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EXPORTING PROSTITUTES: The issue of Thai mountain girls is the subject of global concern because they are exported worldwide. In Hong Kong, some missionaries are desperately working against this sexual trafficking.

Jackie Pullinger, a legendary figure in Christian mission in Hong Kong, runs the Saint Stephen's Society like an intense family-run hospice for the sick and dying. But her ministries encompass prostitutes, people with AIDS, street people, drug addicts, the elderly, and Vietnamese boat people.

"First Stage House" at Saint Stephen's is the crucible of the ministry. There, opium addicts go cold turkey surrounded by people who hug, touch, and pray for them 24 hours a day. The immense bonding that results carries worker and ex-addict alike into an intense life with Christ and Christian community during the next nine months.

At any one time, Saint Stephen's may have up to 300 residents coming off drugs or looking after those coming off drugs in residential houses. Pullinger has a motherly demeanor, tempered by the harsh realities of Hong Kong's dark side. She started her ministry in the notorious Old Walled City of Kowloon, a place ruled by gangs. In an alley, Pullinger rented a room to welcome Chinese gangsters, prostitutes, and drug addicts.

In her book, Chasing the Dragon (1980, Servant), Pullinger recalls one time she befriended a young prostitute and started to pray for her. To buy the prostitute out of her owner's hands, Pullinger, who had played for years in the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, sold her much-loved oboe. The prostitute's owner, accompanied by several armed henchmen, confronted Pullinger, calling her a fool for parting with her prized possession in an attempt to change the girl's life.

"I would rather be a fool and lose the money," Pullinger remembers telling him. "After all, what's losing the money? Jesus lost a life. I cannot change her life, but she has the opportunity. Jesus made that opportunity."

AMERICAN EFFORTS: The trio of missionaries is not alone in fighting prostitution. Volunteers and political activists in the United States are putting together a global strategy to fight child sex slavery.

For instance, Laura Lederer, who heads the John F. Kennedy School of Government unit on sexual trafficking, has joined with Rich Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals in Washington to co-organize antisexual trafficking legislation in Congress (CT, Aug. 9, 1999, p. 18).

Lederer expects that the Freedom from Sexual Trafficking Act will come to a floor vote this fall. The bill, introduced by Reps. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), would provide legal tools to punish sexual traffickers, pressure foreign governments to meet minimum standards for the elimination of sexual trafficking, and provide counseling and relief aid for the victims.

Susan Keil of New York City had plans to be a conventional missionary on a short-term trip to Thailand. But upon meeting Bethell, Keil gained a new vision. She left her job and entered Columbia University this fall to learn how to strategize against the sexual traffickers. Keil realized that preaching, economics, and law can work together.

Bethell's ministry "showed me that God has something for me to do," Keil says. "I saw how brothels had been closed down by police through Bethell's efforts. That's a sign of hope."

The three Christian missionaries are making an impact. A new corps of anti-madams is arising.

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October 4 1999, Vol. 43, No. 11