I have been thinking about what I have learned over the last twelve weeks. But I don't know if "learning" is the right word. Learning conjures up books and lectures. I think this summer has been more about experiences. This last week, I'll try to share a few of those experiences:
Earlier in the summer, I had the opportunity to visit a brothel, thanks to a connection with a local NGO called Oasis. Oasis works with both pimps and prostitutes, providing education, health care, recreational activities, counseling, and God's hope. In my work, I'm used to seeing pimps and madames as evil men and women who deserve to be jailed. But Oasis sees the same people as victims of an evil system. And I understand. Some of the madames were forced prostitutes themselves. Many of the pimps start at a very young age as cleaning and errand boys. They are thrown into a vicious system where good and evil, normal and tragic, are turned upside down, and there is no one to point out truth.
That's not to say that I don't believe the pimps and madames should not be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law. But I think I do have a better picture of reality now and the need for the structures of oppression to change.
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