GFU students fight sex trade industry
Bridgette Harmon, News Editor
November 7, 2007
George Fox students and alumni are fighting the commercial sex trade industry, both at home and abroad. Brittney Quinn, a 2005 graduate, came to campus at the end of October to share about her work in Thailand with Garden of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides women and children in the sex industry with vocational alternatives and marketable skills.
"As part of the outreach program," said Quinn, "I go out to the bars and brothels in the red light district to form relationships with the women inside the commercial sex industry. I am the eyes and hands of the organization, trying to understand the emotional and economic felt needs of these women."
Quinn said that the most important lesson she learned while working with women in the sex trade is that the root of all sin is the same. "I realized we had a lot in common," said Quinn. "I've had a lot of the same conversations with girls at Fox about their desires and insecurities."
On campus, a residence hall is working to raise $1000 to free a woman or child from the commercial sex trade industry. They will donate the money to International Justice Mission, an organization that works with existing justice systems to rescue sex trade victims and give them protection and career training.
This residence hall prefers to remain anonymous, following Jesus' words in Matt. 6:1-4: "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret." "Any time people are being taken advantage of and treated as less than human," said a floor leader, "people who follow Jesus need to be concerned. There are all kinds of needs in the world waiting to be met, and I think that God is begging his followers to make steps toward meeting them." Quinn explored many similar ideas as a student. "When I was at Fox," said Quinn, "my friends and I did a lot of talking about social justice and a lot of reading and a lot of thinking." She co-led a social action discussion group called Quaere Verum, delivered meals to homeless people in downtown Portland, and helped organize a day of fasting on campus.
The students in Quaere Verum, a Latin phrase meaning "seek the truth," discussed issues such as domestic abuse, racial inequality, child soldiers, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation, and the AIDs pandemic. "Being ignorant is not an excuse to not do anything," said Quinn.
Once she made the decision to live out her convictions by working with sex traffic victims, Quinn said she rode a wave of adrenaline until she stepped off the plane in Thai Pei after a sixteen-hour layover and realized she was alone.
"I had built up this façade of 'well, this is what I talk about, so this must be what I'm about,'" said Quinn, "but right then I realized that I had to either be that person for real or bail out."
Quinn stayed and worked with Garden of Hope, and she said that her convictions became a tangible reality rather than an emotional high or intellectual concept. "To get to that point where the passion is driving you and you can still do it when its hard or when it makes you ill or when its boringâ?¦this is what I'm about," said Quinn. The residence hall that is donating money to the International Justice Mission is also trying to live out their faith in tangible ways. "The need is everywhere," said a floor leader. "It is in Newberg, Oregon, and it is in Africa and Asia. We challenge ourselves to be involved in local ministries, whether it is Urban Services, James Project, or any other wonderful ministry on campus. We give because we cannot be there, and we want to enable those who are there to do as much as possible. We want to invest our time locally, and our money abroad."