Volunteer Hours

9 hours- sex exploitation training with Lisa
.5 hours selling idea to SAJE/Mr. Grande
2 hours coordinating with Lisa/ Ms. Modell for use of black box, logistics, time, date, etc.
1 hour planning out schedule of event/ what would actually happen with Lisa
1 hour creating flyer
1 hour distributing flyer across school
1 hour writing/memorizing opening words
1.5 hours setting up Black Box
1.5 hours actual presentation by MLMC
.75 hours cleaning up, debriefing with MLMC
Total: 19.25 Hours

Volunteer Blog

For a large portion of my volunteer hours, I attended training that Lisa, the leader of My Life My Choice, gave to teachers and professionals across Boston. These trainings are optional and free, and last anywhere from all day trainings to a 4 hour training. Typically, in the trainings, Lisa would go through an extensive powerpoint presentation she had created as well and lead an interactive discussion and question and answer session. The point of these trainings was to provide the teachers with knowledge on sexual exploitation of children. She taught them how to identify a girl that was in danger of sexual exploitation how to identify one that was already being exploited, and what to do next. She also went into vast detail on what the life of such child looks like. She instructed the participants on proper terminology to use as well as appropriate means of intervention.
My summary is definitely not doing justice to how powerful the experience was. The majority of the information I had never, ever been exposed to. It was astonishing to me that there is like a whole other world out there. She gives these trainings to inner city schools, and generally does not come into the suburbs because the problem is almost non existent there. Consequently, I have never really heard about this stuff. But, there is so much out there that we don't know about. There are so many dangers out there that we are so fortunate not to have to worry about. When some of the teachers raised their hands and shared their experiences, I was floored. They talked about girls they had been prostituted against their will as well as girls who had no other choice but to do so. One teacher told the group about a 5th grade student she had who was a prostitute for a gang and had her own child. The father of the child was 21 years old, and when confronted, the mother of this student expressed how happy she was and what a great guy the father was. I was utterly disturbed. I have never heard of such a broken, abusive home before.
Hearing these stories and the absolute torture some girls are subjected to made me feel so grateful for everything I have. I never have to worry about my parents coming home drunk or drugged up and hitting me, and I never have to worry about a neighborhood pimp holding a gun to my head and forcing me to do something. These are things I've honestly never thought about, and have never had to give any concern too. Previous to these trainings, I did have appreciation for everything I had, but not to this extent. My parents would never let any of the terrible things I learned about happen, and for that, I am truly blessed. Although sometimes I am resentful to the supervision I receive, I have never realized how imperative it is to my successful upbringing. I was never tempted to spent the night in a strange place or take strange drugs because I knew my parents would intervene before it happened. That is a privilege I have taken for granted. Not everybody is as lucky as the majority of children in Brookline. A lot of inner city kids don't have a child hood, and are forced to grow up almost immediately. This seems incredibly difficult, and I have infinite amounts of admiration for people who are able to this, and make something of themselves.
One of the most powerful things I took from these training's was Lisa's rejection of the word prostitute. She said that prostitute was a deeming word, and the correct term is "sexually exploited female." She takes the stance that every women involved in prostitution is forced to be, whether it by means of violence or a choice in the presence of lack of choices. She believes no women enters it voluntarily. This belief has huge implications, and was a lot to take in. I still don't know if I agree that every women who exchanges sex for money was forced to, but it is an interesting topic to mull over, and a controversial one at that. That means that even the women working in the legal brothels should be considered exploited, even though it is a career path they allegedly chose to take.

