Human traffickers, operating in many Asian countries, often prey on the vulnerable and illiterate village girls. Their ploy is very simple. They talk sweet and win the confidence of their victims. They often promise a better life through marriage, job opportunities and a comfortable living away from rice field and farms. Unfortunately, they end up in brothels by force. One such victim is Vansyna, a 23-year-old woman, who was sold to a brothel owner at the age of 13. Recently she agreed to sit down with Natascha Yogachandra of Hope is Life Foundation to share her painful story. The interview took place in Phnom Penh, capital city of Cambodia. Natascha also met several NGO’s and Cambodian Women Centers to discuss means to raise the standard of girls and provide them with education.
(Read Natascha’s interview)

Human rights are defined as rights that belong justifiably to every person. This also includes the right of ‘choice.’ The trafficking of young girls across country borders to be sold to brothel owners as a commodity for the sex industry is a violation of almost every human right known to man. This happens every day in many countries around the world including Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Over my winter break, I had the opportunity to travel to Cambodia and talk to some of these girls who were forced into this trade and experience the reality of this increasing industry. Vansyna, a 23-year-old woman, agreed to sit down and share her painful story with me. As my parents and I, along with a translator, sat with her, I could easily see how reluctant she was to relive her pain and share the horrible tragedy that was bestowed upon her. As we tried to make her feel more comfortable with gentle touches and warm smiles, she slowly opened up to us, but not before asking one request. She agreed that she would share her story only if we promised to help other girls and communicate the effects of trafficking on human lives. We immediately said yes, solemnly swearing in our hearts that we would honor her request. Without delay, she got down to business, starting with the day that she was lured into leaving her home.

Vansyna was living in Vietnam when a woman and her own friend persuaded her to go to Cambodia for a Christmas party. At the age of 13, she was naïve and didn’t know her horrendous fate as they boarded a bus heading for Cambodia. When she arrived in Cambodia, she knew right away that something was wrong as bad dreams haunted her every night. Staying in a guesthouse, she was stuck in a foreign country, not knowing the language. Vansyna was helpless.

A couple of days later, another woman separated the two friends, and ten years later, they have never reconnected. Vansyna was taken to a brothel, with a coffee shop façade, where she was sold to the owner. At the time, she still had no idea what was going on, since she didn’t know the language. When she started to walk away from the shop, the owner came and violently told her that she was sold to him; she was his new “commodity.”

As the tears start forming in her eyes, she is determined to finish her dreadful story. She takes a deep breath and recalls the brothel. Four floors full of girls, classified by ages, younger on the top and older on the lower floors, with around fourteen girls on each floor. She estimates that there were one hundred girls in this brothel alone. One thing that still haunts her to this day is that after the first day of crying, she could cry no more. It confused her until she asked one of the older girls staying with her. She said the same thing happened to her, and Vansyna believes that she, along with all the other girls, had been drugged. Her sadness overwhelmed her, creeping into her every limb, causing her to forget her own parent’s names. But that was only the beginning.

Alone and silenced, Vansyna was put into a room with a television, refrigerator, an air-conditioning unit, and a bed, all for the client’s comfort. She recollects that the owner supplied girls for the guesthouse’s clients and also for drop-ins. With no salary, she was provided meals and shelter. As she begins to describe her first client, the tears start flowing down her cheeks and we offer tissues as a simple sign of compassion. After two or three days of arriving at the brothel, she was offered to a client, “a large man with white skin.” She was rented for the week, confined to his hotel room with a gangster to watch over her and make sure that she didn’t escape. The client did not use a condom, and to this day, she thanks God that she didn’t contract HIV or AIDS. She was even offered to clients when she was going through menstruation. The story continues.

One day she was arrested. As soon as I hear this, I am shocked, and anger starts to boil inside of me. Why is this girl being blamed for something that is not her fault? Vansyna explains. The police go on raids in the red-light district occasionally, but when they went on this raid, Vansyna was sitting outside the brothel, and they instantly thought the worst. However, when she began to get her hopes up of being rescued at the police station, the brothel owner bribed the police and she was sold once again. At this moment in the story, she had to stop and let her tears flow. As we comforted her, she wasn’t willing to give up. She wasn’t finished with her story.

After a year, Vansyna was finally rescued by an organization called AFESIP, which was founded by Madame Somaly, who was also sold into this industry at a young age. Vansyna wanted to help in putting a stop to this suffering when she was finally rescued. She now works in AFESIP as a social worker, educating young prostitutes about AIDS prevention, drug abuse, human rights, personal hygiene and domestic violence in the red light district in Cambodia. One of her goals is to “protect them from AIDS.” These days, she is very happy because she can help these girls. Yet, she doesn’t even think of marriage; she says that she still has hatred inside of her and can’t imagine being with a man.

Vansyna continues to live with a dark cloud hanging over her head, along with the many girls who have been forced into this trade. She told us that tonight she won’t sleep well, since the bad memories have been stirred inside of her, arising to her consciousness. And of course, my mom comforted her by telling her to picture us instead of her past. The smile that grew on her face warmed our hearts and encouraged us to get out there and start doing something to stop this horrifying industry created and demanded by members of our own race. She warns other girls, “Don’t be stupid like me” and “don’t believe what others tell you.” However, the main source of her pain lies in the fact she believes that what happened to her is her fault because she didn’t listen to her parents that evening. The guilt grows inside of her every day, consuming her thoughts. However, her strong will and determination to help others gives us hope for one day eradicating this trade all together. We need to do something. Anything. Making people aware of human trafficking is the first step. And that’s Vansyna’s goal - to end the pain of girls all over the world. Let’s help her.

(by Natascha Yogachandra, Honorary Chairperson, Hope is Life Foundation)

Debbie and Natascha Yogachandra seen consoling Vansyna