There was a lot of rejoicing at my bible study when I told people how my jaw pain was gone. Tommy asked if I had gotten my miraculous healing verified by my dentist, but as I barely had signs of TMJ, there wouldn’t be much for him to confirm or deny. All I knew was that I felt much better. I even took the tentative step of chewing gum for the first time in ages, and apart from noticing how quickly gum loses its flavour, I observed no other negative effects.
Kate was strangely quiet on my news. It wasn’t like her not to loudly praise the Lord, so I figured something must be up. She didn’t look like she had suffered really bad news, but something was clearly on her mind. I considered the usual suspects that haunt people’s minds. As a teacher, Kate’s job is fairly secure in these recession times, and romantically, she’s about as much of a dud as I am, so there’s no man worrying her heart. I was curious to find out what was preoccupying her.
I pulled her aside at the end of our bible study. “What gives?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t something awful, like a terminally ill parent. She realised how serious she looked and gave me a hug.
“I’m so sorry, Lisa…I am so happy for you that your jaw pain has gone away. It’s just something I learned about this week that I can’t get out of my mind!” She pulled back and shook her head sadly. I made a prompting noise, and she sighed.
“I went to a talk given by an organisation that works with persecuted Christians abroad,” she explained. “You forget how blessed we are, to live in a place where we can worship freely and not have to go to jail for something like not following the state religion.”
“Tell that to CNN,” I joked, thinking of how too often the Republic is tarred with the same brush as the North come the 12th of July. Kate smiled half-heartedly.
“A man who works with a Korean relief organisation talked about North Korea.” I raised my eyebrows – there was a Church in the Hermit Kingdom? Kate nodded. “There aren’t a lot of Christians in North Korea. There isn’t a lot of anything in North Korea, so a lot of people will do anything to escape. They think anything has to be better, and that leaves them open to all kinds of abuse.” Kate sighed again. “North Korean women are being trafficked,” she told me.
My mouth dropped open. (No pain!) Surely North Korean women were starving – who was buying them, and who would want a half-emaciated person for whatever perversion?
“The way to escape North Korea to go North, to China,” Kate told me. “The border with South Korea is one of the most heavily guarded frontiers in the world. As Korea is a peninsula, there aren’t a whole lot of options for refugees trying to escape. Usually, people walk as far North as they can, and then wade across the Tumen river at its shallowest.”
I was taking in all the geographical facts Kate had spewed, and thought about what we knew about North Korea. “But how are the escapees doing this?” I wondered. “If there’s wide-spread famine in North Korea, not to mention how heavily militarised a place it is; where do people get the strength to walk and hide?”
Kate made a grim face. “That gives you an idea of how desperate people are. The worst part is, it’s mostly women who make the run to China. You know how we’re heartier than men, and have lots more endurance. This is what gets these women through the trek, despite starvation and the forbidding landscape.”
I could guess what was coming next. “Oh no. So you’re telling me that after all the heroics of making the journey, there are people on the other side of the river waiting to jump on their weakness.”
Miserably, Kate nodded. “It’s a whole industry. Thanks to the one-child policy and centuries of preferring sons, there’s an alarming gender gap in China. You’d think that this would be to the North Korean women’s advantage, but no. China doesn’t want these refugees, as they’re a source of cheap labour, and there aren’t enough jobs to go round in that part of China as is. So these women face deportation, which is worse than what they face in China.”
“Worse than sexual slavery?” I’m sure North Korea isn’t a nice place, but I can’t imagine forced prostitution being preferable.
“They face execution for leaving North Korea, or lengthy stays in the gulag. That’s basically slow and painful death. Plus, if they had any children in China, they have to leave them behind. North Korea doesn’t recognise marriage to foreigners, and so those children aren’t North Korean citizens…even if their parents aren’t married, and the woman is a single mother.”
“So these women would have to leave their children behind…with the slavers.” I was starting to see why Kate was so upset.
