Our Challenge

It’s easy to dismiss the term "sex industry" as being something rural, underground, made up, or only existant in underdeveloped nations. But it’s not—we’ve seen it with our own eyes.

It is real and it is rampant.

Consider this:

• Right now, 300,000 women are forced to work as prostitutes in one of Thailand's 60,000 sexual service centers.
• This industry brings in $27 billion a year, and those numbers are increasing daily.
• More and more young girls and women are being sold, trafficked, or forced into prostitution.

The driving force? Poverty.

• It's estimated that close to $300 million is transferred yearly to rural families by women engaged in prostitution in urban areas.
• Poverty forces these girls and women to sell the very last thing they have—their bodies and their self-dignity in order to provide for their families.

Our Challenge is complex and enormous. Not only must Freedom 4/24 combat a powerful industry that drives tourism in Thailand, but we must seek to create relationships with the women who are enslaved in it, in order to bring them an opportunity for freedom. We also seek to empower and educate the women so they can begin to impact attitudes and customs that currently lead to women in Thailand being treated as property and often considered "disposable."

Our Vision is to grow Freedom 4/24 into a successfully run international non-profit organization providing relevant information, media and merchandise designed to raise awareness of the sexually exploited by providing a reliable income stream to Christ-Centered organizations who purpose to rescue women enslaved in the Asian sex trade.

How It Works:

Freedom 4/24 exists first and foremost to provide a pathway to freedom for the sexually exploited. We do this by supporting organizations that create relationships with women trapped in Thailand's sex industry. This means that the women from Beginnings, a Freedom 4/24 ministry and safe house in Bangkok, go into the red light districts repeatedly in order to form friendships with the women working there and build trust.

When a woman from Beginnings senses that a girl she has befriended is ready and seeking an escape, she offers to pay her "bar fee," which is typically $24. This fee is the same one a customer would pay to the bar owner to "purchase" the girl for the night. By paying the fee for her, Freedom 4/24 is offering this woman 24 hours of freedom.

Once she is free for the night, the goal is to show her a permanent route out of the sex industry, through Beginnings, which offers alternative means of survival and opportunities they never could have imagined.

These opportunities include:

• Education
• Employment
• Health Care (Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual)

This is an enormous issue that must be addressed on many different levels. But, the end must begin somewhere. Let it begin with $24. Let it begin with one enslaved woman offered freedom at a time. Let it begin with you.

Beginnings

During the summer of 2008, Freedom 4/24's founder, Christine Pettit, travelled to Bangkok, Thailand for a month to work with an organization called Beginnings, which exists to reach and care for the sexually exploited. During her time at Beginnings, Christine witnessed the sex trade in Bangkok first-hand and learned that it was far more pervasive than she had ever imagined.

She began to understand that plights of the women and girls held in sexual slavery are grounded in poverty and a deep loyalty to their families. Freedom 4/24 was born soon after out of Christine's newfound passion for these women and a desire to take action.

"I knew that I had to do something, anything, to help end and bring awareness to the sexual exploitation of women," Christine explained. "This was more than just an issue or a cause—this was now a reality for me. The women I met had faces, names, stories, and (broken) dreams—and there were so many more like them."

Armed with an idea she and her father came up with during a train ride through Romania, Christine decided that a donation of $24 (the typical price of a bar fine for a Thai prostitute) would be something even a struggling college student can sacrifice.

"It is my desire to see Freedom 4/24 become a movement that can be easily embraced by our generation," Christine said. "This is more than a cause—it is the difference between brokenness and wholeness, freedom and oppression, life and death."

Today, Freedom 4/24 is growing quickly and aims to become a ministry that can permanently impact those enslaved by the sex industry. With each $24 donation that comes in from around the world, Freedom 4/24 is one step closer to helping rescue women from this industry while supporting other ministries that aim to do the same.

Ultimately, though, the reach and impact of Freedom 4/24 comes down to you—Will you be counted among the courageous and just who make a stand for freedom and lend a voice to the exploited?

Your Impact

So, how can you make an impact on this problem? First, start by following our Facebook and Twitter pages to get updates and get involved in contests and much more.

Here are some more suggestions for schools, churches, neighborhoods, and teams:

YOUR SCHOOL

• Start a campus chapter of Freedom 4/24 » Download a Campus Kit
  For more information contact us at: campus@freedom424.org
• Empower your school with the message through social networking
• Get involved in creating video essays, logos, and contests to raise awareness about this growing issue

YOUR CHURCH

• Challenge 100 church members to give $24 to Freedom 4/24.
• Start a global team devoted to supporting the ministry at Beginnings.

YOUR COMMUNITY 

• Take part in Run for Their Lives and form teams of runners in your community

YOUR TEAM

• Dedicate a portion of ticket sales to Freedom 4/24
• Have your team wear a Freedom 4/24 t-shirt at an event or practice to rally around this cause
• Help coach and organize running teams for Run for Their Lives events