I’m pleased to announce that the situation in Geylang has drastically changed since your last visit with us with the Sg gov taking action against the bad hats & evil actors behind the illegitimate activities of the night here.
More government BTO flats going up. Built-to-order HDB flats bringing in local families making more room for God to act in the heartlands of Singapore. Location is near Kallang MRT station. (30 Oct 2023)
Consequently, our focus has switched over from anti-vice, anti-human trafficking to a more pro-family, family friendly posture with the Malachi 4:5-6 ethic at the cutting edge of public square debate on conservative theology, traditional family and human formation as an alternative to the liberal ideology in culture, media and education.
I also attach some photos of the urban jungle that has grown up around our micro-church plant here at Lor-3 and I doubt you will be able to recognise much of what you saw during the revivals of 2008, etc.
I was continually awestruck by the various agencies the Lord raised up to address these issue including our friends at YWAM, and the various intel groups (Scarlet Web, Hagar, Mercy, et. al.) delivering direct or indirect assistance to victims in trauma (DAVT) in the back lanes and alley ways of Geylang.
I was also amazed at the international attention Geylang had gotten through university students from various faculties including Amsterdam university and through our Catholic contacts, the Vatican prelates who sent in teams of priest and nuns to walk the streets side-by-side with Protestant led teams from a host of student-led para-church and faith-based study groups.
I am proud to be associated with ministry pilots from so many different stripes and tribes that have led the way in a new understanding of culture care for the hidden communities of women and girls who were never meant to be doing sex work in Geylang in the first place.
See “Sex in the City” - sample work done by an arts student Leonie Timmer who spent a few months at GBG documenting the journey of those extracted from the brothel and street communities in Geylang.
COVID 19 and sex work by Noah Ong (NUS)