A New Life
Vietnamese text by Nguyen Hai Anh – End Trafficking in Persons (ETIP) Programme
Thanh* was sold to a brothel in China at just 16 years old, but since that dark time, she has managed to start her life again.
Belonging to Vietnam’s Thai ethnic minority, Thanh was born in 1996 in a mountainous district in the country’s northern Yen Bai province.
Two years ago, a man named Bao promised her and two of her female friends attractive jobs in the provincial capital, also called Yen Bai, which they quickly accepted without suspicion.
But instead of starting work, the man, who they soon realised was a trafficker, spirited them over the border to China, where he sold them to a brothel.
Thanh begged the brothel’s owners to let her go, but instead they beat her until she had no choice but to do what they wanted. After one month, however, a compassionate individual helped Thanh to escape and she fled home to Vietnam.
Life back in her hometown was far worse than before though, with the teenager facing severe psychological stress, deteriorating physical health and eventually having to be hospitalised to treat gynaecological and liver conditions.
During her stay in hospital, Thanh didn’t step outside the institution because of the rumours circulating about her within the community. She didn’t want to encounter her neighbours for fear of being insulted and ostracised due to her experiences.
Having already lived through huge suffering, her family now faced financial hardship due to the teenager’s medical expenses. Thanh wanted to find a job to reduce her parents’ financial burden, but it seemed impossible because of her physical frailty.
Light appeared at the end of the tunnel, however, when World Vision’s local team became aware of Thanh’s plight, helping her to open a small grocery store in 2012 as part of the province’s ‘End Trafficking in Persons’ project.
The organisation gave Thanh funds for stock, such as sweets, biscuits, dried fish and shampoo, and a sewing machine, with the items worth nearly 400 US dollars in total. And shortly after opening the shop, Thanh was making a profit and soon had ideas to expand her range of goods.
“I noticed many people were coming in after work and asking for chilled soft drinks,” she says, before explaining that she has bought a fridge to meet the customers’ demand with a 300-dollar grant from World Vision.
“I’m very grateful for the support I’ve received from World Vision, the local authorities and my community. My new job suits my health and helps me make a living,” she says.
Two years after the horrendous day she was taken to China, Thanh is ready for her new life, with the teenager, who has since married, now expecting her first child.
* Name was changed to protect identity