Greetings! My name is Nguyen Quoc Trinh and I am representing VietACT to TaiwanACT. I'll be in Taiwan from September through late December working in Father Hung's Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office.
Before I start any of my journaling and blogging, I want to give a HUGE thank you to the Dai Hoi family - Tammy, Lilly, Van, My-Nhung, Anh Bao, Tu Do, Viet, Vanessa, Vinh and especially Anh Phong who drove me to LAX..and any other OC people that I happened to leave out. You made my 5-day layover in California particularly memorable, educational, exciting, and overall an exceptionally great induction to the VietACT family.
To Becky Bavinger of the Emancipation Network - you've been my partner in arms; I've learned and experienced so much from you. Stay the course in India. And of course to my many global friends and family - you all who you are. I'll miss you so please keep in contact.
My introduction to human trafficking came rather serendipitously during my first trip back to Viet Nam in 2001. While in Saigon, I came across a 1997 report from the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW) in a cafe that painfully went into detail about the STIs and sexual abuse that existed amongst the women and children trafficked from Cambodia and Vietnam to Thailand. Alarming was the rate of victims who were children (13-33%). Never could I imagine the words sex slaves and human trafficking in this day and age.
Beyond getting mad and frustrated, I tried to absorb as much information as possible about modern-day slavery. Since then, I became better aware of the expansive, convoluted, and many times complicated world of modern-day slavery - where at the root is oppression of the worst kinds. Consider these numbers: 27, 1000, 12. 27 million is the estimated number of enslaved people in the world, 1000 is the average USD price for a human being, and 12 is the average age of a person who is sold. My exposure to Father Hung’s work came through the 2006 TIP report and with my most recent trip last spring to Vietnam. Talking with Vietnamese UNICEF, IOM, and AFESIP employees, I slowly began to peel back the many layers of sex and labor trafficking that exists, as well as the crisis of Vietnamese migrant workers in Taiwan. A mere fact-finding trip, my time in Vietnam last March left me with more questions than answers about the relationship and conditions of the trans-state actors involved with the Vietnamese trafficking issue.
I think the public needs to be overwhelmed by the gravity of modern-day slavery. It is wholly a global problem and affects everyone. It is a global immigration issue, a threat to public health, a human rights violation, a threat to all countries' national security because it feeds on organized crime. We've put a price on our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers by saying it is OK to turn a commercial profit on human life; the demand is constantly there. So be overwhelmed and then learn more and join the fight to stop modern-day slavery.
That brings me right up to the work that I'll be doing at Cha Hung's office. For the women there, they are hardly a statistic. They are all survivors of a horrible tragedy and a constant reminder that while freedom may not be free, it is definitely worth fighting for. I am incredibly humbled to be chosen for VietACT. I am ready to work, ready to learn, and ready to be a part of the fight to stop global slavery.
If you're reading this, you're obviously already an interested anti-trafficker, if not already a dedicated abolitionist. Many cheers to you!
Trinh
P.S.
Please make sure to check out these incredible links and books:
Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales
Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves by Kevin Bales
The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade by Victor Malarek
Trade - a new movie that opens this month about the global sex trade
2007 TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report from the US State Department
Along with VietACT, please check out these amazing organizations who each are involved are all involved in the protection, prevention, and prosecution of human trafficking
Polaris Project
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
The Emancipation Network
ECPAT International
Current VietACT Intern: Calix Vu-Bui (2009)
Calix L. Vu-Bui completed her B.S. in Psychology from the UC, San Diego in 2005. This year, she received her M.S. in Counseling from SDSU. She has worked as a therapist in inner city schools and community-based counseling programs. Her interests include the effects of Immigration and Trauma on mental health issues. Calix is the Community Relations Coordinator for the Vietnamese-American Youth Alliance (VAYA). She joins VietACT as an intern who will use her passion and education to advance the rights of exploited people and to create healing experiences for these resilient survivors.
6 comments:
Hey Trinh,
Welcome to the VietACT "Intern" Family! Sounds like day got straight to business like it did for me? I can't wait to hear more of your experiences! Please send everyone my love. We'll definitely keep in touch!
Sounds like day ONE*
trinhi,
glad to see you're getting your feet wet pretty fast. update faster, little one! i know you've already had your shares of stories to tell.
Let us be overwhelmed but the horrific realiity of human slavery and exploitation and then let us do something about it.
Welcome to the VietACT family! Thank you for helping me keep "the promise" that we will not rest and will not forget our sisters.
Hi guys,
I'm in Australia and I've heard alot about the human trafficking and exploitation, in Taiwan especially, through cha Hung and I'd like to know more about it. I'm planning on visiting the shelter after my intern in China so I was wondering if there are any special arrangements required regarding the law, policy etc for visiting the shelter? I'd like to stay and help too but there are no such intern programs like u guys have yet in Australia.......
Hi there!
What you guys are doing is so inspirational! I've heard of the issues of human trafficking and feel so awful about it. But all that i've been doing was sitting back and feeling guilty and helpless. I would love to be of some help to VietACT. I am currently residing in Florida, is there any affiliated organizations to VietACT in the state of Florida that I could contact? Thanks for all that you're doing for the victims and for the human race. Have a wonderful holiday season!
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