After Udon Thani. Although I can't really say I'm getting the authentic Lao experience . . . in fact, I am staying at the one five-star hotel in Vientiane, Don Chan Palace, along with the Dept of Special Investigations team!
In spite of the five-star Thai treatment, I have also been getting excellent field data for my research. On Monday, I went to the government shelter in Udon Thani. There are 12 staff members there and only 2 victims currently. I learned that this shelter is the first stop when a victim is rescued, but then he or she is sent off to a much larger shelter with a school and job training. This shelter also serves as the place where victims stay when they need to testify in front of an attorney, since the shelter is close to Udon Thani. I met these two little girls, Mae and Song (names have been changed).
What struck me the most was how happy and joy-filled these two girls were. Mae was waiting for us when we pulled up in Khun Sawai's (the director) car, and threw her arms around him when he opened the door. I immediately asked who she was, expecting him to say his granddaughter! But then when he said, "Oh, she is one of our victims who has been abused," my stomach turned. How could anyone want to hurt these precious girls? It is hard to imagine. In any case, they really are full of laughter and smiles now. They are very close with the psychologist, social worker, and the director and his assistant (who are both men). They seem very attached and when I asked if they liked it here, they said they did very much.
Mae said that she wants to learn English when she goes back to the bigger shelter where her school is! She also told me several times that I was very beautiful. Finally, she said that she does miss her mom and she is happy to be at this shelter because her mom can come visit her or call her once a week.
In Vientiane, we interviewed two girls who were trafficked from Laos to the south of Thailand. They signed up to work as waitresses in Bangkok to earn 2,000 baht/month (about $65), but when they arrived in Bangkok they were given false passports saying they were over 18 (they were only 16 at the time) and taken to the very south of Thailand, on the Malaysian border, to work as prostitutes at a "karaoke bar" that was in fact only a brothel.
One of the girls borrowed a client's cell phone after a few months of being forced to give men "unlimited" sex each night (the other girl was beaten when she said that she couldn't have sex an eighth time with one man one night) and called her mother. The mother got in touch with an NGO in Lao, who got in touch with the Thailand DSI, and the DSI went down to investigate. They arrested the bar owner and his daughter, who are now serving 50 years in prison. The Laotian broker who sold the girls to the owner has now been detained in Bangkok and the DSI went to review the girls' witness statements with them for his prosecution.
Here is the team at work:
I have some better pictures of the girls but there case is not yet closed so I won't post any. Despite how much I have read, it is a different experience meeting people who's stories actually are the stories that you've read about. I cannot imagine being able to find a sense of self-worth and dignity again after being forced to sleep with man after man for months at age sixteen. Actually, the DSI wanted to interview a third victim who testified against the bar owner and his daughter, but she has since married and does not want her husband to know her story. The two girls who we met with are now in a rehabilitation program at the Lao Women Union. One learns to sew and one learns how to style hair. They are both sweet, and smiled a lot, but definitely timid and meek. My DSI friend Pi-Duke told me how they trust this DSI team and feel comfortable around them because he and the rest of the team were the ones who rescued them, and so have been with them since the beginning. The girls brought them a gift of fruit to express their gratitude. Pi-Duke was very touched.
Here is a picture of me and Pi-Duke. I am so grateful to him because he is so thoughtful, always reflecting on my deeper questions (like about buddhism & prostitutes - he and two others really disagreed with the idea that buddhists shun prostitutes/beggars and do not want to associate with them and said this was more of a Hindu belief - while there may be some Thais who feel this way, it is definitely not a Buddhist belief, though the fact that a beggar/prostitute has done something in their past life to be born into this one is a Buddhist belief). He is also very caring, and took my research to heart, translating every document for me, every conversation for me, answering all of my questions and even asking others, like the public prosecutor, my questions when he didn't know the answer! I am so grateful to him and to the rest of the Thai DSI team for all being so patient and responsive to me. It is a big effort to translate their native tongue into English for me and yet they did so consistently, all the while calling me their "sis"!
In addition to a five-star hotel overlooking the Mekong River, I am also treated to 5-star restaurants every night and the Thai custom really works in my favor - I am part of the family, their "sis" as they call me (which would be "pi" in Thai) and am not expected to pay for anything. In fact, when I tried to pay for desert tonight at a coffee shop after the Thai-Laotian feast pictured below, I only got a death glare from one of my supervisors when he found out that I had already paid for everyone. Mai pen lai, I won't try that again!
