"She came in through the bathroom window..."

So a snake climbed in through the bathroom window at the VMWBO office last night (mind you the snake had to make its way up to the second story). So what did the women at the shelter do? They smashed in its head and made porridge with it. And then Cha Hung ate the snake's heart (this might a rumor but it was neither refuted or affirmed by Cha Hung who simply shrugged).

Chi My Nga, if you're reading this, I hope you and your family made it to the States safely! You too Cha Cuong! We dropped off one of the sister's at the airport this morning and it was a tearful good-bye. I had a heart-to-heart with Cha Hung earlier this week and it has changed how I view my job here in Taiwan and the work that Cha Hung and the socials workers here have cut out for them. At the airport one of the social workers pointed out the brokers over here in Taiwan and I agree with the office when they tell Cha Hung to get some life insurance! Those are some scary people.

I will write more when I am not so sleepy (from waking up at 5 AM); I just wanted to post to make sure everyone knew I was still alive over here.

Cha Hung returned yesterday evening which means the office has been very excited (especially excited about the Swiss chocolates he brought us). The night before Cha Hung returned, a few of the girls and I stayed at the office until 1 AM watching World Cup with Cha Cuong and anxiously waiting for Cha Hung's arrival. Needless to say he showed up 14 hours later. Cha Hung didn't tell us to pick him up from the airport so we have all been speculating as to how he got back to the office. Some of the staff at the office have interesting theories about Cha Hung having a girlfriend, but for a man with such a busy agenda, I doubt he has the time for that! I don't think anyone is more excited about Cha Hung's arrival than Cha Cuong who will be leaving us for the States in a week. Nonetheless, I was really excited to see Cha Hung again and congratulate him in person about his hero status in the latest Trafficking in Persons report.

Loc Nguyen wrote me an email asking if some of the women at the shelter wouldn't mind leaving a note or so on this VietACT intern blog. Well, that's a tricky question. Before I left for Taiwan, I gathered a few letters that participants wrote at the SoCal Walk Against Trafficking at one of the stations. My goal is to have the women at the shelter write reply letters to all the people who care about them by the time my English classes here come to an end. Today they learned "I like to eat (insert tropical fruit here). And you?" So unless Loc Nguyen and others are ready to respond with a fruit the Vietnamese women here are familiar with (try cherimoya, lychee, rambutan, etc.) a written response by one of the ladies here will have to wait until we master "Do you have a girlfriend/wife?" Are you ready to answer that question, Mr. Nguyen?!

On another note, because of the situation the women here have been placed in, emotions run rampant. I have been working on not letting the emotional outbursts and breakdowns get to me personally but it is hard because we are all human and it is never easy to see another person suffer. The atmosphere at the shelter is very unnatural and women of different ages, temperaments, backgrounds, maturity and varying degrees of abuse are forced to live with each other. Needless to say, some women are really strong and mixed with female tendencies of jealousy, manipulation and viciousness, sometimes I feel as if I am living in my own reality television show or a Vietnamese version of Mean Girls.

Sometimes I get disappointed because I can't stand watching people continue to put others through abuse after they, themselves, had suffered abuse (did that make sense?). But I really can't pass any judgment because I can't say that I wouldn't be the same way or do the same thing in their situation.

Anyway, this post was full of double negatives and I hope it didn't put a negative spin on the work that is being done over here. The important thing to focus on is, as Cha Hung put it after I congratulated him on being a hero, "There is still a lot of work to be done."

So I say, to hell with the drama and cheers to pursuing "superhero" status.

Dear friends,

It seems that the sisters here at the shelter have really started to take on me, and so have the mosquitoes. Everytime I get a mosquito bite it becomes a large welt and bruise and the talk of the office. The sisters and staff at the office have all offered their own suggestions as to how I should avoid the mosquitoes. Cha Cuong said I should set up a mosquito net in my room and sleep outside of the net because the mosquitoes will be too busy trying to get inside the net to bother the person sleeping outside of the net. It's this type of humor that goes on at the office that helps me get through the day and I am sure it's this type of humor that comforts the sisters enough to stay here at the shelter.

Since I've been here, I've seen several people come and go. Some of them go back to Viet Nam, some of them find jobs and leave, some of them run away from their jobs and employers and seek shelter here with us. There are mixed feelings about each situation. Some are happy to go back to Viet Nam because they're time here is up (under Taiwanese law, foreign workers can only work here for a maximum of three years) and they miss their families, especially their children. Some are unhappy because they do not want to go home to Viet Nam and their families "tay trang" (empty handed).