Blog post #11

The next 100 pages of my book focused a lot of the route of the abuse women receive. In many countries, women are viewed as inherently inferior. They are not considered professionals, and are labeled as incapable of achieving anything past  having children and taking care of the household. Any woman who practices otherwise is subject to physical punishment and harassment. A women is taught to obey EVERYTHING a man says, no matter  how obscene or unreasonable. She belongs to her father, or her husband. She shares an equivalent status as a slave. Even the slightest bit of hesitation to obey a mans command leads to excessive beatings. If a woman's performance is less than satisfactory in any field she receives the same punishment. So, if a woman does not behave accordingly, she faces a life of hell, or sometimes, no life at all. In rare cases, like women who run brothels, a women can adopts a man roll. Even though she knows how it feels to be abused, she abuses her fellow women. They are expected to treat her as they would treat a man. In our culture, if an adult asks something of us, it is not necessarily viewed as the largest sign of disrespect possible to not immediately do what is asked of us. If my parents wanted something of me that I found unreasonable, I might try to negotiate and compromise with them. Such behavior is equivalent to near murder is other countries. As a woman, you do what you are told. So, when a woman is kidnapped and forced into prostitution, and there are multiple adults telling her to please a client, sometimes she sees no alternative to complying. It is how she is raised. She has never, ever questioned an adult before. It simply is not an option. It is in her nature to do what they request of  her. She knows the consequences of disobeying. Just as a man sees her as inferior, she sees herself as this way. In brothels, women are treated like complete garbage, and are constantly regarded as nothing more than such. She begins to feel this way. This is how many, many women end up stuck in brothels their entire life. They don't know how not to follow orders they are given. They believe they aren't good for anything else but pleasing clients. It is a deadly, unbreakable cycle that the gender norms of society has created and continues to breed.

Blog Post #10

The next 100 pages in Half the Sky really shaped my senior paper. At first, I was unsure what I was going to write about. I had a lot to say about the issue, but I needed structure, and a thesis. After reading the next section of the book, I got that. The book continued to follow a similar format as the first part; a personal story about a woman the author, Nick encounters on his journey basically across the world, followed by a certain issue associated with sex trafficking explained, and then a potential solution presented. In this section, the author focused a lot on the governments of the countries he visited. He explained in great detail how they work, why they work that way, the fatal flaws that result from them. He even went as far as to confront some government officials in person. Every government in the countries he traveled to was different in some ways from the next, but in general, they were very, very similar. They were all run by a corrupt dictator who only had his own interest in mind. Past the dictator, everything in the government was corrupt, even down to the police officers. It is an endless cycle that centers on somebody bribing somebody else. Brothel owners pay police officers who in tern pay a higher power and so on and so on to keep the brothels safe. Everybody is profiting by the actual girls involved, and nobody cares about them. I definitely want to write about this in my paper. Like Nick did, I want to address and identify the issues in the governments where sex trafficking is the worst. I want to share some of the worst stories I have read about trafficking. I then want to present solutions and possible interventions the western world could stage, because as of now, not much is being done at all. 

Bibliography

I chose to read two books. The first book I read was The Road to Lost Innocence. It told the story of Solmay Mam, a Cambodian girl who was kidnapped and sold into prostitution at an extremely young age. She then went on to escape from her oppressors, and begin a very successful foundation to help girls who were in similar situations to herself. It opened my eyes immensely to the world of sex trafficking and its severity. Prior to reading this book, I knew very little about the industry. After reading this, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of the general problems and endless cycles associated with sex trafficking.

The second book I am reading is Half the Sky. It is about a man who travels to various countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and India to experience sex trafficking first hand. He meets dozens of women who are involved in the industry, and shares their inspirational stories. A large portion of his book is also disecting and explaining in great detail why human sex trafficking happens, why it isn't stopped, and what can be done to stop it. He also talks a lot about the governments in such countries, who prove to be the root of the problem. This is the exact topic I want to write my paper on, so the book could not be more perfect.

For my other two sources, I am choosing to watch two movies. The first is a documentary film called The Day My God Died and "puts a human face on this most inhuman of contemporary issues." It takes the viewer into a handful of countries, "into the shadowy, multi-billion dollar world of sex trafficking." I think it will be very, very educational for me. I have only read about the horrors, but have not seen any images or videos of them. I don't know what the brothels look like, or the exact conditions the girls are kept in. I feel like it will definitely give the issue more meaning to me when I can see actual girls and brothels, instead of just imagining them in my mind. The next movie I am watching is entitled Red Light. It "focuses on the personal stories of young Cambodian victims and two remarkable advocates for change: grass-roots activist Somaly Mam and politician Mu Sochua. REDLIGHT follows the plight of several current and former child sex slaves." Watching this movie will also help bring personal meaning to the cause for me. I read Somaly Mam's story, and I think watching her talk about her experiences will really bring the story full circle for me. I think seeing these powerful women will have a profound effect on me and my view of the issue. Things always touch me more deeply when they unfold in front of my eyes.

