Calix L. Vu-Bui has been selected as VietACT 2009 Intern

Calix L. Vu-Bui completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2005. This year, she received her Master of Science in Counseling degree from San Diego State University. Her interests in refugee, immigrant and exploited peoples stem from her family’s personal experiences in the U.S. as survivors of the Vietnam War.

Calix started out as a therapist at both the SDSU Center for Community Counseling and an inner city school through the Price Entities School Project (PESP). These were transformative experiences where her interest in grassroots, community-based social services grew. Currently, Calix actively engages with underserved/underrepresented communities through the Cultural Access and Resource Enhancement (CARE) program. To increase Asian Pacific Islander (API) mental health access for youth and their families, Calix serves as an outreach specialist and family support partner at CARE. True to her roots as an organizer, she co-founded the Asian, Asian-American, Pacific Islander Network (AAPIN) for Community Research Foundation (CRF), CARE’s overseeing agency, to enhance the services CRF provides to APIs in San Diego County.

Calix has made notable contributions in the research community through her publications in the book New Horizons in Multi-Cultural Counseling and at the International Counseling Conference (ICC) in Shanghai, China, where she presented and published research on an innovative training tool for students in the counseling profession. Committed to serving the Vietnamese community, Calix is the Community Relations Coordinator for the Vietnamese-American Youth Alliance (VAYA) and hopes to helps organize their first Asian Youth Conference.

Inspired by a friend, Calix became aware of VietACT, which she saw as an opportunity to continue her interests in social justice, human rights advocacy, and mental health work in traumatized and immigrant groups. She joins VietACT as an intern interested in using her passion and education to advance the rights of exploited Vietnamese trafficked into Taiwan and to create healing experiences for these resilient survivors.

Dear VietACT Members and Supporters,

Thank you to ALL that applied to this year's VietACT International Internship Program. As with previous years, we had more qualified applicants than space allotted and regret that we were unable to send more talented interns to Taiwan. After a thorough review of all the application materials and answers gathered during many tele-interviews, VietACT would like to congratulate and recognize Calix Vu-Bui as our Official 2009 VietACT Intern. Please refer to Calix's biography (in another post) for more information about her community organizing background and her experience in the mental health and social service field.

When asked about her thoughts in being selected for the internship, Calix stated, "I'm really excited to be given an opportunity where I can utilize my education to participate in a project that combines humanitarian effort with social advocacy. I'm also interested in the global aspect of human trafficking, an issue that is on-going and pervasive. On a sociopolitical and human rights level, my background and interests in social justice and community healing work are greatly aligned with VietACT’s mission. One can create policy and advocacy on this matter, but in the end, human trafficking effects the core of its survivors’ mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It is the intrinsic right of every human to be of sound, functional mental and emotional health. For me, it is an honor to be selected to work on this issue."

Calix will be departing for Taiwan in early September 2009 and will stay there for five months until February 2010. She will participate in the start up of a new detention center project that will utilize therapy under the guise of a "recreational program". In response to her upcoming projects and assignments as the new intern, Calix stated "I anticipate a rich and salient experience, an opportunity for me to be impacted by the survivors’ resiliency as we learn from one another through mutual understanding and solidarity. I predict that the survivors will give more to me than I can ever give to them."

We at VietACT welcome Calix into our family with open arms and wish her the best in all the opportunities that lie ahead of her.

For more information about our International Internship Program in general, please visit our official web site at http://www.vietact.org/. Calix will soon be updating her initial thoughts on our "VietACT Intern Blog" at http://vietactintern.blogspot.com/, so be sure to give the blog a visit. A reminder to everyone that while there is a need for assistance at the shelter in Taiwan and other countries abroad, we must not neglect the fact that there is also MUCH work to be done HERE in our very own local community. If you would like to be more involved with VietACT and our mission, please contact us for information on some of our domestic opportunities and campaigns. If you have any further questions or concerns about VietACT or our International Internship Program, please let me know.

On behalf of VietACT's Board of Directors and Volunteer Staff, thank you for your continual support.

Anthony T. Nguyen
International Internship Program Coordinator
Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking (VietACT)
internship@VietACT.org

Dear VietACT Members, Supporters, and those Interested:

A reminder that in furthering our purpose and mission, VietACT (Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking) is currently accepting applications for our 2009 International Internship Program (IIP).

The application deadline has been extended until Saturday Night (11:59 PM PST) April 25, 2009. If you are majoring in Law, Psychology, Public/Mental Health, Social Work, Social Sciences (in general), or Public Policy (etc) - you are HIGHLY encouraged to apply.