For the most part, everyone here is anxious. They have lawsuits which may or may not be successful and they are desperate for some sort of assurance that they will be able to send money home to their families in Viet Nam. This type of desperation has led some of the women here to think about running away before they are to be sent back to Viet Nam and try to seek jobs illegally. This has made the office staff very anxious and I find myself staying up at night listening for the door at the shelter open and close, taking a mental count of all the sisters and making sure they all come home. I know that sometimes your heart wins over your mind and that fear may sometimes cloud reasoning. Thus, I can sympathize for the sisters who want to seek drastic and vulnerable measures such as running away from our shelter, but I have grown really attached to them in the short time that I've been here and do not want to see them abused anymore than they already have been by a system that has not taken sufficient means to protect them. I am talking about both the Taiwanese and Vietnamese government. By the way, the office has been celebrating ever since the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report was released, we can't wait to get our hands on a hard copy!

When I first arrived here and was getting to know the women and men at the shelter, I noticed that everyone looked familiar. There was a man who looked exactly like my friend's older brother! I had to do a double take and found myself staring to make sure that this really wasn't someone I knew from the States. There are women who look exactly like my aunts and cousins and some speak mien Hue just like my mom. I came to the realization that human trafficking really is a crime that is happening to our brothers and sisters, to faces we know, to people who speak our language. However, now that I have gotten to know everyone on a personal level, I have started looking at human trafficking at the individual level. Now that I know their stories and their voices, I can recognize their chatter from a distance (they are loud!) and I am able to wish each person "chuc chi ngu ngon" (have a good night) as they walk through the door. I can then let out a sigh out of relief as each sister makes it home to the shelter safely.

P.S. Happy super belated birthday to Miss Tammy Tran (the hardest working woman in the world)! And a Happy Birthday to computer whiz Minh T. Nguyen.

Dear Friends,

All is well in Taiwan, or as well as things can be in a country where the weather is unbearable and the issue of human trafficking is more than detestable. After two weeks here at the shelter and the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office (VWMBO aka TaiwanACT), the women and men are getting used to me and have started opening up to me. They are very eager to talk about their children and even more eager to ask if I have children. Apparently, at twenty-two I am three years past my prime "getting married and raising children" age. Although the sisters here seem a bit jaded about their experiences with men, they put on a very strong front and Cha Cuong (Associate Executive Director here at VWMBO) has talked to me about how each person here as a personal and painful story. As I write this blog post, I can hear Cha Cuong give a lecture to the brothers and sisters here at the shelter on how to cope with anger and pain. As I enter my third week in Taiwan, I am touched by the support the VWMBO staff offer for the victims, I am motivated by the courage of all the men and women here at the shelter and I am grateful for VietACT for sending me here.

The TaiwanACT and I teach a total of four English language classes per week. Last week's English class involved numbers, money, and sightseeing which coincided with our weekend field trip to Taipei 101 (the world's largest building and fastest elevator). This week's English lesson involves the Food Pyramid and this weekend we will make keo dau phong (Vietnamese peanut brittle). We try our best to lighten the mood here at the shelter.

This past weekend, one of the sisters entered my room in the middle of the night and cried to me. This was the first time I actually saw how much pain these women are in. I did my best to console her but it was hard for me to express how I really felt. I struggled with my emotions and my limited Vietnamese vocabulary and told her to cheer up because she is in a much better place physically here at VWMBO and emotionally with all of the support Cha Hung, Cha Cuong, Chi My-Nga, and the rest of the staff here than where she was a few months ago. But what she said in response resonated with me for days: "Living in the here and now is difficult, but living for an uncertain future is worst." How can she avoid returning to Viet Nam "tay trang" (empty handed)?

I know that the VWMBO staff is working on her case here, but I have been thinking about what she said and realize that living for an uncertain future truly is worst. Thus, it is important to focus on prevention and public awareness.

With that said, the brothers and sisters here at the shelter and the staff at the VWMBO are deeply touched and grateful for all of the donations, dedication, and efforts of everyone who participated in the Relay Against Trafficking. Ever since I got here, I have been boasting about the numbers of participants, volunteers, and funds raised. Everybody here is very proud, I think the proudest person is me.