Finding safety from forced labour

Being the eldest is not always easy – especially when you are from a poor family. At 13, Chanhsy* found herself working in a foreign country trying to earn money to help her family.

Chanhsy traveled with a broker  to Thailand in 2006 who had promised her a well paid job and even agreed to cover her travel costs, including paying for her to get a passport. She travelled with a friend and eight others by road to the border and then they crossed into Thailand by boat before travelling on to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok there were cars waiting to bring the new migrants to their respective employers.

Chanhsy was taken to be a house maid in an area of the Bangkok. She worked long hours from early in the morning until midnight to cook, clean, wash clothes and feed the family’s dogs. After a few months of not receiving any money, she enquired about her salary. Her employer told her that they were sending it directly to her family. After three years, Chanhsy realized that she was being exploited and no money was going to her family because Chanhsy never received the money from employer. But the family had installed cameras around the house so she could not escape easily.

One day she got lucky and heard a group of Lao people cleaning the street in front of the house. She quickly wrote them a note to tell them say was trapped and being forced to work without pay. She threw the note over the wall and hoped they would help her. Later that day, the group came back and helped her climb over the wall of the house to escape while her employer slept.

Chanhsy stayed with them before going to the police who identified her as a trafficking victim. They took her to a shelter where she stayed for seven months before being repatriated with the help of the Lao Government and World Vision’s anti human trafficking project. She was reunited with her family and World Vision helped her to reintegrate into her community. World Vision regular monitor her after she back home to encourages her lives for future.

Chanhsy is happy to be back in her village. She is no longer afraid and can enjoy the basic freedoms that were cruelly denied to her in Thailand.  In 2010, Chanhsy decided to get married and she and her husband set up a small business growing beans with help from World Vision who provided them with a water machine for the plants. They have seen their income steadily grow over the years and were delighted to welcome a baby daughter into the world two years ago.

Chanhsy is determined to make sure her daughter stays at school so that can have a good future.  She is also determined to inform other people in her village about the realities of human trafficking and the conditions faced by people who go to work in Thailand. World Vision is also working in villages in her area to teach young people about the dangers of unsafe migration and trafficking. 

Since 2008, World Vision assisted in the rescue of 127 children and young adults and provided reintegration services.

* Name has been changed.