Tyler Couple Reaches Out To Help Child Sex Slaves In Cambodia

"We spent a few days in safe home with children living there from 4 to 18 years old rescued from brothels. One day we just spend painting and playing with them. They're learning to be happy again." -- Kenny Rigsby of For The Silent

By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor

Standing in cold artic winds blowing down from Canada through Tyler last week, Kenny Rigsby, 27, blew on his hands and hugged himself. He'd been standing silently in the icy wind for an hour waiting for someone to speak to.

The cold was nothing, Rigsby said, if a single person would break the silence, pick up a pamphlet and change a child's life in Cambodia. He stood behind his information table in front of a 10-foot photo of a Cambodian child, while looking towards the doors of Tyler's Times Square Cinema.

Inside were about 150 "open source activists" watching "Call + Response," the rockumentary film describing vulnerable, young children targeted as sex slaves worldwide. Rigsby hoped some of those activists might throw a lifeline to children he'd seen with his own eyes during trips to Cambodia; children who'd endured years of horrors the film-goers were experiencing for 80 short minutes.

"They'll be coming out soon," Rigsby said quietly and said no more. From the look on his face, flushed in the quiet, cold night, his demeanor seemed different from publicity-hungry organizers seeking support. Written on the eye-popping picture behind him were small words at the bottom that read, "For The Silent," the name of the 501c3 nonprofit he and his wife, Julie, 25, started two years ago. Mrs. Rigsby is a Tyler Junior College graduate.

"For The Silent is an advocacy organization," he said. "We look for projects that need funding. Julie and I have been to Cambodia, visiting ministries to children being rescued from the sex trade."

The pair returned from Cambodia in October where they met children freed from the trade.

"The experience of seeing child slavery can be completely overwhelming," he said. "We met a 10-year-old boy that had been used in the sex trade for several years. But when you meet the rescued children and see their hope, it's even more amazing. When you see children react to the heart of God and step out, the hope and power of redemption in their lives, that's also overwhelming."

One 15-year-old girl had been trapped in a brothel since she was 11, he said, before being rescued.

"She lives in the safe house now, and she told us said she sees herself now as a lotus flower. The thing about a lotus flower is that it grows out of a dirty, murky pond, but turns into something beautiful."

Rigsby also led a team of volunteers with For The Silent to assess assistance needed to the ministries directly involved with rescuing children from the horror of sexual abuse.

"We spent a few days in a safe home with children living there from 4 to 18 years old rescued from brothels, getting medical care and education, and the staff gives the older ones options. One day we just spend painting and playing with them. They're learning to be happy again."

On his table were some items for sale -- cloth-like purses and bags, and some small paintings one might see at a county fair contest for elementary school children. But these paintings cost hundreds of dollars.

"That's because these paintings are done by those children rescued from brothels," he explained, "All the money, 100 percent, goes to helping those children through those ministries."

For The Silent has an office in the Austin State Bank building in downtown Tyler. The staff consists of seven part-time volunteers and two unpaid full-time staff. The organization's Web site is www.forthesilent.org.

"The goal of For The Silent is being a voice for those who do not have a voice and mobilize people to use their areas of influence and partner with organizations for what they can do for those in need," Rigsby said.

And his goal for area churches?

"There are different ways to get involved. Find projects that need funding. Organize a "something" for the silent, like a "Run For The Silent" or "Concert For The Silent" or a 'whatever' For The Silent. Take the mandate to pray and get involved."