Old Chicken, New Chicken!

For those of you who are new to our blog, the word "chicken" is the code name we use when we see a new pedophile visit the brothel community. Yesterday while Melissa and I were about to leave the village to head back to Phnom Penh, we were alerted to two ''Barang" another name for foreigner who were sauntering down the main street in their motos. One of them I recognized from last year when I was serving in Svay Pak. He apparently lives--- in Phnom Penh. He had a new friend on the back of his moto---an older gentlemen. They happen to drive up right in front of our building but their attention was focused on a building opposite The Sanctuary where some Vietnamese women were sitting. Shortly thereafter, they were seated just outside this home and someone from the local coffee shop brought them some ice coffees. It seems they know the women or at least the daughter of the women as she apparently speaks English. We were told that these women also want to protect the kids but I guess time will tell.

Old and New Chickens 

I continue to be amazed at how open some of these chickens are. One of them clearly was taking some notes as if he was doing research. They seem so unaware (or perhaps they didn''t care)  that there were people subtly looking in their directions. Some of Pastor Chantha's disciples were sitting in my tuk tuk 'hanging out' about 10 feet from them, while Melissa and I were with Pastor Chantha and Bunthan standing at the Sanctuary entry. It was a perfect photo opportunity.

These days it is very unusual to see the chickens sitting so casually and visibly for all to see. This was more reminiscent of the past as nowadays, most of the wheeling and dealing is done in the alley ways away from the main street to avoid detection. At any rate, for any who think that child sex trafficking is not alive and well in this area, we can tell them otherwise. We are aware that there are 17 girls under the age of 12 who come to the Sanctuary that are being sold on a daily basis. Out of those 17, there are two girls who are 5 years old. These are the ones that are known to the staff but we all believe that the numbers are much higher.

It is for these young ones that we ask that you would continually intercede for. God has brought them to His Sanctuary. It is not by accident or coincidence that they are there. It is these young ones that He is calling us His church to speak up for, to seek justice on their behalf. We continue to be thankful to our partners in this community whose very presence provides solace to many of these young lives. They act as God's watchmen and His shepherds, seeking to gather the little sheep and lambs from the wild animals that are preying upon them. They indeed act like The Shepherd in Ezekiel 34:11-16.  ¹¹ “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.