First off I want to apologize for not writing a blog in so long. I know that this is really your only way of knowing what I’m even doing on the other side of the world. So I’ll be informative for a second and say that I was in Henan province in China last month. I was living in an orphanage with babies! Taking care of them as well as helping out the organization we partnered with. We painted murals, worked with the kids, played with the kids, took some of the older ones out and about town to have a more “normal” experience outside the routines of the orphanage. I loved my time in China, it was very different from what I am used to. I also realized that in my narrow world view, whenever I thought of Asia (as a whole) I thought of China, but when I thought I was thinking of China, I really was imagining Japan. Like, all these things I thought were the case or true about China, are actually true about Japan, but not China. Confusing, I know.
Now this month, I am in Northern Thailand. Chiang Mai, well Doi Saket to be exact. We are working with an organization called Remember Nhu. This organization is responsible for the prevention side of the sex trade. Girls who are at risk for being sold into the sex trade are brought here to the children’s home in Chiang Mai to have an opportunity to go to school for as long as they are able and to then learn a trade, so as to be profitable to their families at home. One of the main reasons why a child is sold into this kind of slavery is because the family can’t afford to take care of her, they simply do not make enough money to feed these girls, pay for schooling. So, when given the option of watching your child die in front of your eyes, or sell them into a way of providing more for your family, these families choose what they think of as the lesser of two evils. It’s beautiful to get to see and spend time with these girls. Just knowing that they are saved. They are all so full of light. These are the lucky ones. When we first got here a lot of the other women I am here with started asking the question, ok so do you ever partner with organizations involved in intervention? Or in other words, do you help to get the girls out of the sex trade industry once they are in it? Our contact phrased her response this way, would you rather have someone come in and save you before you are raped and offer you a better life…or after when you have been traumatized and taught that you are only valuable for one reason. Now since there are plenty more intervention related ministries than there are prevention, the girls already sold into slavery aren’t being neglected, but Remember Nhu’s purpose is to get girls at-risk out of harms way.
That’s some of what we’re doing this month…mostly we are doing manual labor (mixing concrete, pouring concrete, smoothing concrete, washing concrete off of whatever it’s not supposed to stay on…). It’s great to partner with a ministry that is focused on eradicating the problem rather than just treating it.
