Another day wondering if your family is
going to have money to buy food. As the oldest of three children you
do your best to keep your younger siblings out of Mom’s way: she
hasn’t been happy these last few days after Dad just died. The rest
of the hill tribe is in the same boat as your family is: not enough
money to eat every day. You spend your day cleaning the house and
taking care of your siblings. If your family had the money you might
have been able to go to school; but they don’t. You notice that Mom
grows tense as a visitor approaches the house. In her eyes there is
fear of loan sharks, she did have to borrow money lately and she had
no idea how to get the money to pay them back, but she needed money
to buy food for you and your siblings. As the man comes closer you
search for something to give him to drink. He obviously isn’t from
around your tribe, he is dressed well, he is clean and he has a charm
about him. When he arrives at the door you and your mother greet him.
While she talks to the man you tend to your siblings. You can over
hear him asking about the family, ages of the children, financial
situations, and though you know your culture is friendly there is
something different about this man. He seems to actually care about
your family’s situation. This man tells your mom that you are a
beautiful girl, you are respectful and responsible for a 12 year old.
And he proposes a deal to your mom: a desperate mother of three, who
wants nothing more than to be able to feed & educate her family.
This man has a friend back in the city, who has a wonderful house and
who needs a maid. You would be able to get three meals a day, he
would pay for you to get there, you could go to school for the first
time and you would have a bed! With the money you make you can send
some back to your mom and siblings. Excited for a new opportunity you
say goodbye to your family and go with this man. It’s likely that is
the last time you will feel joy and smile.
You arrive to the city and the man
tells you that you are now in debt to him for the clothes he will
provide you and the transportation. Respectfully you apologize and
you want to know how you can pay him back. By selling your body. He
is now your pimp. Men will pay him and you will do whatever they
please. Terrified, alone, uncertain of what you can do, you meet man
after man. It is told to you that you must have a lot of bad karma
from a past life; otherwise why would you need to be sold? It’s your
fault that you are in a situation like this. Then you remember being
taught that if you have bad karma the respectable thing to do is to
accept your lowly position. If you are able to accept your bad karma
now, in this life, then it is likely you will come back as something
better in the next life. Even if you did not remember those
teachings, you wouldn’t want to shame your family by running away.
You owe it to your family, to send money back home. Besides, it’s
likely they’ve already threatened to go after your family and kill
them if you don’t comply. So, you accept your position, you accept
the abuse, the rape, the torture, the broken promises and you do your
best to simply do what you are told.
It’s tragic. It’s heart wrenching. It
just sucks. But it happens every day! Not just to a couple girls, to
approximately 3,200 girls every day: tricked, lied to, raped,
tortured for the first of many times. Not just in Thailand, but in
Cambodia, Laos, Africa, America, everywhere. Though it happens a
little differently in each country it is the same outcome. Pimps and
brothel owners prey on poverty stricken families, on young girls
without families, and they use cultural/religious teachings against
these girls. They make the girls feel like they deserve to be where
they are, that they are in debt, that they couldn’t do any better on
their own and that they will never be anything more. Deception.
According to Remember Nhu’s founder,
90% of the girls that are in the trade before the age of 18 will die
of AIDS. I’m sure that many of them get it without even knowing it –
even if they do, who is going to pay for it?
The good news is that there are
organizations like Remember Nhu! Organizations who are taking in at
risk girls, who are giving them education, food, clothing, housing
and love. Currently, Remember Nhu has 9 homes and they are looking to
open up more as well. It’s amazing to look at the girls who live here
and to know the life that they were saved from. To think of any 12
year old/teenage girl that I know back home and to imagine if it was
them in danger.
*****
For more information about the vision
of Remember Nhu, statistics, or where they are located please visit
their webpage. There’s also information on how to donate, and ways to
help be a piece of the solution; to help young girls not live a life
of abuse.
