When summer hit, many West Seattle teenagers and young adults fled to the mountains to hike, the ocean to swim, and to Europe to sightsee. Three West Seattle friends, however, opted for a grittier, eye-opening experience they may never forget.

Natalie Wastman, 18, Kristina Johnson, 19, and Mandy Parker, 20, visited Nicaragua to meet some of Central America’s least fortunate children, kids as young as 6, trapped in a dark world of prostitution. Some have HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and many have been sold by single mothers to human traffickers for a few dollars.

The adventurous trio visited the “Casa Esperanza” or “House of Hope,” a Christian faith-based orphanage that rescues young sex-workers and helps their parents and children. It is in Managua, the country’s capital. Johnson stayed in Managua for two months and the others joined her the second month.

Back home, Wastman, Johnson, and Parker attend the 50-member TORN Skate Church, that small Junction storefront decked out in pink with dangling skateboards, music posters, and handmade signs enticing walkers-by to purchase a board, a soft drink, or just hang out on an over-stuffed couch. Based on the Foursquare Church denomination, TORN primarily attracts young people with a troubled past, while others simply seek a welcoming sanctuary. All members want to avoid a troubled future.

(See related West Seattle Herald article here.)

Johnson, a Bothell High School graduate who now works at a Junction bakery, said the trip gave her perspective, and said she learned that “young Americans have it easy and don’t realize or appreciate it.”

“We barely knew Spanish, but the people we met just seemed so friendly,” said Johnson. “You’d assume they would be down in the dumps all the time but they weren’t. We Americans are like, ‘Oh Man. I didn’t get cable this month. This sucks!’ We’re spoiled to the nth degree.

“I got in a lot of trouble,” she added. “I was drinking and partying at age 13. I did heroin, coke, smoked cigarettes, pot. I should have many kids and be dead by now. By my senior year l found Christ and decided I was done being selfish, thinking this world revolves around me.

“It’s not this glamorous-looking thing like, say, in Las Vegas,” Johnson said of the prostitution she saw on the streets of Managua. “It’s not about having make-up and high heals. It’s about how much money you can make a day for the guy who bought you.

“As a woman it makes me furious that sex-slavery is going on,” she added. “It’s disgusting to me, and sad there is absolutely nothing I can do. Even talking (negatively) about brothels, you can be taken away by local government officials.”

She said that those in law enforcement are some of the brothels’ biggest customers and that brothels are out in the open and protected.

Although Johnson, Parker, and Wastman each witnessed numerous young teens hustling on street corners and many brothels that operated overtly, there are many laws against sexual exploitation of children in Nicaragua, some issued by its government, others it states that it honors through the Inter-American Children’s Institute, OAS (Organization of American States.)

“We stayed in a nice, gated apartment,” said Parker. “It was just a three-minute drive from an ‘auto hotel,’ where the customers drive in and park.”

Parker said auto hotels are brothels where the customer either brings a prostitute he picked up on the street into the hotel, or sees a prostitute working in the hotel.

“We visited the orphanage complex at least once a week,” recalled Parker. “They offer women a way out. It was heartbreaking to see. The youngest girl I spoke to was 12. Her mother was supposed to care for her and just gave her up.”

Parker acknowledged having empathy toward the pre-teen.

“I grew up with a mom addicted to meth (methamphetamine) and heroin who didn’t care for me,” Parker recalled of her childhood near Phoenix. “She cared more about the drugs than her responsibilities. I started drinking a lot and smoking pot at 15. I was really lonely, depressed, and felt like no one loved me.

“The main reason I went to Nicaragua was to not only serve but to spread love. That’s Christ’s message,” Parker said.

“I wondered, ‘How can we make a difference in just one month?’” said Wastman of the entrapped children in Nicaragua. Her parents, Serena and Rob, happen to be Skate Church’s onsite ministers. Her brother, Isaac, 20, also a TORN member, performs in a heavy-metal Christian band.

“It takes a lot of work,” added Wastman, who said her own family situation “has never been broken.”

“I think our purpose was to set a foundation, investigate to see if we can bring teams in there next time.”