The Loveliest Village

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here are many things that come to mind when you hear the word prostitute: Degradation.  Immorality.  Cheap.  Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.  Rarely do people stop and think about the vulnerable, hurting woman behind the rough and scantily-clad façade of a streetwalker.  But Courtney Furlong does.
 

Furlong graduated from Auburn in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Rehabilitation Services.  She is now in graduate school at Auburn to get her Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.  She plans to graduate in December.
 

Furlong, along with a few other women, founded an organization called Nightlight.  Annie Dieselberg, an American Baptist missionary, serves as the director of this ministry.  Nightlight is an outreach program in the red-light district of Bangkok, Thailand.  Located in an area with a rapidly growing sex trade, Nightlight reaches out to women and children who are prostitutes or are being trafficked in the sex trade.  This organization recognizes that these women feel that they must sell their bodies for a living because they have no other options, and they must do what it takes to send money home to their families.

 Two evenings a week, members of Nightlight visit the sleazy hostess and go-go bars, massage parlors, and streets of Bangkok in search of prostitutes who are ready to escape from their life of servitude.  They ask these prostitutes to come to their shelter as soon as they’re ready, and to bring their children with them if they have any. 
 

Nightlight offers training and employment to former sex-workers through its jewelry-making business. Many of the women decide to work for Nightlight making jewelry full-time.  Although the former prostitutes do not make nearly as much as they did when they were in the sex trade, they still make about the same as an average working-class resident of Bangkok.  And unlike when they were selling their bodies, making jewelry leaves them with their dignity.
 

In addition to an employment opportunity, Nightlight also offers lifeskills training, educational opportunities, child care, relational evangelism, and public awareness and involvement.

Furlong says that there is one woman that Nightlight ministered to that really stands out in her mind.  “I saw a particular prostitute on the streets night after night who could weigh no more than 80 pounds, and I would always remember her as being the woman with the bruise that wouldn’t heal,� says Furlong.  Furlong says that one night, she was talking with the woman, and the woman started to feel very ill and passed out in Furlong’s arms.  After taking the woman to the hospital, the doctors told Furlong that the woman had full-blown AIDS, and was suffering from a very serious infection related to this.  Furlong and the other members of Nightlight sought funds from supporters all over the world, but particularly in the United States, in order to provide medical care for the woman.  The woman ended up getting better, and she made a promise to Furlong that she would give up prostitution and come with her children to live at Nightlight.
 

A couple of nights later, Furlong spotted the woman on the streets again, with a male client in tow.  “I tried to make eye-contact with her, but she just looked right through me.  This was one of the most frustrating and hurtful experiences I had while working at Nightlight,� says Furlong.  But the good news is, after talking to Furlong and the other members of Nightlight a few more times, the woman gave up prostitution and came to Nightlight to live.
 

The jewelry made by the former sex trade workers at Nightlight is exquisite, and is made with real stones and silver.  Jewelry-making is now these women’s livelihood, and offers an escape from the evil industry of prostitution.  To learn more about this organization, or how to purchase the jewelry, visit their Web site: www.nightlightbangkok.com.

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