Local couple selling all they own for mission in Cambodia

Maci, Mike, McKenzi and Suzi Marsch work together to craft bracelets as a way to both spread awareness of Agape International Missions' work and help raise funds to support Pete and Debbie Livingston as they prepare for their move to Cambodia to work with Agape.
Maci, Mike, McKenzi and Suzi Marsch work together to craft bracelets as a way to both spread awareness of Agape International Missions' work and help raise funds to support Pete and Debbie Livingston as they prepare for their move to Cambodia to work with Agape.

What would you give up for a cause that broke your heart?

Pete and Debbie Livingston are selling their house and everything they own to be part of restoring children rescued from sex slavery in Svay Pak, Cambodia.

While on a spring short-term mission trip to Cambodia - a country they have been connected with since adopting two orphans in 2000 - they happened to turn on the television when CNN's Freedom Project: Everyday in Cambodia was just beginning.

As the 58-minute show unfolded, the Livingstons were heartbroken to learn about the child sex trafficking occurring just a few minutes from their hotel room.

"Svay Pak is the epicenter," Pete said. "One hundred percent of children in that community are trafficked for sex worldwide.

"We sat and wept. Then we thought, "Wow, that could be a cause we could give our life to.'"

Like most Americans, the Livingstons - Pete, a pastor at Concord Baptist Church, and Debbie, a teacher at Lighthouse Preparatory Academy - said they knew slavery and child sex trafficking still existed, but not to what extent.

Today, 27 million are slaves worldwide.

"That's the highest number in the history of man," Debbie said.

Of that number, 80 percent or 21.6 million are forced into the sex trade. And of that group, 50 percent or 10.8 million are children under the age of 12.

"At that age, you don't choose that," Debbie said.

In Svay Pak, girls are sold into the trade by their parents to offset their poverty. And boys are trained how to lure new young girls away from their families long enough to be abducted.

Debbie wears a pink bracelet for the victims of the most violent and disturbing of these offenses - girls ages 5-8 are chained to a wall and raped up to 10 times every night.

Agape International Missions is the premier organization rescuing and restoring victims of child sex trafficking around the world, Debbie said.

The four-part program begins with retired Navy SEALs, who physically remove the girls from bondage.

The long-term, second step is restoration. The curriculum has been written by leading abuse therapists and addresses the physical, psychological, spiritual and material issues.

Debbie will be involved with reintegration by teaching the native teachers who will help give these survivors skills and trades for a viable, sustainable income.

Pete will put his experience as the president of a leading bio-tech company to work by marketing items, such as the T-shirts Concord Baptist will give at each new baptism, and services the residents produce.

The fourth component is prevention.

Agape's approach has achieved a 95 percent success rate.

"That's incredible in any field of counseling," Pete said.

Many of the women who complete the program continue to be involved, helping the next group either as teachers or business owners.

As internationally-known authors and teachers through their Radically Married instruction, "we've seen lots of depravity but not long-term to children," Debbie said.

Changing the Cambodian culture from within will take time.

The entire community of Svay Pak - from taxi drivers to sandwich shops - benefits financially from this grotesque practice.

In the 1970s, a new political leadership killed the nation's educated and then the religious. When they did not have the control they wanted, the government then separated men from women. However, when that didn't work, it had the children kill their parents.

"If you can kill your parents, you can sell your children," Pete said.

It is a culture of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, they agreed.

"This is not an easy fix," Debbie said.

As the Livingstons discuss their move, the reactions of people vary dramatically. Some ignore the conversation once "sex trafficking" is mentioned. Others, like 18-year-old Madison Marsch, have responded with equal concern and support.

"It's an interesting phenomenon," Debbie said.

The Livingstons have learned much about slavery, which continues even in the United States.

"Our eyes are now opened; everywhere we go, we see things we didn't see before," Debbie said. "We have information we wish we didn't have; it's difficult to process."

About 800,000 people are trafficked in this country, with I-70 being one of the main arteries of transport, Pete said.

"Some prefer not to know," he said. "But when people get it, they usually do something."

The Marsch family - Mike and Suzi, Madison, McKenzie and Maci - got it.

"The movement to abolish modern-day slavery has been a passion of mine," Madison said.

So, when the Livingstons shared their new direction in Cambodia, Madison knew that was a sign for how they could help.

"She was so moved by this, she wanted to do something," Mike Marsch said. "We can always pray or send money or get the word out."

But their friends personally need help to raise $70,000 to permanently move to the Asian country. Then, the Livingstons will need to be supported with another $60,000 annually, since Agape does not pay the non-Cambodian workers.

The Marsch family created a bracelet project to spread awareness of the tragedy, as well as about the local couple going to work against it. A donation of $5 exchanges for a leather bracelet with a chain link and an information card.

The photo on the "5 for a Friend" card is of two girls aged about 12 years, who were Cambodian sex slaves in the same village, just outside Phnom Penh.

"That's the age of my youngest," Mike said. "That hits home.

"As a dad, your heart is ripped out at how blessed you are here, that your kids are safe."

For Madison, she intends to stay connected with the Livingstons with the ambition of working with Agape or another organization helping free child sex slaves, she said.

"People across the world don't have the option or capability to dream - survival is the only thing on their mind," Madison said. "You can't just be okay with that."