In Search of Freedom

July 4th 2016

Today, while our friends and family in the United States are celebrating the country's independence, we spent the day learning about women who are far from free.

We spent the day with My Sister's Place a shelter for women trapped in Korea's sex trade industry.
These women, mostly from the Philippians, are recruited from rural villages in their home country. They are told that they will be singing in Korea and go through several rounds of auditions. Korea is a dream to them because of its higher standard of living and opportunity to earn income to send home to their families. However, when they arrive the women are sent to "clubs" in the districts around U.S. military bases. These clubs instruct the women that they will not be paid for three months to cover their 'transportation' costs and that their housing and food also will be deducted from their pay. The women must keep track using a points system of how many men buy them drinks or pay to take them out of the club for sexual acts. Patrons of the clubs are U.S. military, Korean men and also other migrant men working in nearby factories.

Once caught in the system the women have four choices: 1. Stay and try to finish out their two year commitment to the club. 2. run away from the club, which means that their visa is automatically void and therefore they are at risk for deportation at any time, 3. try to bring a legal case against the club owner through the shelter or 4. find a U.S. military man to marry who will bring her to the United States.

One of the most pressing issues for the shelter is that the women are allowed to stay in Korea and work (in restaurants, shops or factories) while they have an on-going court case. However, as soon as the court case is over, regardless of the outcome, the woman will be deported, even if she is found to be a victim of human trafficking. What the center director would like is for the Korean government to establish a separate visa program that will allow victims of human trafficking to stay in the country for five years to work.

The center hopes to have a four fold approach to this ministry: first counseling services for the women, second a shelter, third a job training program and fourth a long term group home. However, seeing as the women are immediately deported the prospects for a job training program and group home are slim until visa restrictions are changed.

This program to protect women from the sex industry was started by Faye Moon, wife of PROK minister Rev. Moon. She a social worker from the United States who moved to Korea with her husband. She was appalled by the way American service men were treating Korean women and set about to establish the first counseling center in the country for these women. She was also invited by the U.S. military to offer the first sensitivity training to the troops.

I was able to find a brief piece on Faye Moon as a grad of Yale: https://yds61.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/a-chapter-on-her-life-for-korea-by-faye-p-moon-yds-61/

Since Faye's time the women connected to clubs are primarily Filipino rather than Korean, thus actually making the work of the shelter more difficult because the migrants are looked down upon as being less dignified than actual Koreans. The sensitivity of sexual violence, the desire not to cause waves with the U.S. government who has been a long time ally of South Korea, and the complication of the immigration status of the women are all compounding features that make it difficult for the center to obtain funding and successfully prosecute the club owners. Regardless of their struggles the center has been asked to help replicate its program in other parts of Korea and in several other south Asian countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippians.

The place where we gathered to hear the story of these women was within a Filipino ghetto outside of Osan Air Force Base. The restaurant had a basement where the shelter director, and her husband, a PROK minister can meet with the women. It is a place of refuge and hope, a place of lament and prayer. It is an underground church sharing the message of God's love in the midst of a cruel situation.

God of grace and peace, God of mercy and dignity. We pray for an end to systemic violence We pray for healthy relationships that honor the sacred in each person. We pray for those who commit themselves to the way of Jesus, seeking justice and truth. We pray for ears to listen when the story is hard to hear and we pray for the strength to be a part of changing this world to be more like your kingdom. Amen.