“I’m sorry I’m not happier for you. I know your jaw was giving you a lot of pain, but that talk came out of nowhere. I was so happy about the Red Light Prayer, and how they made those big arrests in America, but then I hear about how much more evil there is out there, and it’s really depressing!” Kate started crying, and I put my arms around her. “The Chinese husbands treat the North Korean women badly, like unpaid servants who have to do everything,” she went on. “Sometimes the husbands are ethnically Korean, so you’d hope they would be kinder, because they identify with the women, but no.” Kate pulled back to rummage in her pockets for a tissue. Finding one, she blew her nose loudly. “Because it’s China, and there’s still the one-child rule, not only are these women forced to get pregnant, but if it’s a girl they’re carrying, they’re forced to have an abortion.”
I covered my mouth, Not that as well! Tommy came over to us, wondering what we were upset about.
“Kate went to a talk about North Korea,” I told him. “Not only are people starving and being put into inhuman prisons for the slightest thing, people who try to escape from North Korea are falling into the hands of sex traffickers.”
Tommy winced, but nodded. “I’ve heard about this,” he said. “A charity organisation who help persecuted people abroad gave a presentation at my mother-in-law’s church a while ago. They talked a lot about Iran, but they mentioned the plight of women everywhere. They said sexual slavery is incredibly common all over the world.”
Kate moaned and blew her nose again. I rubbed her arm soothingly. “It’s just not fair,” she wailed. “So many of my students say it’s not easy being a girl, but they have no idea!” She tried to stop crying, tilting her head back and looking at the ceiling, but it didn’t work. “I look at them, these teenage students, and I think of how there are girls out there younger than they are, being forced into prostitution. Babies being forced into having babies! I feel so powerless!”
“You are,” Tommy said, rather unhelpfully, I thought. He took a hold of Kate’s shoulders. “We are weak, but He is strong. You have to have faith. Nothing is impossible for God.” Kate was still sobbing, but the tears stopped flowing.
I hadn’t told Tommy about Athletes Against Exploitation yet. “I started a campaign at work,” I said, and Kate’s face brightened. “We’re getting sport stars to come out against prostitution, publicly denounce the kind of trade that goes on at sporting events!”
Tommy smiled. “Lisa, that’s wonderful!” He let go of Kate and grabbed me into hug. “I think it will be encouraging for people to hear people they respect speaking out against the sex trade. We need to impact how people think about prostitution, get them to see it’s not okay to use a woman like that.”
“Hey, maybe we can reach your difficult colleague with this campaign,” I suggested.
“He’s a real sports fan. If one of his heroes condemns it, maybe he’ll change his mind about going to lap dancing clubs!” Tommy turned back to Kate. “It may look like small and unconnected steps,” he said to her. “But it can be like a wave. If hearts can be changed here, they can be changed everywhere. It won’t happen overnight, but things will happen. You heard about the big bust in America?” Both Kate and I nodded. “You see…that, and Lisa’s campaign…God is moving.”
Kate wiped her eyes one last time. “Thanks, you two,” she said. “I guess I need to keep my eyes focused on the prize.”
“We all do,” Tommy told her. “You have no idea how much I’ve been feeling the way you do, dealing with that stupid workmate of mine!” He shook his head. “And those statistics you two were telling me the other day…it really made me so angry with someone who refuses to see the connection with his own attitude towards women and the sex industry. He simply can’t see how he’s part of the problem…or even that there is a problem.” Tommy sighed, and it was Kate’s turn to pat his arm reassuringly.
“What did you just say to me?” she asked gently. “God is moving?”
Tommy laughed. “God is moving,” he repeated. He gave us both a peck on the cheek and took his leave. Kate turned to me and sighed once he was gone.
“I know how he’s suffering with that colleague of his, but it must be easier, dealing with it from a male point of view,” she said. “It’s so different when you’re part of the victim demographic.”
This reminded me of the phone call I had with Cara and Niamh, and how I needed Kate there to help me phrase things properly. I suddenly had an idea. “I think I’m going to have a dinner party this Friday,” I announced. “You have to come!”
Kate snorted. “That sounds ominous!”
I smiled. “We just all need to clear our heads.” Hopefully, Kate’s inner light would be rekindled and Niamh would be comforted. And Cara -? Well, hopefully, she would behave herself.