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cided to distance himself from the nightclub empire he had built. So he moved

to Dallas to pursue a cleaner lifestyle.

There wasnt anything I had stumbled across that was worth living for yet,

says Lyons. I was just as ready to let go as I was to hold on to anything. What I

was holding on to was eeting and it wasnt nourishing my soul. Without that,

what is there to live for? All I had was a train wreck of a past and present.

Shortly after his arrival in big D, Lyons caught wind of the devastation in South-

east Asia from the tsunami. With no medical expertise, no construction skills,

and no previous experience overseas, Lyons searched for an organization that

accepted normal people. With nothing to lose, he boarded a plane to Sri Lanka

for a two-week trip to help dig for dead bodies.

Life had been crumbling, and I wanted to make a mark; I wanted to be doing

something important. I remember sitting on the plane as a non-believer and

praying, God, you are wasting my time and I am wasting yours. If you want

something dierent out of me, Im not coming back to this life.

Once on the ground in Sri Lanka, the group began digging for bodies. Eventhough it was a month out, there were still missing children, Lyons says.

Everyday someone was found; one day I dug up a schoolbook and I almost dug

a little deeper, but I couldnt. This girl never came home. I couldnt throw the

book away. I still have it to this day.

After digging for a week, Lyons and a small group of volunteers decided to

change the purpose of the trip. We kept hearing stories about a special needs

home called the Sambodhi House that wasnt getting any support, remembers

Lyons. We decided there were still lives to be saved. When we found the home,

it was like stumbling into a world of neglect. They were all special needs people

overseen by their own.

The residents of the house were struggling to provide for their basic needs.

Culturally, people with special needs are considered sinners from a past life; the

untouchables, the discarded people. It was because of this stigma that they had

been left to survive alone. Lyons and his group quickly changed their mission,

and began clearing out debris to create a livable environment.

Walking in was like watching a disgusting movie, Lyons reluctantly

remembers. Some were tied to their beds, and there was a man who was so

emaciated that he looked l ike a POW. He remembers pushing his way through

the creaky wooden door and walking into the gray 3'x 4' room with dusty con-crete oors and drab walls, to notice a man sitting on the oor naked with a tub

in front of him.

Because hes paralyzed from the waist down, he couldnt reach the water to

bathe himself. He would sit there for hours until someone would come back and

nd him and put him back in bed.

Soon after this experience, Erics life would change in an even greater way when

he returned home. Eric had wandered into IBC slowly that year, making a few

connections in First Watch and in the Purpose Driven Life class. It was in the

midst of a crisis in his personal life that Eric found a relationship with Jesus

through a friend at IBC, and it changed the way he approached his newfound

mission in Asia. One of the most obvious dierences was that the work and itsfocus became much less about myself. It really became more about all of those

people whom I have encountered and those yet to come across my path I really

began to look at humanity as fallen, broken and lost just like I have always

viewed myself.

His next experience in Asia would change the course of his work yet again.

While walking the streets of Cambodia one day, Lyons saw a six-year old boy

holding an adults hand. One thing Ive learned by seeing the abundance of

prostitution and the overwhelming number of young-looking children interact-

ing with adults is that if it looks odd, its always odd, says Lyons. So many

young children were running around at all hours of the night asking questions

and oering things I didnt even think they knew what they were.

Because of the little value placed on human lives in these cultures, children

are often sold into tracking by their families to help pay o debt. Sadly, there

is a market in these countries for tracked adults and children, whether its

through panhandling, sexual tourism or even shipping them to foreign coun-

tries to do the same.

I took that as God knocking on my door, Lyons says. Because of my

background, I believe its our responsibility to protect children. They have

every right to have opportunities and dreams. They should not have to bevictimized by the people who are supposed to provide safety and shelter. By

beginning to ght the battle at those young ages, we can make childrens lives

and futures better.

Since witnessing these horric images rst hand, Lyons has gone on to create a

non-prot organization called Hope for the Silent Voices. The blessing of the

tsunami is that it exposed the world to tremendous needs and neglect through-

out Southeast Asia, he says.

The mission behind Hope for the Silent Voices is to have a similar impact

the tsunami had on Asia, except by bringing hope to the lives of millions instead

of devastation.

Part of what we do at Hope for the Silent Voices is facilitate trips for people

who want to see the realities of the world as they truly exist, as dicult as it

may be, explains Lyons. It will be tough to eradicate [human tracking], but

we certainly can make a dierence if we wake up. The depth to which we dream

is totally dependent on what we expose ourselves to.

Againstthe Flowo Trafc

When the tsunami hit in 2004, Eric Lyons dropped everything

to help dig for bodies. The work he found later would be even more

unconventional: ghting human tracking.

As he took his seat on the plane, Eric Lyons didnt have a clue aboutwhat he was getting himself into. Thoughts of Asian food and warm beaches

ashed through his mind, but a harsh reality awaited him on the other side ofthe world.

Its the kind of story most people wish they could claim as their own: disaster

hits, and the overwhelming desire to help those who cant help themselves

drives you to drop everything and jump on a plane.

On December 26, 2004, a massive tsunami hit t he coast of Southeast Asia,

aecting 11 countries, killing more t han 225,000, displacing an estimated 1.2

million people, and changing o ne mans life forever.

Brought up in a sexually and physically abusive environment, Eric Lyons

quickly learned the art of retreating. As a result of feeling like I didnt t in my

family or in this world, I tried to run, recalls Lyons. I tried to run from myself,

and it always pissed me o because I could never escape myself.

So early on, Eric had a need to try to make sense of a world that no longer felt

safe. With no one to turn to, Lyons started self-medicating through alcohol and

relationships with women. After the relationship with his long-time girlfriend

turned unhealthy, Lyons playboy lifestyle in Chicago came to a halt, and he de-

Through his organization, Lyons h

remove victims from terrible situa

children and adults who were resclives back.

We are letting those voices that a

real, there would be no peace in th

dance and play and grow up into h

bigger than us.

God equips and directs us in way

we will best be used, and through t

that were robbed and using them f

it can only be his divine interventi

me there.

Theres no dierence between m

my story.

Kristy Alpert recently left her stab

Oregon, with her husband and her d

writer and editor and can be reache

BY THE N

2,0008047

Source: 2006 US Departme

Another Eric Lyons was a amous

British designer and architect in the

mid-20th century.

The 2004 tsunami was so powerul it

caused the entire planet to vibrate as

much as 1 cm.

UNICEF has designated Cambodia the

third most landmined country in the worl