In spite of the five-star Thai treatment, I have also been getting excellent field data for my research. On Monday, I went to the government shelter in Udon Thani. There are 12 staff members there and only 2 victims currently. I learned that this shelter is the first stop when a victim is rescued, but then he or she is sent off to a much larger shelter with a school and job training. This shelter also serves as the place where victims stay when they need to testify in front of an attorney, since the shelter is close to Udon Thani. I met these two little girls, Mae and Song (names have been changed).
Mae, playing on the toy truck, is 11 years old and was brought to the shelter when a neighbor from her village called the 1300 hotline (Thailand's hotline to report all abuse, domestic violence, or trafficking suspicions) because an old man in the village was sexually abusing Mae. Mae was living with her grandfather, who was not taking much care of her. Her mother had also been sexually abused and was living in Bangkok. Her mother returned to Udon Thani when she heard about Mae but is not able to look after her, so they are looking for a home for her. Mae also has a very low IQ so she needs special school.
Song, sitting with her back to us, is 7 years old and was taken to the hospital by a neighbor who discovered that her step-grandmother was physically beating her. You can just make out the scar in the back of her head in the photo above. She just arrived at the shelter so we are not sure where she will go next.
What struck me the most was how happy and joy-filled these two girls were. Mae was waiting for us when we pulled up in Khun Sawai's (the director) car, and threw her arms around him when he opened the door. I immediately asked who she was, expecting him to say his granddaughter! But then when he said, "Oh, she is one of our victims who has been abused," my stomach turned. How could anyone want to hurt these precious girls? It is hard to imagine. In any case, they really are full of laughter and smiles now. They are very close with the psychologist, social worker, and the director and his assistant (who are both men). They seem very attached and when I asked if they liked it here, they said they did very much.
Mae said that she wants to learn English when she goes back to the bigger shelter where her school is! She also told me several times that I was very beautiful. Finally, she said that she does miss her mom and she is happy to be at this shelter because her mom can come visit her or call her once a week.
In Vientiane, we interviewed two girls who were trafficked from Laos to the south of Thailand. They signed up to work as waitresses in Bangkok to earn 2,000 baht/month (about $65), but when they arrived in Bangkok they were given false passports saying they were over 18 (they were only 16 at the time) and taken to the very south of Thailand, on the Malaysian border, to work as prostitutes at a "karaoke bar" that was in fact only a brothel.
One of the girls borrowed a client's cell phone after a few months of being forced to give men "unlimited" sex each night (the other girl was beaten when she said that she couldn't have sex an eighth time with one man one night) and called her mother. The mother got in touch with an NGO in Lao, who got in touch with the Thailand DSI, and the DSI went down to investigate. They arrested the bar owner and his daughter, who are now serving 50 years in prison. The Laotian broker who sold the girls to the owner has now been detained in Bangkok and the DSI went to review the girls' witness statements with them for his prosecution.
Here is the team at work:
I have some better pictures of the girls but there case is not yet closed so I won't post any. Despite how much I have read, it is a different experience meeting people who's stories actually are the stories that you've read about. I cannot imagine being able to find a sense of self-worth and dignity again after being forced to sleep with man after man for months at age sixteen. Actually, the DSI wanted to interview a third victim who testified against the bar owner and his daughter, but she has since married and does not want her husband to know her story. The two girls who we met with are now in a rehabilitation program at the Lao Women Union. One learns to sew and one learns how to style hair. They are both sweet, and smiled a lot, but definitely timid and meek. My DSI friend Pi-Duke told me how they trust this DSI team and feel comfortable around them because he and the rest of the team were the ones who rescued them, and so have been with them since the beginning. The girls brought them a gift of fruit to express their gratitude. Pi-Duke was very touched.
Here is a picture of me and Pi-Duke. I am so grateful to him because he is so thoughtful, always reflecting on my deeper questions (like about buddhism & prostitutes - he and two others really disagreed with the idea that buddhists shun prostitutes/beggars and do not want to associate with them and said this was more of a Hindu belief - while there may be some Thais who feel this way, it is definitely not a Buddhist belief, though the fact that a beggar/prostitute has done something in their past life to be born into this one is a Buddhist belief). He is also very caring, and took my research to heart, translating every document for me, every conversation for me, answering all of my questions and even asking others, like the public prosecutor, my questions when he didn't know the answer! I am so grateful to him and to the rest of the Thai DSI team for all being so patient and responsive to me. It is a big effort to translate their native tongue into English for me and yet they did so consistently, all the while calling me their "sis"!
Now it is goodbye to Vientiane (didn't do much sightseeing - will have to come back here! But a statute of the King where people give offerings is pictured below... even stranger than giving offerings to Buddha in this communist country!) and on to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to meet Alex!
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