HOOP

Prostitution is illegal in South Africa, but there is a chance it will be legalized soon. The big argument to decriminalize it, is that there will be better control and better circumstances for ladies working in prostitution. The organization SWEAT is already for years active to stand up for the rights of sex workers. They are handing out condoms on the streets and encourage the women to stand up for their profession.

We are against legalization. No matter how good the circumstances are, we believe the damage is done in the act of prostitution itself. No matter if there are cleaner rooms available or there is more control... the damage stays there.
(BTW: Control is an illusion. Of course, in Amsterdam is a certain control, but a co-worker there told me once that they guess that 5%-90% (!) of the ladies in the Red Light District is working through Human Trafficking. 

More than 90% of the women we work with went through sexual abuse and are deeply damaged. By the act of prostitution this damage only goes deeper. And the bondage grows stronger, by the false sense of power the lady possibly feels towards men. As soon as a lady starts working in prostitution, she is loosing life and hope. She is developing a very hard shell: her attitude and language change in order to survive. She needs to 'switch' a deep part of herself off in order to be able to do this. Anja* told me about her first evening standing on the dark street corner. Another lady asked her name. And she introduced herself without thinking a second time as Alice*. (So far it goes sometimes: they are taking up a second identity, there comes a division in their identity. The Christian mother Anja in the day and the woman on the street in the night, where nobody knows about...)  Suppressing their dark side. Often this is exactly the reason why the get (more) involved in addiction: It is too painful. 
The most girls we meet are familiar with the Bible and the 'know' God. We see them struggling inside with this 'double' life. Guilt is eating on them. Deep down most of the ladies don't want to sell their bodies. We almost never have to tell them it is wrong. They know it from the inside. The problem is that most of them gave up hope that they are ever able to do something better.

When a woman comes off the streets, and when the hard shell falls off, we can really see the damage.
Her physical health is often a big concern. It is really a big miracle if someone don't have HIV. I was already on a few funerals of ladies who died much too young. These funerals are heartbreaking and so are the weeks leading to their dead. But we also see the grace of God in these last weeks this ladies live on earth. Some of them receive peace and you see them changing after accepting forgiveness. I believe Jesus welcomes them in heaven, but it is painful to see their bodies giving up (end 20s, beginning 30s) as the consequence of their lifestyle. The raw, hard side of what prostitution can do.
Often we see psychiatric disorders like Dissociation Disorders, Depression or PTSD.  It takes years for them to heal. To forgive them self and others. To integrate everything. To restore an healthy self-image, an healthy identity in Christ.
Often we see a lack of willpower. They work hard for a better future, but by little challenges they give up and fall back.
It is like their will is broken.

We see that the Lord is faithful. We have testimonies of women who made it! And who are willing to help others come out.