Hello! My name is Caroline Le and I will be interning in Taiwan on behalf of VietACT this summer and fall. I feel truly humbled and blessed to be given this opportunity, and after a year of studying about issues such as human rights, globalization, public policy, etc., I am extremely excited to actually have a "hands-on" experience working with an issue of human rights violations, particularly one that has been consistently overlooked by the mainstream media and even the most globally-conscious citizens of the world. I feel as though I have gained a lot from my studies this year at UCSB, but am positive that this experience in Taiwan will teach me things that I will never be able to learn from a book or from listening to a lecture.

I am particularly looking forward to being able to interact with victims of trafficking and hear their stories. It is obvious that human trafficking is one of the worst forms of human rights abuses and is something that must be urgently addressed. One of the mantras of VietACT as articulated by Edmund Burke is: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Ever since I was young, I've wanted to change the world, but figuring out how I wanted to go about doing this was the challenge. Increasingly I have found that it starts with a group of concerned citizens working at the grassroots level. While eradicating human trafficking is an enormous feat, making small steps toward change and improving the lives of these victims and alleviating their suffering (strides which TaiwanACT and VietACT have made), is evidence that it can be done.

After finishing my classes in mid-June, I had a week or so to relax a bit and spend quality time with family and friends, and given the experience that I am about to embark upon, I just felt extremely lucky to be where I am in terms of my life circumstances. Perhaps I will never be able to fully relate to someone who has been trafficked, or someone who had to leave their country and their loved ones to find a job, but if I can do anything to help them--make them laugh, teach them something new--then it will be all worthwhile. I remembering hearing a quote (I'm full of them, but can never remember the exact lines), something to the effect of: "The character of human kind is judged upon how it treats its most vulnerable and marginalized," and I couldn't agree more. Here's to the cause.

And now it's time to finish packing. Taiwan here I come!