U.S. missionaries target a tough sell: Bangkok bar girls

American evangelical missionaries have paid more than 335,000 baht to Bangkok's red-light bars to take out 500 Buddhist prostitutes, tell them about Jesus and offer them free shelter, food, education and money to escape the sex industry.

"We do go into the bars," says Bonita Thompson, founder of the Home of New Beginnings, a residence located in a three-story building on the same street as raunchy Nana Entertainment Plaza, where more than 1,000 bar girls work. "We bought a girl out who was 15. Many people think there are no under-age girls in the bars."

The red-lights bars catering to mostly foreigners in Thailand demand a "bar fine" of 600 to 1,000 baht if a customer takes out a girl, because that removes one of the bar's lures. The customer and the woman arrange a separate fee for their tryst.

"We do an outreach a couple of nights a week, at least. If there is a girl that is especially interested, we pay the bar fine, bring her back to the house and give her some information about the opportunities that are available for her there."

When asked how many separate bar fines the missionaries have paid, Bonita replies: "Five hundred at least because, just for our two Christmas parties we had 300 [bar girls]. It was 100 one year, and 200 the next."

'We don't want her for sex'

They also paid at least 100 bar fines so prostitutes could enjoy a "Valentine party, birthday party, my birthday party, parties here, just party-party. No theme except 'We love you, won't you come and have a good time with us?'"

Additional bar fines on other occasions allowed them to hold private conversations, she says.

Bonita, born in Salem, Oregon in 1946, and her husband Roy Thompson, born in Carlyle, Texas in 1935, came to Bangkok about five years ago from Pleasanton, in Northern California, where she taught elementary school for 30 years and was a principal for six.

"I am one of three members of the leadership team at the Home of New Beginnings," Bonita says, introducing two Thai women. She opened the facility in February 2006.

After trying to entice "probably a thousand" girls in various bars, 25 prostitutes agreed to live in the shelter and end their sex work, she explains. An additional 10 reside there now.

"The girls that we reach out to are girls who are in the industry that appeals to Western and Japanese men," says Bonita. "The bars are owned by multiple nationalities -- many Europeans, Thais, a few from the U.S. If you, as a customer, came into a bar and chose one of the girls for sex, you would tell the mama-san what number you wanted, because the girls wear a little button with a number on it, which identifies them. So the customer doesn't even need to know their name, which gives you a little bit of an idea about the objectification of these girls.

"We are very clear that we do not want her for sex, because some of the girls -- even though it's not primarily the gay section -- will take female customers. Most of the customers who come in are obviously not female, so we stand out a little bit," the graying, bespectacled American said.

A challenging conversion process

Bar owners receiving the money usually do not know that the girl will be told about Jesus.

"Most of the time they do not know -- or care, because they are getting their bar fine one way or the other."

The missionaries offer prostitutes a bed in a shared room at their clean, modern residence, plus a weekly stipend of 800 baht, English language and bible classes, vocational training, health care, food, public school and university sponsorship, and other support.

Most prostitutes decline their offer, or say they are too burdened by debt to accept.

Of Thailand's 65 million people, 95 percent are Buddhist, and less than one percent are Christian. The Thompsons, however, believe in creationism instead of Darwin, and that Jesus offered unconditional "love and forgiveness."

But Buddhism does not, say the Thompsons. Most women who stay with the missionaries eventually believe in Jesus.

Thai-only bars off limits

Six were baptized, including a few by Roy in their apartment's swimming pool. "They were girls that had accepted Jesus," he says.

"I am an evangelical, yes," Roy admits. But websites identifying him as a "reverend" are misleading.

"I never call myself a reverend. I don't think it is a legitimate title for me." Asked if he was a "missionary for Jesus," he replies: "Right."

Bonita agrees she is also a missionary, but "in the best sense," and laments the "historical negativity" that word implies. She and her all-female Thai staff, including female American interns, "go bar-hopping" only in upmarket venues where foreigners cruise. She fears bars and brothels packed only with Thais.

"It is not as safe for us to go into those much more clandestine situations, [because] there could be some repercussions."

Overseas support from U.S. church groups

Financing comes "from individuals and churches, and we have a few funding grants or foundations," says Bonita, adding that annual expenses total over 3 million baht.

Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, in Mountain View, California, "regularly supports" the Home of New Beginnings, according to its website, alcf.net. It asks the public for money for the prostitutes' Bible school and other activities and explains: "Two thousand dollars covers the bar fines for 100 girls, so they can attend the ministry's Christmas party."

They are also supported by Palo Alto, California-based Peninsula Bible Church's pbc.org, plus Central Peninsula Church's cpcweb.org in Foster City, near San Mateo, California, among others.

"Thailand is a key country in the trafficking and sexual exploitation that plagues our world. There are an estimated two million sex workers in Thailand," the Home of New Beginnings warns in a fundraising publication.

"Sex tourism is promoted through cozy relationships between banks, hotels, and eateries, bringing a minimum of US$30 million dollars to the country each year."