Here is a letter I wrote before I came to Taiwan (it was a letter I read to VietACT Walk Against Trafficking Participants):

Dear my Vietnamese sister and brother, one whose face I have not yet seen, whose story is not mine but whose pain I share,

When I first heard stories about you feeling helpless, defenseless, and hopeless, I promised myself that I would make my life meaningful by giving you an advocate, a voice, a friend. Although we might be separated by oceans, state borders, or walls, the fact that this is happening to you, my Vietnamese sister, my Vietnamese brother, makes your anguish mine. The fact that our community has been called on to do something for you makes your struggle ours. Dear sister, brother, the next time I hear your story, I promise you that you will be able to tell me your story in person. I promise to be your voice, advocate, and friend. I promise to give you hope, I promise that you will be defended, I promise to help. Dear sister, brother, I pledge to you that the pain we have will become a love we share.

My message to Cha Hung, TaiwanACT and gia dinh (my family here in Taiwan): Thank you, everyone, for sharing your stories with me and leaving a deep and profound impact on my life. I promise to keep my pledge to you - to be your voice and advocate when I get back to the States and thank you for being my friend and a source of affection and inspiration during my two months in Taiwan. I will never forget the faces I've met, the stories I have heard, and most importantly, the love we shared. I will cherish my memories of the office and all my friends and hope you have faith in knowing that our experiences here have left a lasting impression on my heart.

God bless,
Vi-vi

It was a super hot and super quiet day at work. I found Cha Hung laying on the floor with his arms sprawled out. He had his eyes closed. I went, "Cha Hung! Are you okay?" He peered at me with one eye open, the other eye closed and said, "Oh, I'm just really tired."

I wish a bad day at the office meant that the internet is down, the air conditioner doesn't work, and everyone is cranky. The truth is: the internet is down, the air conditioner doesn't work, everyone is cranky and then there's the added stress of dealing with the victims. It has been, undoubtedly, a bad day at work and my emotions are haywire.

When someone asked what I'm going to be doing when I get back to the States, I told her my plans, hopes, and what I plan on taking from Taiwan back with me. She told me that she was touched. I hope the people at home will be too.

"If you take a look around, everyone one of us, you, me, people home in the States, we are the faces of human trafficking."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because we are all hurt by it."

Thanks to my lovely friends in the States and the care package they sent me with 18 pairs of two-tone socks, I was able to teach the ladies how to make sock monkeys implementing key words we've learned in our weekly English classes such as "monkey" "head" and "eye"





I went out and bought oil pastels, watercolors, poster paint and paper during the week we learned colors and emotions ("I miss Viet Nam").

One of my favorite students drew this and implemented phrases she learned in class:



Here are some brokers eating up all the money:



Here is a pastel I drew of Cha Hung:

This week has been emotionally trying. Several notable things happened: a stray dog showed up at the shelter, some brokers showed up (equally as uninvited yet a lot less pleasant than the dog), and we made a trip to Taiwan's Legail Aid Foundation.

"Can we keep her? Pretty please! Please Cha Hung, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase!"

A black labrador retreiver showed up at the shelter. She made herself at home and climbed up the stairs and into the office while we were all busy working/cooking. At first Cha Hung told us to take her out but she kept on following us back in the gate and we couldn't say good-bye to her so we made her stay downstairs. When I started my English lesson, she climbed up the stairs and crashed my class so the ladies and I let her sleep under our table and next to a fan. We named her "Puppy" but by the time I showed up at the shelter the next day, she was gone. I miss her but I'm starting to get used to sorrowful good-bye's. I've been keeping myself up at night wondering what I will be able to say the day I need to leave the family I've made here. Surely, I won't just run through the gate in the morning without even a bark good-bye (much like what Puppy did).

A few uninvited brokers showed up at the office and there was a heated argument at the gate. I don't know how much I can say about the argument and why they showed up here but all I have to say is that brokers are a different breed of people. What's worst is that they use Vietnamese people to interpret for them and why these Vietnamese people think it's okay to abuse the political and legal system, manipulate words, and worst, to abuse other Vietnamese people is beyond me. I hope to be able to elaborate more on this in the near future.

Lastly, Cha Hung, Chen Chen (TaiwanACT's intern) and I went to Taipei today to go to the Taiwan Legal Aid Foundation's second anniversary. It's amazing that there is a Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) and even more amazing that Cha Hung sits on the Board of Directors but since this is only the second year they've been in operation and only a few lawyers actually volunteer for LAF, there's still a lot more that can be done. I am always interested in hearing about the legal processes of other countries and even more curious about why people choose to study law/become lawyers. Needless to say, I am always more disappointed to hear that people only want to be lawyers to make money. I don't know how it's going to be when I come back to "money-grubbin' Chapman" (or so an undisclosed law professors called it); this experience in Taiwan has made me completely rethink how I am going to approach my last year in law school and my law career in general.

I am constantly being asked, "You're from America? Why are you here?" Ever since the day those brokers and Vietnamese interpreters came, it has become quite clear why I am here. I tell people that I live a pretty privileged life in America, I have had the opportunity to study law and equip myself with pretty powerful knowledge, and more importantly, I have been blessed with friends and an amazing Vietnamese community that is highly conscious of what's happening to Vietnamese people world-wide. I am here because people like those brokers exist. I told the office staff here, "I wonder what that Vietnamese broker/interpreter thinks about before going to bed tonight. I wonder if she remembers she is Vietnamese too. More importantly, I wonder if she realizes that the person her company abused was Vietnamese also."

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke