Voices – Listening to those with ‘lived experience’
For several years I had the privilege of chairing a remarkable ministry, Beloved, in Bristol which seeks to bring women out of the massage parlours ie to exit indoor prostitution. For obvious reasons it was never possible for me to experience a visit to one of the parlours so I was greatly challenged when a few of the women shared their experience at an ‘away day’ with the trustees. These beautiful women told us what it was like to be lined up for a man to choose one, as in a cattle market. And of the competition they had among themselves to get ‘business’ since that represented their only income. There were many stories that brought us all, particularly the men in the room, to a stunned silence and tears.…