Child Labor2009
Thailand TH
She has the sweetest face, the biggest smile. You’d never know the heartache hidden in her heart. Her name is Manee, just 6 years old when she came into HE this year. She came in so hungry for hugs and love. Both were sadly lacking in her family. She has the sweetest face, the biggest smile. You’d never know the heartache hidden in her heart. She is so tiny – it is hard to imagine someone wanting to beat someone so little, so defenseless. Her mother is not there to defend her as during the day, she is hired to work in someone else’s fields. Manee’s future looked bleak, until HE came to her village. After assessing the needs, after talk and more talk with the mother and stepfather, Manee was released into the care of HE A safe place at last for a tiny little girl with a wounded heart. That’s Manee.
CSEC2008
Thailand TH
Wan* was supposed to die. She had been sold to be a human sacrifice to a village seeking gold. That sounds awful, and it is, but her story is even sadder than that. At age 8, her brother-in-law forced her to come and look after his children. Wan knew he wasn’t a nice man from her sister, who had been forced into marriage with him. It wasn’t very long before he raped her. And not too long after that, he sold her to a village who believed a human sacrifice would help them find gold. Thanks to a brave man who rescued Wan, she ended up, broken and afraid, on the doorstep of HOR.
Domestic Servitude2009
Thailand TH
The trafficker was the owner of a noodle restaurant in this region, specifically on Sankhongluang Rd. The situation arose when a 14 year old girl from the Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand, ventured out into the town looking for work and a place to stay – she was enticed by a “better life”. Her parents were drug addicts – that was her push factor. The restaurant owner offered her work and pay at 2000 Baht a month and board in their house. She was paid for the first two months, but then they stopped or occasionally paid her 200 Baht per month. She worked in the restaurant until closing and then was forced to do domestic chores around the house. She was not allowed out. The owner had taken her citizenship papers and so she was scared to report the exploitation. She threatened to leave, which the owner responded to by threatening her life and the lives of her family – he apparently pointed a gun at her. Eventually the girl escaped, finding a family member. She contacted Mirror Foundation and is now safe.