.

Almost every young boy in the slum is now enrolled in their soccer program. The benefits of the program are undeniably obvious. To date, not a single boy who has enrolled in the Acts of Grace Church soccer program has later entered the sex trade. Wanchai calls it “automatic protection.” Simply registering a child with Compassion and entering him into the program keeps him out of the hands of recruiters. What’s more, according to Wanchai, “Already, two or three children have come to believe in Jesus through this program!” Children are staying home at night, sleeping well, eating better and have good male role models in their lives. The church is now expanding their ministry by creating a volleyball team for girls to protect them from the sex trade recruiters.

Father God, we thank You for those who serve as protectors and advocates for children who are being lured into sex trade. We ask for Your protection for the children, for You to thwart the plans of evil people, and help parents to see the dangers. With Your help, may these children in Thailand learn to achieve goals, even those beyond the soccer field — goals that will lead to a life rescued from poverty.

Read more about the soccer team here.