Tachilek, Myanmar, Thailand

Thailand · Tachilek, Myanmar · 2008 (location generalized to protect survivors)

Law enforcement in Myanmar? Hi. I just picked up my wife from the airport and we gave a lift to a friend she met on the plane. We took the friend to the bus station in Chiang Rai where she was getting a bus to Mae Sai to head into Tachilek, Myanmar to get her 4 month old baby back. What happened? The women in question is a Thai who sells clothes in the market in Mae Sai. Sadly her husband is addicted to gambling. Gambling is illegal in Thailand (although there are small underground gambling dens), but it is legal in Myanmar and there are large casinos there. Sadly the small amount the woman makes is usually then used to feed her husband's gambling addiction across the border in Tachilek. But during the last trip across the border, it wasn't just money the husband lost. He had taken their baby to the casino and put it in child care while he gambled. But he got into such debt that the money lenders / local mafia, decided to take the baby. Choice for this family: repay the debt or the baby gets sold. It has been 10 days since the baby has been taken and in this time the mother has been desperately trying to raise funds, beg for money, get family to sell whatever they can. She was finally returning from Bangkok where her mother had sold property to get her money, and now she is on her way to get her baby back. Interesting. A good reminder that slavery exists where there are other problems. War, gambling, drug addiction, corruption, a lazy/ineffective police force, no desire on behalf of the political and economic elite to help, poverty - are all things that help create an environment where humans can then be stolen, sold, trafficked or used as slaves.