Maybe you know the name Don Brewster from the movie Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, when he was interviewed about child sex trafficking in Cambodia. His involvement began after returning from a missions trip there. He and his wife, Bridgett discovered the horrors of child trafficking on a news program reporting about the area they had just visited. Both of them felt called to go back, eventually establishing Agape International Missions in 2005. Their “yes” to the call and love in action has rescued and restored thousands of lives. This past October, Don—friend, papa, champion of children—departed this earthly realm, leaving a thriving organization with a clear mission to continue the work.
In March 2019, Don spoke on how to fight trafficking holistically in a TedX Talk, transcribed below as a q&a interview. Since January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month—a month set aside to raise awareness and educate the public in order to prevent this crime—it’s an opportunity to learn from someone who has paved the way in a country that in 2018 had the third highest per capita rate of people trapped in slavery. His insights are a gift to all of us as we move forward in prayer and action.
Having served on the frontlines in anti-trafficking work since 2005, what have you learned?
We’ve been fighting sex trafficking in Cambodia for fourteen years, and over that time we’ve made a few mistakes, maybe more than a few. But, we’ve learned from them and we believe we now have a methodology that can be used to fight sex trafficking globally. Because here’s the truth about the situation. We spend millions of dollars to fight sex-trafficking and deployed thousands of people, NGO’s, government have been involved and what’s the result? Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world. Inspite of all the efforts made by so many people, things are getting worse, not better.
What’s going to change those outcomes?
Well,— some would tell you we need more money and we need more people and to some extent that’s true, but it’s more than that. It’s more than what we have, but how we use what we have. If we are gonna be successful to fight sex trafficking on a global basis, we need to take some of the lessons learned, where there are pockets of success like Cambodia. The most important thing being that we fight in a holistic manner. Holistic, coordinated, and balanced efforts will result in progress.
Could you explain what you mean by holistic?
It means we fight on four fronts simultaneously—prevention, rescue, restoration and reintegration. Let’s take a little look at what that means. So, prevention takes place on basically two levels. One is to protect the vulnerable and really reduce vulnerability. If you’re in need of food, shelter, education, a loving family, particularly a loving family, you’re at risk of being trafficked. We can help meet those needs and prevent that from happening.
The other side of prevention is reducing demand. As long as men are willing to pay to have sex with children, that demand is gonna be met. Now some of that can be done through law, but honestly to really have the big impact, mens’ hearts have to be changed. Changing mens’ hearts so it is no longer acceptable to purchase sex from women and children.
Now, rescue is also necessary and takes place on two levels too. Rescue takes place by police action, by SWAT teams knocking down the doors and freeing the girls. We actually do that in Cambodia, but that is not the majority of girls. The majority of girls are not held by steel chains. The majority are women and girls are held by chains of poverty, by chains of shame, by chains of fear. Those are far more difficult to break than steel chains. What they need is what we call assisted self rescues. It’s where we reach out to the girls and women, that are in prostitution and we show them a way out. Then we lovingly take them through the process.
Now restoration is the next issue. Once you’re rescued you must be restored and we meet the needs of restoration, which are physical, psycho-social, educational, and spiritual. By far the most difficult is the psycho-social because what these girls and women have gone through is months, sometimes years of being raped five to ten times a day. And the trauma that comes with that, the shame that comes with that, the fear that comes with that is devastating. So a cutting edge therapist is needed to help bring healing, but that alone never heals anyone. What really needs to happen is love, unconditional love coming from caregivers combined with the therapy is what really makes a difference.
Once the girl has been healed she needs to be reintegrated back into her culture and her society in a way that she doesn’t go back into that life. What’s critical there are two things, that unconditional love that she experienced in restoration must continue. The best place for that to happen is a family. But the truth is many of these girls don’t have a family to go back to that will care for them, so other methods have to be used.
The second thing is employment. If these girls are reintegrated and do not have a way to support themselves and help support their families, they’re gonna go back into the life. So, jobs are critical When those four things are happening simultaneously and in a balanced way, miracles happen.
When I say balanced what I mean by that is there’s no use rescuing more girls than you can restore. No use restoring more girls than you can reintegrate. All that happens is chances of success are minimized. The girls go back into the life and the hopelessness they experience now is far worse than the hopelessness they had in the first place.
But when those four battle fronts are fought at the same time and in a balanced way, miracles happen.
I’m sure you have examples of transformed lives. Can you tell us a success story?
Yes, Reaksmey is one of those miracles. Reaksmey is a Cambodian girl, who was sold by her mother at the age of nine. Her mother sold her to a trafficker, who sold her to an American pedophile, who was in Cambodia to rape and torture little girls. She was with him week after week after week suffering trauma at a depth we can’t imagine. She was rescued one day by a combined effort of the Cambodian National Police and federal agents. When the federal agents came to see us, they told us it was the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.
(Photo of Reaksmey at age nine in a pink shirt) In the photo you see there is the day Reaksmey was brought to our aftercare home. Now in our aftercare home she received that unconditional love and the other needs, the physical, the educational, all those needs were met and the healing process began. During that healing process she was asked to testify against the pedophiles, who had been torturing her. At eleven years old in a foreign courtroom with the man who had abused her fifteen feet away smiling at her. In over an hour of testimony, that ended up in this man being convicted and sentenced to 220 years in prison. What amazing courage!
But Reaksmey wasn’t done. She was reintegrated into a family here in California. It was a loving, caring family, who did great by her. She was supported to graduate from high school, graduate from cosmetology school, get a California license to be a beautician which is amazing for a girl from her background. She gets a job, but that’s not enough for her. She wants to be a part of the solution and begins to help others by telling her story. She’s told her story to thousands of people so far and engaged people in it because she had the courage to speak up to what’s happened to her.
As life went on she experienced a different kind of love…romance. She met a great guy. They fell in love and were married. Now, she’s doing great… She decided she had a creativity that wasn’t being used as a beautician. So, she chose to quit and start her own business. She started a business making and designing jewelry… After that you’d think that would be enough…well she closed that company. She and her husband moved to Cambodia to spend two years volunteering in our ministry in Svay Pak, Cambodia, the employment center teaching other girls to make and design jewelry, giving them freedom that they never had.
What a beautiful story of redemption and healing. Thank you for sharing your work at AIM and her story. Would you like to say anything else to the readers?
Now, all of you can’t go to Cambodia…but we can all do something. It may be as small as buying products made by victims. It might be that you’d be trained in outreach to prostituted women and show them the path to freedom. It may that you are gonna fight pornography and the horrific impact it has on women and children around the world. It may be that you will choose to be a loving family for a former victim. Whatever it is, I want to encourage you to get involved. If you do, you will become a life changer and it may change your life as well.
PRAYER
Lord, we are grateful for Don and his influence to make such a huge difference in the lives of children. Please comfort and strengthen his wife and family in this time of grief. Pour out your love in great measure on AIM causing a ripple effect of grace bringing about a new level of unity in anti-trafficking work around the globe.
We pray for resources and coordination for all fighting trafficking to move in this four prong wholistic approach. Let creativity flow from the heavenly realms in this next year to significantly move the needle on all aspects of trafficking. Raise up voices of over comers like Reaksmey, who will inspire others. Bring forth every server, giver, and doer for the sake of this kingdom work. In Jesus name. Amen.
Decree
The body of Christ and NGO’s will work together in unity to bring prevention, rescue, restoration, and reintegration to children in 2025!
Learn more about Don Brewster.
Thank you for sharing! May the Lord greatly comfort Bridgett and family and may fruit continue from the seeds they have planted in Christ’s name!