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Packet
(includes Intro letter, Application Form, FAQ, etc)
http://v117h.fileave.com/VietACT%202009%20IIP%20Packet.doc

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Application Form (Form ONLY)http://v117h.fileave.com/VietACT%202009%20IIP%20Application.doc

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Flyer
http://v117h.fileave.com/VietACT%202009%20IIP%20Flyer.jpg

If the above link(s) do(es) NOT work and you would like an application, please feel free to contact us for one: internship@vietact.org

Please help VietACT spread the word about this opportunity by forwarding this email to those you know that might be interested. Thank you.

In furthering our purpose and mission, VietACT (Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking) is currently accepting applications for our 2009 International Internship Program (IIP).

VietACT (Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking) welcomes a limited number of interns to work on behalf of VietACT in Taiwan (Taoyuan, Taiwan) throughout the summer (though preferably longer if possible). Students and professionals of various disciplines are encouraged to apply, particularly law, social work, psychology, public health, and general social science. Interns will work at TaiwanACT's Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office (VMWBO) and will participate in research, case studies, case work, writing projects, teaching and advocacy. Potential interns are encouraged to find funding through their universities and/or private funding. VietACT will make arrangements for basic room and board. Interns will make their own arrangements for traveling. (A small stipend may be available depending on funding availability).

More Information can be found at our Official Site at http://www.VietACT.org

Join us on our Xanga Blogrings, Myspace, and Facebook Group Account (Keyword: VietACT).

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Packet
(includes Intro letter, Application Form, FAQ, etc)
http://V117H.fileave.com/VietACT 2009 IIP Packet.doc

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Application Form (Form ONLY)http://V117H.fileave.com/VietACT 2009 IIP Application.doc

Click here for a link to download the VietACT 2009 IIP Flyer
http://V117H.fileave.com/VietACT 2009 IIP Flyer.jpg

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us: internship@vietact.org

Please help VietACT spread the word about this opportunity by forwarding this information to those you know that might be interested. Thank you.

It's my last week in Taiwan, and words can't describe what I'm feeling at the moment. On the one hand, I'm frantically trying to finish a report I'm writing for the office, and at the same time, I want to spend as much time as I can with everyone here. I am not ready to leave--I've become so attached to this place, to all the great people I've met.

I could never have prepared myself for this experience. I can honestly say that it has been life-altering. It has opened my eyes to the gross injustices of this world, and at the same time has reassured me that people who are truly committed to human rights and human dignity have a great capacity to make the world a better place. I can only hope that I can follow in the footsteps of these individuals--true defenders of social justice-- those whom I've been lucky enough to work with over the past few months. And, I cannot express my deepest gratitude and love for my brothers and sisters at the shelter. They have made me feel like I am family. It hasn't quite sunk in that I will be leaving them soon, and I'm trying not to think about it.

It seems that working to combat human trafficking is an endless fight. This doesn't mean we should give up, but hopefully it will encourage us to fight back with an even greater strength and ferocity.

We recently had a new person come to the shelter who had his had completely severed in an accident at work. Things are very complicated for him right now as this accident occurred while he was "illegally" employed. I put that term in quotes because in many of the cases where laborers work oustide of their contracts, they are only doing so to escape abusive and exploitative conditions, or because their contracts were not met in the first place. This individual now has no way of paying his medical expenses as he had no insurance under that employer.

When the police discovered his situation, they were immediately ready to repatriate him and they were going to do this without investigating the facts of the accident and attempting to get him compensation of any kind. It seems that to the law enforcement authorities here, laborers are a real burden and any kind of help or service they provide to migrant workers is meant as a favor to them. In the time between his initial surgery and time under police custody, he was supposed to take great care of his hand and his bandages needed to be replaced every eight hours. The police completely ignored this fact and his hand was left without proper care for two days. It then became severely infected, and now it seems that parts of tissue will have to be removed and it isn't a guarantee that he will have any use of that hand in the future. If the police even cared to take him to the hospital this situation would not have occurred.

When the police eventually took him to our office, they had every intention of just leaving him here so that they wouldn't have to take responsibility for him. They didn't want to trouble themselves with the case. But as our office found out the unethical and negligent abuse by the police, we are now fighting with them to investigate the case. It's all very complicated, but the people at the office are doing everything in their power to see that this individual is given the basic rights of medical care and an investigation into the specifics of the accident. The police had no intention of carrying out these things, and this is just another example of the unfair and unethical treatment of migrant workers in Taiwan.

