The Adventure of a “Volunteer Cowboy Investigator.” William Joseph Lyons
The shocking reality I found working with an anti-trafficking organization was astounding. I had been trained by false rhetoric and misinformed intentions. I will admit, my nine months working with this organization, I found certain individuals to be very caring, compassionate and committed to helping people.
The problem with a “good heart,” or a well-intentioned mission is that it’s sometimes wrong. What I found to be true was, various leaders of this organization were enjoying the good life of being able to raise millions in funding. It was easy for them to manipulate a horrendous crime upon humanity for their personal gain. Yes! Child Sex Trafficking does occur, however, there needs to be a better strategy going forward. There needs to be standards set, and NGOs need to explain why such exorbitant salaries go to a very few individuals and their families.
A little information from my time spent as a “Volunteer Cowboy Investigator.” Let me explain to you the facts that I found. I was told all of these bars we were investigating were filled with young girls there against their will. They were being trafficked or exploited. However, this is not what I found to be true. In nine months I never found a girl that needed nor wanted our help.
NGOs cross the line of humanitarian credibility when they use each and every girl for monetary gain. Pictures and videos of girls shown working in the bars are deemed as “victims,” or “sex slaves.” This is not the case! Every girl working in the bars my team and I investigated were free to come and go as they pleased. These girls were there making money. The girls I spoke with expressed the need to make money, and the freedom they had working in the bar.
Why does the Western Church need to exert their moralities upon a different culture? Why do Western Countries need to threaten foreign nations with the withholding of government aid, just because what they deem to be a humanitarian problem? Here is the humanitarian issue! Women are rounded up in this fake “Volunteer Cowboy” money scheme. Many are taken to government facilities in the name of restoration. However, they don’t want to be there. These women are stripped of all their rights, they have phones taken away and limited access, if any to their family members. The attempted suicide rate is high within these shelters.
The anti-trafficking community, in which the leaders make a very profitable salary and are able to fly around the world, staying in plush hotels, and eating fancy meals, all while many of these so called women they are rescuing are being stripped of their rights and free will. I don’t know what is worse, these NGOs making up false rescues, or when they actually pay the police enough money to perform a raid.
In conclusion: I found my time as a “Volunteer Cowboy Investigator” to be very ineffective. The evidence of child sex trafficking in bars and tourist towns was never uncovered. I found girls were there working to support their families, and I found that the staff and bar owners were just as hard working in their efforts to provide a successful place of employment for these girls. “This is my Job, this is how I make money for my parents and my younger brother, I choose who I want to be with every night.” This was the sentiment of more than just one girl working in the bar.
Yes, I am a Christian. Yes, I find these bars and this industry to be morally repulsive to me. Yes, I wish there no customers, no demand for sex, however, I also wish the millions that is raked in by NGO leaders could be used to help needy children and their families. I wish money would go towards poverty reduction programs, and educational programs. If only I hadn’t seen this for myself, first hand, I would still be cheering on the “renegade NGOs,” espousing false rhetoric and dreaming about being a “Volunteer Cowboy Investigator.”