In the West, many girls grow up dreaming of becoming a princess, dancing in living rooms in Cinderella dresses. For many girls and women in the U.S. who’ve been trafficked into prostitution, this was how things began before turning into sullied dreams.
In South Asia, however, becoming a princess was never part of the hopes or dreams of most girls from rural villages and urban slums. Their reality and future begin so low that, when and if trafficking happens, it’s a step even lower than where they started.
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“As an American girl, even in most circumstances, you at least had some dream at one point of your life of being a princess. Maybe that got squished,” International Mission Board missionary Carlie Blyth said. “No girls here in this socioeconomic world ever imagined that they would get to be a princess.”
Since the day Blyth arrived, first as a short-term missionary, ministering to women in the red-light district has been her passion. She shares with them that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, those found in Christ have an inheritance in heaven and that there is a King who loves them.
‘Depths of depravity’
In impoverished villages, traffickers, who are often women, target vulnerable families with false promises of jobs for their daughters. Many girls are taken to cities, sold into prostitution, burdened with debt and threatened if they try to escape. Child marriage is also used as a means of trafficking.
“It’s so hard to wrap your mind around. Honestly, the depths of depravity of things in this region…” Blyth trails off. “I know that depravity is everywhere, but I really feel that the idol worship here really hardens hearts, and it makes people so enamored of the darkness and numb to any kind of compassion and conviction.
“That manifests itself in a lot of ways here, but one way very clearly is in the sex-trafficking practices,” she continued.
Blyth said she and her husband, Will, discovered a gap among people trying to get the gospel to the women. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are rescuing and rehabilitating them, but the gospel was not consistently being shared.
Blyth’s South Asian ministry partner, Anvi, has a passion for helping both the women and the children of trafficked women. Anvi and her husband, Reyansh, had a vision to plant a church among the women.
In 2021, they began renting a room in the red-light district to begin meeting with women for weekly prayer meetings.
Fresh start
In the last three years, nine women have left prostitution because of Christ’s redeeming love.
“They left not just for a new job,” Blyth said. “Because of Jesus, they wanted to leave that area.”
Blyth continued, “They have to leave everything when they follow Christ, so it’s a really hard decision for them to make. But once they make it, it’s so much more life-altering than for a typical person who says they want to follow the Lord. It’s cool for us who get to work with them because they’re super sold out to the Lord, which is amazing.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tessa Sanchez and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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