人生不設限·改變的可能性一直都在

CHANGING THE WORLD

在旅行中，我觀察過處于各個改變階段中的人，特別是前面提過的2008年印度之旅。那一次我到孟買演講，那是印度最大也是全世界人口密度第二高的城市，貧富不均的狀況非常嚴重?！敦毭窨叩陌偃f富翁》這部得到奧斯卡八項大獎的電影就是以孟買為背景，但這部了不起的電影其實只是浮光掠影地提到孟買貧民窟的慘狀與性奴役狀況的泛濫。

In my travels I've observed people in each of these stages of change, especially during the 2008 trip to India that I described before. I went to speak in Mumbai, India's largest city and the second most populated city in the world. Once known as Bombay, Mumbai is on India's west coast, on the Arabian Sea, and serves as its financial and cultural center.

據估計，孟買有超過50萬人被迫出賣身體，這些人大部分是從尼泊爾、孟加拉等國的小鄉(xiāng)村被綁架來的。許多女性是所謂的“神之女奴”，被祭司強迫賣淫。有些則是男變女的變性人，也就是被閹割的男性。她們被塞進又小又臟的屋子里，一個晚上至少要跟四個男人有性交易。艾滋病病毒在這個區(qū)域傳播得很快，并且已經造成數百萬人死亡。

This city, home to both great wealth and terrible poverty, has been in the public spotlight because it served as the setting for the Academy Award–winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. As great as it is, that film offered only brief glimpses into the horrors of Mumbai's slums and the sexual slave trade that flourishes in a city dominated by Hindus and Muslims, with only a small population of Christians.

我到過孟買一個人稱“囚籠之街”的紅燈區(qū)，去看看那里的人所受的苦，并對性奴役的受害者演講。邀請我去的人是德弗拉吉(K. K. Devaraj)牧師，他創(chuàng)辦了“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”機構，這個機構的工作是拯救遭到性奴役的人，并幫助她們找到更美好、更健康的生活。

It's estimated that more than half a million people are forced to sell their bodies in Mumbai. Most are kidnapped from small villages in Nepal, Bangladesh, and other rural areas. Many of the women are devadasi, worshippers of a Hindu goddess who were forced into prostitution by their "priests." Some of the prostitutes are male hijras, castrated men. They are packed into filthy tenement houses and forced to have sex with at least four men a night. They have spread the AIDS virus rapidly, and millions have died.

德弗叔還主持了一家艾滋病孤兒院、供餐計劃、醫(yī)療中心、艾滋診所，以及拯救毒癮街童的活動。他之前看過我的影片，希望我能成為孟買的“變革推動者”。他期盼我可以說服那些性工作者逃離被奴役之路，進入他的庇護中心。德弗叔說，每個被奴役的女人都是“一個珍貴的靈魂、一顆珍寶”。

At one point I was taken to the red-light district known as the "Street of Cages" in Mumbai to see the suffering there and to speak to the victims of slavery. I had been invited by the Reverend K. K. Devaraj, founder of Bombay Teen Challenge, which works to rescue people from sexual slavery and help them find better, healthy lives.

“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”是股向善的力量，因此，就連孟買貧民區(qū)的妓院經營者也同意讓德弗叔和他的基督徒團隊進入他們的地盤演講——雖然那里的人大部分信奉的是印度教。即使“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”經常試圖要那些性工作者接受基督信仰，還說服她們離開妓院，過好一點的生活，不過妓院經營者還是非常喜歡德弗拉吉牧師的團隊，因為他們可以安定人心。

Uncle Dev, who also operates a home for AIDS orphans, feeding programs, medical centers, an HIV/AIDS clinic, and a rescue operation for drug-addicted "street boys," had seen my videos, so he hoped that I could serve as a change agent in Mumbai. He wanted me to convince women working as prostitutes to flee slavery and to move into his shelters. Reverend Devaraj says that each enslaved woman is a "precious soul and valuable pearl."

這個團隊一點一滴地努力改變這些受奴役女性的心。那里的女孩大約10歲到13歲就被綁架了，她們大多是從鄉(xiāng)間小村落被騙來的，非常天真。如果女孩沒上當，皮條客就會去說服她們的父母，說可以讓女孩賺進平均薪資50倍的收入。更慘的是，有時皮條客干脆跟父母買下女孩，這種事很常見。招募并把女孩送到妓院，只是一長串殘忍虐待的開始;一旦女孩被關起來后，妓院經營者就取得控制權，并告訴她們：“不管你愿不愿意，從現在起，你得為我們工作。”

Bombay Teen Challenge is such a force for good in the slums of Mumbai that the pimps and madams allow Uncle Dev and his team, who are Christians, to come in and speak to them, even though most are Hindu. They welcome that calming influence even though the Bombay Teen Challenge team constantly tries to convince the prostitutes to accept Christ and to leave the brothels for better lives.

