I used to love reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. I liked flipping around more than reading straight through. This blog is much like one of those books. As you choose one of the options, you will skip to that chapter. There are various possible journeys and endings. Remember this only works if you follow the instructions and DO NOT read straight through! This Choose Your Own Adventure blog will help demonstrate the complexity of the lives of my new friends in Bangkok: including the impact of cultural beliefs, economical deficiencies, societal corruption, and spiritual darkness. This is an invitation to walk a mile in her heels.
Introduction
Your name is Pin. You were born in a small village outside Burriram, Thailand. You are sixteen, and you have two younger brothers and a younger sister. Your parents used to be farmers, until recently. You mother has become very ill and your father stays home to care for her. As the oldest, and as a woman, you are now the financial provider for your family. Your parents no longer have an income, and the little money they had saved will run out in one week. Your mother needs constant care, and the medical bills are rapidly building. Your younger siblings will need money for food, clothes, and school fees. Everyone is looking to you.
You have two options. Your father can get you a job working at the farm in your village. You would be close to home, but it does not pay well. Your other option is to move to the Big City – Bangkok. Pia, your cousin, has been working as a waitress there for six months and sends more than enough money home to her family. The same woman who helped Pia get her job says that she can help you as well.
Option 1: Work at a farm in your village.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 6.
Option 2: Move to Bangkok.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 2.
Chapter 1
The next day, you call the number and talk to a nice-sounding Thai woman. She explains the opportunities and living arrangements available at The Well and encourages you to come meet the other ex-bar girls that you would be living with. You think about spending one more night at the bar, but decide otherwise.
You move to the Well house and meet your new roommates. They seem okay, but you immediately connect with one young woman. While many of them continue to struggle with healing their pasts, you don’t see any fake smiles. You only see real ones.
The end.
Chapter 2
You move to Bangkok with enough money to buy food for three days. The woman “helping” you explains that there are no waitress jobs available. She says you can try to find a job on your own, but it will take you several weeks. She takes you to a bar called Baracca, on a street full of bars. You meet a Thai man who asks your age and which village you came from. He looks you up and down for several minutes, then tells you that you can be a number girl. Number girls wear skimpy outfits and stand in the front of the bar. They wear pins with numbers, and they must leave with any man who requests them. Their price is 1500 baut ($45) for a short time or 3000 baut ($90) for the night. Anyone who buys your time must pay your bar fine of 500 baut. The man tells you that if you are a good number girl and make lots of money, maybe you can become a go-go dancer or bartender. Then you would make more money and could decline offers from men if you so choose.
He then sends you with Mama Sai, the caretaker of the bar girls. She takes you upstairs and shows you some rooms that some of the girls live in. There are mattresses on the floor. She says you are welcome to stay there if you work as a number girl. Two girls at Baracca immediately befriend you. They encourage you to try working at the bar. If you don’t want to continue working there after two weeks, you can try to find something else. They admit, however, that they don’t like working there themselves, but without much schooling or work skills, they feel it’s the only way to make money to send home to their parents, siblings, and children. As shocked as you are by the day’s events, these new friends are a comfort to you. You don’t have enough money to make the long journey back home, so you have two options:
Option 1: You can leave the bar and try to find other work.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 8.
Option 2: You can take the job as a number girl at Baracca.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 5.
Chapter 3
You pay for your sibling’s school fees. They continue to attend classes and learn English and basic skills. Your brothers dream of opening a small business, but the harsh reality for your sister, age eight, is that she will only attend school until she is twelve. Then she will begin working. You are unable to pay for your mother’s medical bills, and her condition worsens. She dies within the year, and your father resents you for not making enough money to provide for the family.
The end.
Chapter 4
You pay for your mother’s medical bills, and her condition slowly improves. However, your little brothers and sister are unable to attend school, without money for school fees or uniforms. Your little sister begins to sell trinkets on the street to tourists passing through.
