Red Light District

:: A few nights ago we went into the Red Light. It was my fist time seeing a red light district in person. As we stood in a circle and prayed I watched middle aged men walk in alone. I watched teenage boys walk out laughing as if they had just accomplished something for the first time. We stood near a cheap food stand, rats were crawling around. and as someone spoke all I could hear was the scream of desperation. Where was he hope? These women stood in windows like mannequins in a store front, selling themselves to every potential customer who walked by. This strip was in the middle of the city.  How could it be that just two streets over normal life was going on. Normal life that many of these girls took part in on a daily basis before night falls and they crawl into their prison cells.

:: Hotels aimed at businessmen stood tall. Hotels that were conveniently place closer to the Red Light District than the actual places they would be going for business.

:: There are 400,000 prostitutes in Germany. 75% of those are foreigners. They say it’s legal…that it’s a choice. But friends, tell me one person who wakes up in the morning and just decides that today is the day to become a prostitute. This is not the dream of any child who is asked what they want to be when they grow up.

:: Many of them will say they “chose” this life but this is just not the whole story. 94% of these women were sexually abused before coming to the Red Light. Those experiences were not a choice but they became reality. A reality of entrapment. For us it seems easy to walk two streets over and forget about what we just experienced. And it is easier when you see cardboard cutouts of grandparents advertisings bookstores and whatnot but passing a storefront full of mannequins will likely not be viewed the same ever.

:: There are so many thoughts floating around in my head and so many emotions stirred within me but this is the best I can do for now.