The 700 Club included a segment on Sarah Bowling and our NightCare program on their show. The 7-minute video is embedded below for you to view. Also included is a transcription of the video.
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Transcription
Sarah:
We were visiting a rural malnutrition clinic, and this doctor came up to us.
“Did you bring money?” “No.”
“Did you bring medicine?” “No.”
“Well then why are you here? Do you have blood?” I’m like, “Yeah.”
So, she said, “I want that blood because I have a 2-year-old, Angelina, who is basically at death’s door.”
You could see it in her eyes. I mean, she was just terrorized. And I’ll never—I’ll never forget her eyes looking at me. I just wanted to do whatever I could to help her, and I felt helpless. And these are easy answers. You know, we are not trying to cure cancer. It’s just babies hanging by a thread. That was a defining moment for me.
My name is Sarah Bowling, and I’m the Founder for Saving Moses.
We are a global humanitarian organization, aimed for zero to five year-olds where the need is most urgent, and the care is least available. And this is the most fragile, vulnerable time of a human’s life.
We do something very distinct called, “NightCare.” So, we take care of babies and toddlers of prostitutes/sex workers in third-world countries while they work. So, they come in, they give them a bath, they feed them dinner. Then there’s playtime. Then they circle up and do a little bit of discipline, self-control. So, they sing songs, have a little snack. They have a little prayer time. At the end, they get to sing about Jesus, which is cool. And then we take them and put them to bed.
In America, people were like, “So you’re in favor of prostitution. Because you take care of these babies, so these ladies can go out and do that.” I prefer to say that I’m supporting the babies and toddlers. And protecting them. That’s my top priority, these babies and toddlers. I looked into it and nobody around the world is doing that. And I would come to these red-light areas, brothels, and all this. And that’s the thing, everybody focuses—and I understand—they focus on the moms, the sex workers. But in the meantime, it’s these babies and toddlers. They’re on the bed with their mom as she’s working. That’s the day-to-day reality. I had eight out of ten moms tell me, “My baby is on the bed with me as I work.” In one red-light, they drug their babies and put them under the bed, so they don’t make any noise while they’re working.
I mean, you had one little boy. He wandered out on the street, two years old, and he got run over by a car and died. This is most urgent, least available.
And you’re like, “Well, how could they do that?” I’m like, if they could get out of it, they would. That’s hell. Most of these women, they don’t read, they don’t write, they don’t have any alternative profession. They don’t have any way to earn a living. They’ve been abandoned by their families. All this stuff. And in the meantime, their babies and their toddlers are on the front lines every day. And they’re the ones that have the highest risk of abuse, neglect, all kinds of stuff. Hurt people hurt people. So, you’re also a part of eliminating some of the awful perpetuation of some of these atrocities.
NightCare exists to turn their lives around and give them an opportunity to see a different future. If you want to change the industry, you start with the babies and the toddlers. Because this is their worldview. They grow up in this every single day. Get them out so they can change their worldview and think, “I don’t have to grow up to be a sex worker like my mom. There’s a different opportunity. At least I have a choice.”
Kolab (Translated from Khmer):
I have to do this work to support my family. If I do not, no one will eat. Because of NightCare, I know my baby is safe, and I can do what I have to do to feed my family. When I first started taking my baby to NightCare, she was very small. But over the past year, she has grown a lot. She is much healthier now. I am so thankful for what they do for us.
Sarah:
Our nannies that work in our centers, they will from time-to-time—once a week, once a month—go door-to-door in the neighborhoods. They pass out little cards, explaining to them in the Khmer language, “Hey, this is what we do. We’d love to have your baby come visit us. And you’re welcome to come.” We have open houses from time to time, so the moms can come in.
Right now, I run around 100, plus or minus, babies and toddlers every night here in Cambodia. And I want more. I’m talking to the staff like, “Hey! Where would you like to open next?” Because I am always thinking, “Come on, let’s do more.” And I have good people on my team. They make me better. And I think they like what they do.
Rangsei (Translated from Khmer):
It’s amazing to see the kids’ transformation. When they start NightCare, they’re full of fear. They are malnourished and sick. They don’t interact much with their peers. And they’re very inactive. After some time, they begin to sit up and smile and play with friends. We form really close bonds with the kids and miss them when they aren’t here. Sometimes they even call us, “Mom,” which is a huge honor.
Sarah:
You know, the environments where they live are pretty shady on a good day. Some of them, they live above sewage—raw sewage. And some of them fall in it. You know, and they fish them out. They’ll come in and have sores and bed bugs, all this stuff. Some of them, the only meal they get is with us at night.
Challenges? Um, a lot of challenges. Particularly at the beginning. And I think you’ve just got to keep going. You know, keep feeling your way along, and don’t expect everything to be perfect the first time you try it. I think when we think that way, “It’s all going to be easy breezy.” I think we set ourselves up for failure. If God puts it in your heart, then keep going.
I think as Americans, we need to be conscientious of our own filters, our own mindset. Number one, am I loving? Because love is, love is going to say, “Be compassionate and gentle and kind.” That’s the distinct definition for Christianity, for Jesus followers, is that love is our core definition.
Saving Moses, right? So, if you think about it, Moses is a three-month-old little baby trapped in slavery. Doesn’t have any choice out. And he’s rescued, saved, by Pharaoh’s daughter. At the end of Moses’ life, what did he do? What all did he accomplish? But when he’s three-months-old, his life was hanging by a thread. So you don’t know, when we’re saving Moses, you have no idea. You have no idea the impact and the purpose God has for those babies and toddlers. So, we are just here to be loving. End of story.