Blog post #8

Solmay Mam, the author of The Road of Lost Innocence, feels very strongly that the government of Cambodia and it's surrounding countries do an extremely poor job at preventing human trafficking. She believes they simply let it fly under the radar because trying to monitor would be impossible due to it's massive size and the powerful people intertwined in the system. They pay no attention to it, seeing the girls as human sacrifices. The government believes that to maintain peace and order in society, brothels must exist to satisfy the men. If they did not have this outlet, then there would be much chaos and unhappiness. The girls are deemed peasant trash, illiterate and uneducated, and therefore have no other place in society. They are caught in an endless cycle without access to education or vocational training.

I definitely side with Solmay. Although all the knowledge I have from such governments comes from this book in addition to the one I have just begun, Half of the Sky, there is overwhelming evidence supporting her case. The fact that so many of these brothels exist is all the proof. In Cambodia and other countries like it, there are thousands upon thousands of brothels full of kidnapped girls. The law never interferes with these brothels, and allow them to continue. The police are often their main customers, and for a small fee, protect the brothels. Past the police, government officials are equally involved. Rich, powerful men own the brothels and if they are questioned, they kill anybody with suspicions. The girls are stuck without any rescue. They have zero money and nowhere to go, and nobody provides them with any aid. When kidnapped girls are taken across borders, border patrols simply let them pass because it would be too difficult to monitor it, because too many girls come through. The governments have simply given up. When Solmay approached the police and government officials for assistance and protection, the majority of them flat out refused to help.

Blog Post #7

In the last portion of the book, the mood changes. The majority of the book is about all the hardships Solmay has encountered. Speaking for my self, during the duration of most of the book I found myself wanting nothing more than to personally help Solmay in any way she needed. In the last section, she gives you the opportunity to do just that. She explains how she founded Acting for Women in Distressing Situations, a charity to help get young women and girls out of brothels. At first, the charity does not go well. She does not have much funding, and has a hard time getting her story and the story of others like her out. When she is interviewed by journalists, they never site her organization, so it receives very little press. Finally, she is approached by an American journalists who gives her the publicity she needs. Funding remains considerably scarce, but increases nonetheless. She is able to purchase a small amount of land out side of Phem Phong and builds a house of it for girls who have been rescued from brothels. Her mother and sister work as caretakers for the girls. The house becomes full of girls quickly, and soon cannot fit everybody. As the center grows, so does word of her worth. Brothel owners and pimps hear about it, and threaten her life on multiple occasions. They stalk her, her husband, and her children. Solmay then wins the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in the presence of Queen Sofia of Spain. She wins a lot of prize money, and her cause becomes even more well known. With this money, she is able to buy property in her home town, and build another refugee center. At this center, the girls are able to go to school and learn how to sew so they can begin respectable careers. After she raids a brothel full of extremely powerful men, they kidnap her child in retaliation. Thankfully she recovers her daughter before she could be trafficked. Despite all of the obstacles she faces, she continues to run the organization, and to this day it is growing and expanding.

Although I have said it in previous posts, it is worth repeating; Solmay is an amazing woman. You would think after all she has encountered that she would run from Cambodia the second she could, but instead, she chooses to endanger her life for the aid of others. Every penny she gets she puts towards helping girls rescued from brothels. She does not turn down any girl, no matter how sick or damaged they may be. She has a huge, huge heart. Her well being is the least of her concerns. She has helped countless girls all over the world, and I'm saved an equal amount of lives. I wish there was somehting I could do to help, past just donating money. I looked into it and all of the hands on work is done on location in the various countries her rescue centers are. I wish there was an office in Boston or somewhere near by in which I could contribute.