William Joseph Lyons
Deceived by an anti trafficking organization
The Agony of Deceit,
I thought I was doing something good for people. For the past couple years since I left college I have been looking to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others.
For two years I worked in the corporate world, always dreaming about a different life, one where I truly believed I was doing something good.
During the message at my church one morning the pastor mentioned the horrible industry of Modern Day Slavery. He really caught my attention because I hadn’t heard anything about this topic in great detail. However, he began to speak about an organization that helped children. He continued speaking about how this organization actually worked to free children from sexual slavery. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Actual children being sold for sex in the open, within the confines of a major city.
Wow, he spoke about this organization and how people could volunteer to go and fight this evil. My heart was stirring with passion, and I was more than charitable when they passed the offering plate around. Yes, one big offering for this organization to go and fight the forces of evil.
I went home that afternoon and looked this organization up. They explained how I could apply to become a volunteer on the front lines. I was so excited. I found my calling, I found an adventure to go behind enemy lines. I knew I could provide help for these young girls.
I applied and was accepted to the program. I had six months to raise funds and leave for the field. During this time I was sent videos and I met with their leaders on conference calls. Each time they reinforced my commitment to help these children. These young sex slaves were working in bars out in the open, ripe to be assaulted by desperate men.
The training was an indoctrination into sex trafficking. I was told bar owners, bar managers and a house mom was there to keep girls against their will. I was shown “evidence” of girls taken from villages and transported to the city in order to perform sex acts on customers. In essence, I was going to go and free these girls.
However, this is the gut punch. This is the agony of deceit. While I’m sure human trafficking exists on a certain level, there were no slaves to be found in these beer bars. Night after night, we would speak to girls and managers, they all confirmed the freedom that these girls had to leave when, with who and where they wanted to go.
We were constantly told to raise funds and describe how bad the slavery was here. Our leaders reported rescues, however in my nine months with the organization I witnessed time and time again girls just taking a few days off and returning to work again.
We were always told our organization was going to work with police to raid these establishments, however, the payment to police was made, but no raids came. The police would say they didn’t have evidence. The problem, there was no credible evidence. It was all deceit. Money was being spent on attacking innocent bar owners and hard working girls, who just want to provide for their families. Money should go to other places to fight legitimate crime, or to help children and their families.
I witnessed what I found to be morally unacceptable. I saw desperate old men attempting to fill a void in their life. As a Christian, I don’t agree with the sex industry, however what this organization does is equally unacceptable to me.
They quoted rescues when they did nothing to help. Most of the time there was no need to provide or a desire by the girl to accept our help. I watched as the leaders of our organization stayed in lavished hotels. I witnessed team members, or investigators as they called themselves, party, drink, and touch girls inappropriately. These righteous investigators were enjoying the nightlife as much as any other customer. We were told to blend in. Well, most of the guys blended in alright.
Finally, Sexual exploitation may offer a possibility to create sensational stories, but it is not the majority of cases of human trafficking. After working with this organization for nine months I didn’t see any difference in the lives of these girls or the city in which we worked. Time, money, effort could go to helping real victims, and children who are less fortunate, not to the fake crusaders, who perpetuate the Agony of Deceit.
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