我們訪問了幾位被“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”拯救出來的性奴隸，她們每個人的故事都讓人心痛。不幸的是，這樣的故事在那里卻很常見。她們說，如果拒絕接客，就會遭到毒打、強暴，然后被裝進籠子，丟到黑暗污穢的地窖里。在那樣的地方，她們甚至無法站立，還會挨餓、被虐待，再加上不斷被洗腦，直到屈服。然后，她們會被送到妓院。女孩們被告知妓院以700美元買下她們，因此她們必須在妓院工作三年還債。一位性奴隸告訴我們，她被迫接客好幾百次，每接客一次，抵債兩美元。

Bit by bit, this ministry works to change the hearts of these enslaved women. The average girl is kidnapped between the age of ten and thirteen. They are lured from small rural villages, and most are very na?ve. If a girl is wary, the recruiters try to win over her parents, telling them she will earn fifty times the average wage. Or, sadly, they buy the girl from her parents, an all-too-common occurrence. The people who recruit and transport them are the first in a long line of cruel abusers. Once the girls are captive, the pimps take control, telling them, "You work for us now, whether you like it or not."

大部分的女孩都認為自己別無選擇。妓院老板告訴那些女孩，老家的人已經不會接納她們了，因為她們敗壞門風，是家族之恥。而因為接客的關系，許多女孩得了性病或有了小孩，如此一來，她們更覺得自己沒有別的出路了。

While in Mumbai, we interviewed several former sex slaves who'd been freed by Bombay Teen Challenge. Their stories, each one heartbreaking, are unfortunately not unusual. If they refused to be prostitutes, they were beaten, raped, and put in cages in dark and filthy underground compounds where they couldn't even stand up. There they were starved, abused, and brainwashed all the more until they became submissive. Then they were sent to the brothels where they were told that they had been purchased for seven hundred U.S. dollars and that they had three years to work off the debt as prostitutes. Former sex slaves told us they'd been required to have sex hundreds of times, with two dollars applied to their debt each time.

這些女性即使過著如此可怕的生活，卻還是很怕作出任何改變。沒有了信心，她們失去希望，也失去了人性，根本不敢想象可以脫離奴役狀態(tài)和貧民區(qū)。心理學家常在受虐婦女身上看到這種抗拒逃離的行為，這些女性活在恐懼和痛苦之中，卻拒絕離開施虐者，因為她們更害怕離開后必須面對未知的狀況。她們失去了夢想更美好人生的能力，也因此無法看見這樣的日子。

Most think they have no other options. The pimps tell them that their families will never take them back because of the shame they've brought to them. Many contract sexually transmitted diseases or have children as the result of their prostitution and so they feel they have nowhere else to go.

你非常清楚這些性奴隸應該逃走，因為她們的生活實在太可怕了，但你是否也有辦法這么清楚地看見自己的狀況呢?你是否知道自己會被環(huán)境困住，只是因為你沒有夢想，缺乏勇氣，或者你根本看不見自己有更好的選擇?

As horrendous as life is for these girls and women, they often are afraid to make a change. Without faith, they lose hope, and then they lose their humanity. They despair of ever making it out of slavery and the slum. Psychologists often see the same resistance to escaping in women who are in abusive relationships. They may live in fear and pain, but they refuse to leave the abuser because they are more fearful of the unknown. They have lost their ability to dream of a better life, so they can't see it.

想要作出改變，你必須能夠想象生命的另一邊有些什么，你要對上帝抱持信心與希望，也要相信自己有能力找到更美好的人生。

You may clearly see that these sex slaves should flee their terrible lives, but do you always see your own situation with such clarity? Have you ever felt trapped in circumstances, then discovered that the only trap was your own lack of vision, lack of courage, or failure to see that you had better options?

“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”知道要這些被奴役的女性看到出路很困難，因為她們被壓制、被孤立，并且飽受威脅，有些人還說自己不值得被愛，甚至不值得被好好對待。

To make a change, you must be able to envision what lies on the other side. You have to have hope and faith in God and in your ability to find something better.

我在孟買的妓院和貧民區(qū)親眼看見她們的苦難，也見證了德弗叔和他的宣教團隊在這些性奴隸及她們的孩子身上創(chuàng)造的奇跡——這些居無定所、以街為家的孩子常被稱為“小麻雀”。

The Bombay Teen Challenge recognizes that women who have been enslaved have difficulty seeing a way out because they are so beaten down, isolated, and threatened. Some say they can't believe that they are worthy of love or even decent treatment.

