Welcome to the Official VietACT Intern Blog! It provides an opportunity for the current VietACT Intern to engage in a dialogue with our members, the community, and those interested in our efforts and fight against human trafficking. This blog will feature updates and observations from the shelter in Taiwan, thoughts and feelings from the current VietACT Intern, as well as news updates and information about human trafficking in general. Thanks for visiting!


Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hello to everyone from inside Taiwan,

My apologies that it has been several days since I have been able to write. I have been so busy with things over here. Late evening of Wednesday, August 26, I arrived at the Taoyuan airport in Taiwan. I was greeted by two young folks living at the shelter and Cha Cuong, one of the priests here. Then I was taken to the shelter, my new home, where I settled in and adjusted to the sweltering heat.

The next day, two very friendly shelter people showed me how to get to the office. I was drenched in sweat by the time we arrived and greeted by smiles of the shelter folks hanging out in the hammocks outside the office area. No sooner had I said hello to the staff and given a short tour of the office, Cha Cuong instructed me to accompany a case worker to Sansia detention center about 40 minutes from the office.

Sansia detention center was as ominous on the inside as it was on the outside, a light blue stucco sheathed in trails of blackened mold. The guards were friendly enough, but as soon as we reached the male floor a knot grew in my stomach. (Women are on one floor, men on the other). The air was stiff and stale with an underlying stench of many meals eaten in confined quarters causing a clinging odor in the air. With only a 6 x 4 foot area for visitors to conduct business, the case worker began speaking to the men through the reinforced steel metal bars. That day, there were 60 male victims of human trafficking at Sansia. There were no cells, just a big open room with bare-bones style bunk beds linked together so that it made one massive bunk bed/sitting spot and a clear area for sitting n the floor to play cards or pass the time.

Vietnamese men crowded at the bars to speak with the case worker, as she began handing out forms with basic information in order to open their cases. A Filipina case worker was there too doing the same as us, but it was clear that there were other languages needed to assist these victims. Inside, I felt a mixture of anger, wonder, and compassion for these men. Most of them did not look well with sallow skin and a look of vacancy in their eyes. Many of them asked questions to the case worker about me, because I did not say much and they had not seen me before. Mind you, I had been in Taiwan less than a day at this point so I was doing my best with what little preparation I had. When the men were told I was American, their curiosity increased exponentially, yet there was also an awkward palpable energy. I am still unsure if this feeling was due to gender differences, cultural differences, or just the sobering fact that these men and myself are both Vietnamese...yet they are not afforded the same human rights freedoms I experience daily. We visited the women's floor briefly, but due to how much time we had to spend on the men's floor, we were not able to interact with them for very long.

Again, I say I felt anger, wonder, and compassion. And I was left with more questions than answers. It angered me that people were expected to live like this and labeled as suspected criminals, when most of these people were actually victims of a crime. I was curious to know what happened to these men trapped behind metal bars, and I felt for them as any human would feel at the mistreatment of a fellow human. I wish that the descriptions here were dramatizations of the things I have experienced so far, but unfortunately this is not the case.

After Sansia, I was taken to two different meetings regarding human trafficking and human rights work. Flying by the seat of my pants here. Since then I've taught art classes, taught some English, and practiced Vietnamese. From the bottles of red, yellow, blue and white that were donated, I was able to produce these colors for the survivors doing art here. Pretty cool stuff! Everyone here was amazed by the amount of art supplies donated by people in America.

One of my biggest challenges here is going to be my evolving Vietnamese language skills. Most shelter victims are perplexed that I was not taught by my parents in America. There also is a great deal of Mandarin spoken daily. I am working hard to pick up Vietnamese quickly. Most of the victims here are Nguoi Bac (from northern Vietnam) so learning gets tricky for me at times. I am keeping a positive attitude about it and just doing my best.

I've ridden all three public transportation systems: MRT, Train, and Bus. Taipei is 2 hours away using public transit and the other two Americans here, Dave and Hope, have a place there. I explored Taipei this weekend knowing only how to say "thank you" and "hello" in Mandarin. Adventures galore. I am sad to say that the 5000 yr old egg tastes pretty accurate to me. Anyway, the three of us will be starting the recreational program in the detention centers on Thursday. We bought barrel and heart-shaped Styrofoam for the detainees to decorate. Stay tuned to see how this goes. Though we're not allowed to photograph in the detention centers, I will for sure write about it! I don't know how much of a difference I can make here, but I have many hopes and am optimistic.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

THANK YOU

VietACT and I, personally,
would like to thank those who generously donated supplies/funds to the survivors at the shelter. Today is my first art class with them and I am so excited to tell them that the materials they are using were from kind people in the States, who have learned about the injustices happening in this area of the world.




Our sincere thanks goes out to the following people and groups:
QUI TRAN
ANDREW PHAN
DOAN K NGUYEN
HAI CHAN TRAN
TRANNHAI THI NGUYEN
LUC V NGUYEN
HEIDI CHAN
KIM-TRANG DANG
VAYA - Vietnamese American Youth Alliance
UVSA - Union of Vietnamese American Youth Associations
JOHNNY BARNER
LINDSAY COYNE
MONICA CEDENO
TRI NGUYEN
SOFIA GARCIA
NIKKI LAM
PHOENIX VU-BUI
MICCAELA BAIRD-ROSECRANS
THYDAN HUYNH
LYNESSA ESTIVA
JESSE MILLS
GRACE JUN
MATRIX VU-BUI
MICHAEL NGUYEN
JEANETTE NEELEY
PATTY HEFFERNAN
AMY CHANG
THU TONG
JUNE NGUYEN
MAI VI NGUYEN

I transported 100 lbs of supplies on my flight,









and the other 100 lbs will be coming to Taiwan in September thanks to another generous volunteer. I could not be doing this work without your support.

Justice for all,
Calix

Monday, August 24, 2009

My sincere thanks to everyone who helped make the 200+ pounds of art supplies possible! It's incredible what people can accomplish together. A list of these kind folks will be published on the blog in the next coming days. Right now, I'm about to take off for the airport and will land in Taipei, Taiwan at 10pm TW time. I'm somewhere in between nervous, excited, and motivated. See you soon from the Eastern Pacific...

Monday, August 17, 2009

ART SUPPLIES DRIVE

VietACT thanks the following people who have donated thus far:
Qui Tran, Miccaela Baird-Rosecrans, Lynessa Estiva, Jesse Mills, Grace Jun, Phoenix Vu-Bui, Tri Nguyen, Kim-Trang Dang, Amy Chang, Johnny Barner, Lindsay Coyne, Sonia Serna, Sofia Garcia, Monica Cedeno, Michael Nguyen, Andrew Phan, Heidi Chan, Vinh Nguyen, Nikki Lam, UVSA-Union of Vietnamese Student Associations, Thydan Huynh, Jeanette Neeley


Hello VietACT Members, Supporters, and Friends,

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS before I depart with art supplies to Taiwan!!!
The biggest help we need right now are for paint and paintbrushes!

Drop-off location for Donations / Checks / Cash:

VAYA General Body Meeting

THIS Sunday 8/23
@ 11:00am
5348 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92115

Please contact me directly at calixvubui@gmail.com
or (858) 736-4773 with questions/concerns.

We sincerely thank you for your support of
VietACT's
work to stop human trafficking!
We couldn't do all that we do without you.
Warmly, Calix :)

  • Paint Brushes (100-150)

  • Water-based Paint (32 oz bottles H2O-based ONLY)

  • Origami Paper from Michaels (it's perfectly square paper)
  • Scissors (10 or more...ADULT size not kids size)