I am learning so much everyday--it's overwhelming, but in a good way. And it's the type of learning that I could never hope to get from a book, or from a lecture by one of my fabulous professors at UCSB. It's a more personal education, I would say. Talking to my brothers and sisters at the shelter has allowed me to get up-close and personal with what it is to be human, to struggle, to love, to sacrifice. I constantly feel like I want to write down everything they are saying, but that would be quite impossible. There are so many great stories, personal journeys, instances of defeat and triumph; I don't know what else to say, but that this is the best learning experience I have ever had, and, it's not over yet. I was telling a friend how being here, working in a shelter for victims of trafficking and labor exploitation and other types of inhumane treatment, affords many opportunities for existential crises. I guess what I'm trying to say is that listening to the life experiences of the people here, I constantly wonder why I am where I am in life. Why am I living in beautiful and sunny Santa Barbara completing my graduate education when my roommate could only dream of completing high school? Suddenly all the things that I worry and stress out about seem so unimportant. Really, why is life so random and unfair?

Hello VietACT supporters!

This is Vanessa, VietACT Intern - Summer 2006. I want to applaud Caroline for the great work she is doing for the human trafficking survivors in Taiwan as well as the great writing and updates she is providing for VietACT locally here in the States and worldwide. For those California-based VietACT supporters, please see the following note from Van Le at VietACT:


Senator Lou Correa's Office, The Women's Transitional Living Center and VietACT are hosting an Evening of Awareness for Human Trafficking.

The event will take place on October 2nd at 6pm-8pm at the Westminster Rose Center.

The program will include a documentary film, testimonials from 3 human trafficking survivors, a discussion panel..and hopefully other VietACT talents such as Spoken word or singing...



Please contact vanle@vietact.org if you are interested in volunteering for the event! We'll see you there!

Peace, love and freedom

Vanessa

Hello! Apologies for the lack of updates. I just returned from a visa-run to Thailand--it was quite beautiful by the way. I'm now back in the office and it feels busier than ever. Anyway, I neglected to post this before, but here are some of my notes on the Public Hearing on Workers' Rights in Taipei in early July:

11 July 2008

There was a public hearing with Taiwanese legislators, labor organizations, scholars, activists, etc., at the parliament building in Taipei. The topic of the day would be the issue of home-care workers’ rights especially in terms of time off. Currently foreign migrant laborers in home-care have no legal protections. There were several organizations present, including the Taiwanese International Workers Association (TIWA) and the Migrant Workers Alliance. From our organization, those present were Cha Hung, Chi Loan, Chen-Chen and some ladies from the shelter. There was a pamphlet given out concerning the protection for workers’ rights and interests and a comparative analysis between labor practices in Taiwan and other Asian countries/regions such as Hong Kong. I was very lucky to have Chen-Chen there for a portion of the hearing to translate for me. It was an open forum for discussion about any and all issues concerning the rights of these workers.

What is currently happening in Taiwan is that there is a substantial amount of elderly people relative to young people in the country. Of concern also is the disabled population. Families are thus increasingly becoming reliant on foreign laborers, especially women to fulfill the role of care-taker. Most of the time, workers are required to work on an average of 9.5-13 hours/day with no days off because these individuals need this type of constant care. The issue of protecting these workers have been talked about in the same way for the past several years without any real gains on changing policy. The strong sentiment present that day called for state intervention as the best and only solution in solving these problems. These workers are merely asking for basic legal protections and the right to time off. There are approximately 160,000 total foreign home care workers (“modern-day slaves”) in Taiwan.

Cha Hung also spoke at the hearing. He notes that brokerage companies suck money out of workers and that they have no basic freedoms. Their papers and legal documentation are confiscated by their brokers. Taiwan is mostly seen as a modern democracy, but its track record in the human rights department leaves much to be desired. He told the story of a woman who killed her employer and then tried to kill herself because the situation was so bad. This woman was not covered under any labor laws.

There is also the issue of local domestic workers. They cannot find jobs and blame this on foreign workers.

Long working hours have been an issue for quite a while. What kept being emphasized by those opposed to new legislation was that home-care workers/employers have different needs and thus cannot be ruled under the same laws and regulations as other types of jobs. With issues of labor regulation/exploitation, ENFORCEMENT is a big issue. Many of the times, workers are made to do things that they simply did not sign up for. A particularly salient question is: How do we go about monitoring these unjust practices?

It was nice seeing the great solidarity among the workers and proponents of social justice gathered in a forum to voice their rights and concerns, although it was unclear what kind of headway in terms of potential policy change was made that day.