You work on the farm for the next twenty years. Even though your mother’s condition improves, it is now accepted that you are the financial provider for your family. The only other family member expected to work is your little sister. When she turned sixteen, she moved to Bangkok. You don’t know where she works there, but she seems very unhappy, despite the money she sends home. Your father is constantly losing money in the village’s gambling underground, and your brothers spend most of the money you earn on whisky. You feel like a bond slave in your own family, and you are constantly concerned about your little sister.
The end.
Chapter 5
The other girls at the bar help you get dressed and tell you it’s okay to stay in the background your first night. After that, you will be expected to make money for the bar. You take the opportunity and try not to draw much attention to yourself, though many men seem to notice you anyway. You quickly learn the tricks to being a bar girl: Shut yourself down and pretend to be someone else. Fake smiles and whisky can hide the nauseous feeling that never leaves you. Always tell the men that you’re twenty years old. You don’t know much English, but Mama Sai quickly teaches you the vocabulary for various lewd sexual acts and tells you to say, “My name Mai, you like me?” You manage to get through the first night without any customers. You are not so lucky the second night.
Two weeks come and go. Most of the men are white, middle-age businessmen. You begin to humor their gestures and even encourage their attention. It’s very unlike you, but after all, Mai was lost a long time ago. You are number 170.
With every trick, you hate yourself more. But you also begin to believe that without an education, this is the only way you can make money. You send more than enough money home to care for your mother’s medical bills and your sibling’s needs. When you call home, you tell them everything is fine. You encourage your younger sister to stay in the village and get as much education and skill training as possible.
One night, two women approach the bar. They offer to buy you a drink and sit and talk for a while. You are relieved to hear that they are not interested in using your services. You communicate with them in broken English. They ask where you’re from, you’re your family is like, and what you like to do for fun. You really enjoy their company, mostly because they don’t want to take from you. They want to give to you. They return the next night and ask if they can pay your bar fine and take you bowling. Mama Sai agrees as long as they pay the bar for your time. You have a fun time, laughing, and sharing as many stories as you can through the language barrier. You begin to feel like Mai again.
They tell you about some friends of theirs that run an organization called The Well. It is for women who don’t want to work at the bars anymore. They provide you with a nice place to stay, and you can work, either making jewelry, purses, or cards. You would not make as much money, but you would not have to pay for living expenses. They would help make sure your family is provided for. You don’t know what to think at first. You have adapted to bar life. Though you hate it, you make good money. They give you a number to call if you want to join the Well. You have two options:
Option 1: Decline their offer and keep working at Baracca.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 7.
Option 2: Call the number.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 1.
Chapter 6
You immediately begin working at the farm. You do backbreaking work in the fields from 6am until 7pm, seven days a week. You make 250baut a week, roughly equivalent to $7.00. This is not enough money to provide for the needs of your family. You have two options. You can pay your mother’s medical bills to ensure her continued care, or you can pay your sibling’s school fees.
Option 1: Pay your mother’s medical bills.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 4.
Option 2: Pay your siblings school fees.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 3.
Chapter 7
You continue working at Baracca. The longer you stay, the more you believe that this lifestyle is your only option. You lose yourself more and more in the fake smiles. You drink whisky every night after work, in order to forget work. You help the new girls adjust, as many of them are as young as you were when you started. You continue to hear good news from home. You mother is better and your brothers are starting a small business of their own. You hope to be able to return home soon, though you have been hoping that for years. When you call your little sister for her birthday, she says she wants to come into the Big City to work and be just like you. For the first time in years, you allow yourself to cry.
The end.
Chapter 8
You sleep on the street the first night. A street vendor sympathizes for you and offers you a job selling merchandise to tourists. You work at the stand morning to night, seven days a week, and make 400 baut ($12) a week. After buying food, you are able to send 250 baut home to your family. This is not enough money to provide for their needs. You have two options. You can pay your mother’s medical bills to ensure her continued care, or you can pay your sibling’s school fees.
Option 1: Pay your mother’s medical bills.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 4.
Option 2: Pay your siblings school fees.
If you choose this option, go to chapter 3.
