The following blog is written by John Kuryan. John, along with his family, recently returned home after serving at Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC). BTC is an organization that fights human trafficking in Mumbai, India. John shares his experience of serving in the Red Light District.
I feel like I’ve seen some pretty crazy things in my life. I spent 4 years working in the Bronx and have stories from the ER that most people wouldn’t believe. Pregnant 12 year olds…horrifying child abuse…3 siblings stabbed by their older brother….and the list goes on. Before we left for India, I had some idea about the utter darkness of the brothels of Mumbai. I felt like my life experiences would prepare me for what would lie ahead. But until you’ve seen these sights for yourself, no words or pictures can truly do it justice. My family and I stepped out of our world of hand sanitizer, baby wipes and car seats and entered a world where children run barefoot and half naked through filthy streets. They play in traffic as cars squeeze down narrow alleys. I was amazed by the number of stray dogs that roam the streets. Back home in the US, we have supermarket aisles dedicated to organic dog food. Here, the dogs and the children often eat the same scraps. The dogs are thin. The children are thinner.
We saw the girls “working” outside the medical clinic, some as young as 12 or 13…maybe even younger. We saw infants and toddlers wandering the streets. Maybe their mothers were soliciting “clients” (otherwise they would risk being beaten by their “employers”). Maybe these kids were abandoned when their mothers realized they could only offer them a life of despair. Or perhaps their mothers were dead. Either way, these kids were left to fend for themselves during the day. I can only imagine what happens when the sun goes down.
Working in the clinic, we saw patients of all ages. Malnourished kids with rotting teeth. Women with various physical ailments in their 20’s or 30’s (most of them didn’t know their date of birth or even their age because they have been trapped in this hell for what must seem like an eternity). Some clearly had old injuries due to physical abuse. I saw many elderly women whose faces wore the pain of a tortured life, now beyond their “working” years and unwilling to leave the only place they’ve ever called home.
In the midst of seeing patients, I stopped for a moment and thought to myself: “This must be the worst place on earth.” So much pain, so much despair…and seemingly, no hope in sight. These women looked resigned to their fate. They seemed to know that their daughters would soon follow the same path into the brothels and their sons would become pimps, drug addicts…or both. I watched as my kids played with these same children in the clinic, singing songs and doing crafts. Watching them, I couldn’t help but notice that they were similar in age and appearance. They might even pass for siblings. Yet, their life circumstances could not be more different. Why did my kids have the good fortune of being born on the other side of the world, far away from the horror of this place? I couldn’t come up with an answer.
In spite of this despair, there were glimpses of hope. There was joy in the faces of the children as they played in the daycare area of the clinic. The few hours they spend there each day provide a temporary respite from the harsh realities of the world just outside the door. I saw women come in for free medical care, often for life-saving treatment of HIV. While there, these women can often enjoy a meal, a conversation or even a prayer with the BTC staff, who share their own story of rescue and restoration. Perhaps they can see that there are possibilities beyond the life they know and, indeed, there is hope for redemption. These small seeds are planted each time the women and children visit the clinic. The vision and prayer of those at BTC is that these seeds would grow and ultimately blossom. And while their labor may seem to be in vain at times, we know that God is working – even in the darkest of places. We were able to witness the fruits of this labor during the second half of our week at Ashagram. For me, this was a glimpse of what heaven must be like.
by Ajay Thomas
Ajay lives in Philadelphia with his wife Shainu and their kids Hannah and Micah. He is responsible for preaching and vision as a pastor at Seven Mile Road.