The plight of Vietnamese women

Commentary by Hoi Trinh
April 3, 2005

There are, at present, around 200,000 Vietnamese women in Taiwan. Most of them shouldn’t even be referred to as women. They are 17- and 18-year-old girls trying to escape poverty by agreeing to marry Taiwanese men of various shapes and sizes. These grooms may be old and crippled.

They may even be as boring and paternalistic as Fidel Castro. But in all cases, they would have far more money than their Vietnamese wives-to-be. It would cost them anything between $6,000 and $10,000 before a suitable girl — preferably a virgin, I have been informed — is found.

And even then the girls’ families end up with only $500 — the rest had to be used as oil to turn the wheels of this growing industry — most of the brides I met during my stay said that they would still do it again despite their black years in Taiwan.

First, they would do it for their peasant families in rural Vi?t Nam where $500 is considered a large sum. Secondly, they would do it for themselves, having found no better prospects at home.

Leaving aside the cosmic question of how one could practically sell oneself for a mere $500, one may add that it is fair game in this day of free-market forces and personal choices.

In fact, I had met with many of these girls who would easily fall within this description. Scratching the surface a little deeper with an expert for just a day, however, revealed a far more depressing picture of the stark reality on the ground.

The expert is a Vietnamese Australian Catholic priest who has been around for some 16 years amid the industrial development of Taiwan. The picture involves innocent teens who have either been forced or tricked into prostitution.

I called the priest Cha Hùng. And Cha Hùng’s mission is to expose the crimes of human trafficking. In layman’s terms, it should be referred to as modern-day sex slaves: Vietnamese girls forced into prostitution against their will in a foreign land without knowing if or when they would be rescued.

I met with eight women in one day. Four were rescued from a brothel where they were ordered to work at and live in from the day they arrived at Taiwan’s Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. Four are living at Cha Hùng’s shelter waiting for a trial date. Once completed, they would be deported back to their homeland. Empty-handed, I was told.

When asked if any of them had told their family, none said yes.

None believed that it would be good for them or their family.

Besides, one asked: “What good would that do?

“It would only bring shame and social stigma upon our return,” said another.

They cried tears of happiness when recalling their dramatic escape and rescue three months ago. But I suspect their tears were also shed for their own shattered dreams and forever broken lives.

I could tell you a similar tale in Cambodia. It’s the story of Vietnamese girls who choose to sell their virginity for $350 and their bodies for a dollar a time. Yes, the power of the greenback was most evident when I went with a U.S. Embassy friend to Phnom Penh’s Vietnamese red-light district.

Later, he told me the official count in this city alone is anywhere between 8,000 and to 10,000 sex workers, not counting those who are about to arrive. The two I managed to talk to at great length were 17 and 19. They have been in the business for just longer than two years. My friend told me some can be found as young as 8. I didn’t know that such a disturbing slice of life in Asia actually exists.

So that’s where we are, and that’s what I have accidentally discovered along my journey around the world in 30 days. I am wondering myself, given all that, what can I do to help alleviate the suffering?

As with this particular column, I don’t know where to begin and how it should end. This world of ours gives us so many miracles, joy and hope.

But at the same time, it has also failed so many in their quest for a better future and a home to return to when night falls.

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