Setting prisoners free

Paul ands Sarah Brown serving with BMS in Bangkok

On recent trips to India and Thailand I had the privilege of spending time with folk setting prisoners free.  They was not jail breakers, but people engaged in mission to help women escape from the imprisonment of prostitution.  The women are not imprisoned because of wrongdoing on their part, but rather because of the context into which they are born.  So, for example, young girls in Murshidabad, West Bengal find themselves sold into prostitution and sent to the city of Kolkata.  One area alone in Kolkata is home to an estimated 10,000 girls and women trapped in the sex trade.  The story is similar in Thailand where I travelled to next to see the challenges for many women in Bangkok serving the sex trade.

I am reminded of Jesus words at the outset of his ministry in which he sets out his manifesto for the Kingdom.  In this he talks of ‘proclaiming freedom for the prisoners’, and surely he had people like the women of West Bengal and Thailand in mind. 



Kolkata, India

The picture could be one of gloom and hopelessness, but there are signs of light in the darkness as Christians rise up to challenge the system and bring release to the prisoners.  This release takes different expressions in the differing contexts.  So in Kolkata we find a factory making bags and T-shirts employing over 200 women and providing alternative employment, healthcare and a message of grace and compassion.  In Murshidabad we find a new venture trying to move up the supply chain of trafficked women to provide alternative employment in rural areas.  In Bangkok we find a factory producing jewellery and now fancy cakes that helps many women find a new start and an opportunity to encounter the love of God.

It was moving to worship Jesus in a community of women released from the captivity of prostitution and to see the new freedom and hope that they have found.  Jesus is still about freedom for the prisoners and he invites us to join in.