Almost one year ago I fell in love with Amsterdam. Through my job at First United Methodist Tulsa I had the privilege of co-leading a trip with a group of high school students. We served with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) in several ways throughout the city, which is how I was exposed to "The Cleft," part YWAM Amsterdam that offers assistance to people in and around the Red-Light District.
The highlight of my two weeks in Amsterdam was the night I led the girls in a prayer walk through the Red-Light. In preparation for the day I met with Melissa, a committed member of The Cleft team. We spent a few hours talking about what it's like offer hope to women in the sex industry. Building relationships is difficult because they have trouble trusting.
That evening, as I walked through the narrow alleys of the District I felt the hopelessness and sensed the disparity of a life lived in the sex industry. When I de-briefed this time with Melissa we talked about how I could use my education to provide research to equip her and other people committed to offering these women some way out of the sex industry.
In August, I moved to Denver to go to school full time at Denver Seminary (the plan is to have an M.A. in Community Counseling by May of 2010)...After settling into life in Denver and enrolling in a research class at school, I decided that the first focus of research needed to be building relationships with the women in the Red-Light. I believe that many of the barriers to trusting relationships with these women comes from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), which I have been researching for the past two semesters.
From July 6,2009-August 12,2009 I get to return to Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities in the whole world, with a group of 6 amazing young women to research the effects of PTSD on sex workers in the Red Light District. Weekly, we will join the YWAM team in their efforts to reach out to sex workers in the District. This includes weekly dinners, tea times, and meeting needs that arise with the women. We hope to assist them in any way we can as well as set up our own times to meet with the women and involve them in our research. The research will hopefully provide enough information for me to write a thesis as the capstone to my M.A. in Community Counseling. But more importantly, the research will give insight to those wanting to build relationships and offer hope to sex workers and recovering sex workers.
Please join me and my research team as we prepare for the adventure mentally, spiritually, emotionally and financially. Keep checking this blog for more updates in the weeks and months to come. I'm so excited for you to be a part of this with us! If you have questions or would like to support us financially contact me at calleyc@gmail.com.
Sunset from the prayer tower at the YWAM base.
The Cleft: Home base for ministry in the Red-Light District.
Leading a bike ride through the city with some of the girls.
