She'll be Okay - They say

We just left a message parlor where we met the mother of a child we work with.

She was beautiful just like her little girl. Smiles painted her face as she looked through the photos and videos on our phones soaking in every ounce of pixel on the screen. Her kid doesn't know she works here, and she hopes it stays that way. You see working in a brothel disguised as a message parlor is nothing any mother would want her child to know. She says she doesn't care if she lives or dies, as long and her child is safe. She laughs. It is interesting the different emotions that can exist in the same room at the same time.

Now, as we enter the second parlor we are greeted by another mother of a different child we know. We exchange Namastes. She has the biggest and most welcoming smile. We were warmed by her friendliness, but the warmth dissipates as we walk down into the back of the room. There is a bed, and a young woman is covered in a black shawl laying on her side. She is quivering and facing the wall. I feel a sword puncture my stomach and pierce up into my heart, I bleed pity as the room is now thick with a hopelessness and compassion. This is her first day, and she has serviced three men. It is only the afternoon, which means she still has work to do. 

She thought she was working in a message parlor to make some money for her and her family. 

Like many before her, she was deceived into prostitution. "She'll be ok", they say, "it's just her first day."

We enter a third parlor yet again another mother of a child we know. We meet some other women who are happy to see us but smiles turn to worry as customers begin to arrive, and leave. I see a man walk down from the upper rooms as another man comes up from below expecting services. I was dizzy with sickness and anger. But our host then gathers us, "we should leave, at these hours they can make good money, we ought not to distract."
And we walked away into the night.

It is a day later, and I retain a numb anger and a knot in my throat of which I can't shake.
In the message parlor / brothel industry in Nepal, no one knows the owners, but he knows everything about his prostitutes. If they leave or try and accuse him he can harm them or anyone close to them. And even if the cops come to do a raid,

the prostitutes go to jail, not the customers, and the owner never gets found, because no one knows who they are.

It is complex and discouraging and infuriating the hell that is created on these streets. But we continue on and do what we can to care for these children, and support organizations fighting for social change.

I know you can't understand if you have never dealt with sexual violence, assault, harassment, or abuse, but you can stand along side those who have, and do your part to make sure everyone knows how real the situation is, and that it ceases to happen.