德弗叔的團隊帶著我一家一家去拜訪。在第一家妓院，我被介紹給一位老婦人，我們進去時，她慢慢從地上站起來。她是個老者，通過翻譯，她請我“為我旗下的妓女講道，鼓勵她們向善”。

I witnessed firsthand the suffering in the brothels and slums of Mumbai, and I also saw the miracles that Uncle Dev and his dedicated missionaries are performing among the sex slaves and their children, known as "sparrows," who often live homeless, on the streets.

這個老鴇介紹給我一位看起來四十多歲的女性，她說自己10歲就從鄉(xiāng)下被綁架到這里來，然后被迫賣淫到現在。

They took me from one house to another. In the first I was introduced to an old woman who rose slowly from the floor as we entered. She was a madam who, through an interpreter, invited me in to "preach to my whores and inspire them to be better."

“我13歲時還清債務，可以自由離開。”她通過翻譯說道，“我第一次走在街上，然后就遭到毒打、強暴。我還回過老家，但家人都不想跟我扯上任何關系。于是我又回到這里，繼續(xù)當妓女。然后我有了兩個小孩，其中一個死了。兩天前，我發(fā)現自己得了艾滋病，所以妓院老板把我開除了。我有個孩子，但現在我無處可去。”

The madam introduced me to a woman who looked to be in her forties. She told me that she'd been kidnapped from her rural home at the age of ten and forced into prostitution.

在你我看來，她是有選擇的，但是她在那限制甚多的環(huán)境中，似乎沒有選擇的余地。所以請了解，有時你或許看不見出路，但改變的可能性其實一直都在。而當你找不到替代的路時，就去求助，向擁有較寬廣視野的人尋求指引。無論是去找朋友、家人、專業(yè)咨詢師或人民公仆都好，就是不要一直想著“我已無處可逃”，不要被這種念頭困住，要相信總是會有出路的。

"I worked off my debt and was free to go at thirteen," she said through an interpreter. "I went out into the street for the first time, and I was beaten and raped. Still I made my way back to my family, but they didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I came back here and returned to work as a prostitute. Then I had two children, and one died. Two days ago I found out that I have AIDS, so my pimp fired me. And now I have a child to look after and nowhere to go."

其實這位女性才20歲。我和她一起禱告，并告訴她，她可以離開妓院，住進“孟買青少年的挑戰(zhàn)”所提供的住所，還可以在那里的診所獲得治療。一旦我們打開她的雙眼，讓她看見有一條路通往外面那個更溫暖而充滿關懷的世界，她不只愿意改變，也找到了信心。

From our perspective, you and I may see that she had options, but in her much narrower circumstance there seemed to be no alternatives. Understand that sometimes you may not see a way out, but know that change is always possible. When you can't find an alternate path, look for help. Seek guidance from those with a wider perspective. Whether it's a friend, a family member, a professional counselor, or a public servant, don't ever fall into the trap of thinking there is no escape. There is always a way out!

“聽了你的話之后，我知道上帝選擇不醫(yī)治我的艾滋病，是因為我可以帶其他女性到基督面前。”她說，“我一無所有，但我知道上帝與我同在。”

This woman was just twenty years old. I prayed with her. We told her that she could leave the brothel and live in housing provided by Bombay Teen Challenge while also receiving medical treatment at their clinic. Once we opened her eyes and showed her the way out to a more caring world, she was not only willing to change, she found faith as well.

她眼中的平靜與盼望讓我驚訝，在信心之中，她是如此美麗。她說她知道上帝并未忘記她，也知道即使面臨死亡，上帝對她依然有個目的。她已經改變，已經把她的苦難轉化為向善的力量。在這么多的貧窮、絕望與殘酷之中，她是個光芒四射的例子，展現了上帝之愛與人類心靈的力量。

"Hearing you speak, I know God chose not to heal me of HIV/ AIDS because I can bring other women to Christ," she said. "I have nothing left, but I know God is with me."

德弗叔和他的宣教團隊已經想出幾種做法來說服孟買的性工作者脫離危險的處境，例如照顧她們的孩子，還提供學校教育，讓孩子認識耶穌，以及他對他們的愛。然后，孩子們再去告訴媽媽，讓她們知道耶穌也愛她們，她們可以采取行動，追求更美好的生活。

The peace and hope in her eyes took my breath away. She was so beautiful in her faith. She said she knew God had not forgotten her, that He had a purpose for her even as she faced death. She was a changed woman who had transformed her suffering into a force for good. Amid so much poverty, despair, and cruelty, she was a radiant example of the power of God's love and the strength of the human spirit.

我希望你可以擁抱讓生命向上提升的改變，然后，也成為提升他人生命的改變力量。

Uncle Dev and his missionary team have developed a number of methods for convincing Mumbai's sex slaves to leave their dangerous situations. They provide child care and schools so that kids can learn about Jesus and His love for them. The kids then tell their mothers that they too are loved and that they can move to a better life. I encourage you to embrace change that elevates your life and to be a force for change that uplifts the lives of others too.