praying for the women in the windows

the following is the first of a series of blog entires over the Red Light District and the women who stand behind the windows in that area.

living in the Red Light District means that the women in the windows are part of my life. when i walk home from church on sundays, i continue to be surprised by how many women are working already. when i sit at dinner and look out the window, i see the same woman scantily clothed trying to get the attention of the men passing by. and when i waited outside the apartment next door with supper, i wondered if that same woman noticed me - and wondered what she thought of me/us.

i do not know how exactly to respond to the women as i walk by. i get angry at the tourists who think it acceptable or fun to take pictures of the women - in blatant disregard of signs and indications by the women themselves. and i think: irrelevant of what you think of what she does and what type of person she is, does she not deserve to be treated with more dignity than as an object to mock and take pictures of? as much as i am saddened that the women are selling themselves, i want to respect and honour them as people made in God's image. and so i try to look them in the eye and smile. and to bring them coffee and tea (with the Salvation Army here - although i have temporarily stopped) - and ask if there's anything i can say or do.

and in bringing coffee and tea, i have been allowed to see a different world. although some of the women are indifferent to me or are scared to talk to me, still others have invited me in behind their window. and in doing so, i have learned names and stories. i do not always see the women again nor have i been able to talk again. the women move and work at different times, in different ways and different places. i am left only with names and stories and prayers.

i pray for beautiful Becky, who is making enough money to support her family back home. perhaps her family has an idea of what she does and perhaps they don't, but at least her younger siblings can have a decent life. and, of course, she doesn't like what she does! but she has friends here, which means that she has some control over her life - and being there. i never saw her again, even though her window was around the corner from me. and i do not know what has happened to her - but her story of leaving home to help out family in a situation/country that has little hope for a good future is not so different from many others here.