House of Hope

TROWEL & SWORD

House of Hope

Rev Peter Abetz

I first met Linda in late 1997. It was a lunch time meeting in Perth. I was one of the handful of church leaders involved in the fight against attempts to legalise prostitution in WA. We had been invited to meet Linda.

The meeting organisers saw Linda as 'God - sent' in this battle. She could be our 'howitzer' among the rifles! She had been in the sex industry for nearly 20 years. She knew most of the key figures in the WA sex industry. She had worked in many of their establishments. No one could accuse her of being naive, or ignorant of the way the industry operated! If anyone could counter the sex industries attempt to sell itself as a loving, caring industry, necessary for the well being of society, Linda could!

She had started out as a 'working girl' when she was a single mother to get some extra cash for 'beds and a fridge' as she told me earlier this year. She only intended to do it for a few months. But the huge sums she was earning became addictive. From earning $2000 a week (big money 25 years ago!) she progressed to being a 'madam' - running her own highly profitable brothel.

But now she had had enough. She had quit. Just weeks before. She told us she had become a Christian. ( She told me later that her mother had prayed for her all the years she was in prostitution, and she saw her conversion as God's answer to her mother's prayers.)

As I listened to her story, I was worried: Would the attraction of the money lure her back into the world she knew so well? Or would she remain faithful to the Lord she professed to serve? Only time would tell.

Linda was a wounded person. She hardly dared look at us when she spoke. But she expressed her willingness to help us expose the real nature of the industry. She shared her dream to help other prostitutes leave the industry.

It was Roman Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey who eventually helped Linda's dream become reality in Aug 1999. He provided her with a modest house in suburban Perth, and a small monthly budget to help run her ministry. He saw helping Linda as a means of involving the church in a much needed ministry, which the church could not do without someone who had been 'there'.

On the day that 'Linda's House of Hope' was officially opened, Channel 9 ran a very brief item on the 'Today' show. This resulted in Linda being inundated with phone calls. When Compass (ABC TV) featured her in a story on the sex industry, she received 836 calls as a direct result!

They came from all over Australia. Tragically, Linda's ministry has no real counterpart anywhere in the country.

Since starting her ministry, she has helped hundreds of girls leave the industry. But she has also had to turn many away. She can only have up to 4 recovering girls live in the refuge but she supports about 60 others as they try to re-adjust to 'normal' living. But the 'success rate' is far higher among those who are in the refuge, where Linda can have daily contact.

Prostitutes who come to Linda usually bring nothing with them. They have earned lots of money in the past, but it has all been spent Ð on drugs, gambling and high living. 'We feed them. We clothe them. We give them a home for as long as they need one.' says Linda.

As I visited the refuge with Linda recently, it was clear that the girls relate well to her. Like so many of the girls who come to her, Linda had a Christian upbringing. And like 85% of the girls she deals with, she was sexually abused in childhood. Linda says 'The experience of abuse teaches girls to 'dissociate' - they can mentally be somewhere quite different to where they are physically. To survive as a prostitute servicing up to 12 men per shift, 6 days a week, you have to dissociate, or you would go insane. But even then, most turn to drugs to dull the emotional pain.'

While God has graciously blessed Linda's ministry, and many girls are deeply appreciative of the help they have received (see separate article), there are also others who want to silence Linda. While helping those caught up in the sex industry, she also has a bigger picture perspective: She wants to make a difference by influencing our legislators.

Linda has been quite outspoken about the damaging effects of prostitution on the women and the men who use them. She has spoken to the South Australian MPs. She has addressed public meetings opposing protitution as far away as Toowoomba.

Those seeking to legalise the prostitution industry in WA see her as a major threat to that goal.

Linda has had many abusive phone calls, and numerous death threats. Rough looking men have come to her door and warned her to stop her rescue ministry. Since Oct 2001, there have been five attacks on Linda’s House of Hope. These have ranged from attempts to break in, tampering with the alarm system, to a fire being set and a fire bombing of the refuge.

The years in the sex industry have taken their toll on Linda's health. The stress of a hectic pace in her ministry, coupled with the need to be vigilant at all times, continue to take their toll. She has just needed to take a lengthy holiday. Linda still struggles to feel really at home in a church. Many churches have asked her to 'move on' because some families don't want their children exposed to ex prostitutes.

As a church community, we are trying to support Linda pastorally, and have welcomed her to worship with us. Our deacons have provided financial support. One of our ladies has made contact with girls Linda is supporting. The girls need 'ordinary' people to befriend them.

I pray for Linda regularly. And I pray that her ministry might be multiplied in other parts of our nation.

We asked Linda what our readers could do to help:

Pray for safety for Linda, her family, and those working with her.
Pray for her health
Become a regular contributor to her ministry (Donations are tax deductible and can be posted to PO Box Z5640, Perth 6831)
If you live in Perth, donate clothing, food, household goods, Christian literature
Send $10 to $20 food vouchers for Coles /Woolworths
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A testimony

I met Lara at the refuge. If you sat next to this attractive looking young lady in church, you would never guess what she has been through. I asked her what it meant to her to have been able to come to Linda's House of Hope. This is what she wrote:

My name is Lara. I was a prostitute for over 6 months. It was my darkest hour. My life was in a whirlwind of confusion. I was earning more money that I could ever imagine and drowning my soul in doubt and hatred. This was the irony that faced my downward spiralling future if I had stayed on the game of prostitution. Until I came across a wonderful lady by the name of Linda Watson, who specialises in directly dealing with women who are trying to get off the game.

The help I received from Linda and her staff, has been truly unconditional. My hope for life, love and happiness has been returned to my soul, and most importantly, my faith in God has been restored. I have a wonderful house to live in and a place, where I can collect my thoughts and find my passion for something that brings me back to life. My heart is healing slowly from the abuse and torment I have suffered in such a falsified industry. I would like to encourage anyone out there, who feels they can contribute to Linda's House of Hope and to the rehabilitation of women, who have been led into this addictive, self destructive and abusive work.

Awareness is the key to make society as a whole recognise and understand that being a prostitute will not only kill you physically, but mentally torment you for the rest of your life. It is the money that entices and preys on innocent hearts that crave real love and intimacy.

Lara

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