One last word...

Remember the children whose pictures I posted earlier? Here's how they look now!

I hope the smiles on the faces of these children inspire you to volunteer somewhere, somehow to make this world a better place. The investment is so worth it!

Child Trafficking and Prostitution

Child prostitution is a worldwide problem, with victims estimated in the millions. The reasons for this problem are many – social, cultural and economic. As we have learned this semester in our 7 Revolutions class, economic factors and the great divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” are keeping the poorest member of our global population at the bottom of the pile so to speak. These people have limited access to education, technology and barely eke out a subsistence living in farming or making handicrafts for the tourist trade. Due to desperation, the adults may engage is drug trafficking, wind up in prison and then their children are left in the care of families who may not be willing or able to take them in. Children may run away, thinking they can get a job in the city and wind up being easy prey for a pimp. Sometimes they are told that they can get an education or learn a trade. Sometimes their families sell one child as a sacrifice so the whole family doesn’t starve. While girls are more commonly child prostitution victims, boys are not exempt.

Unfortunately, sex is big business (20 billion annually) and sexual tourism is a large part of the economy of many developing countries. One estimate of the number of children exploited through prostitution in Thailand is 200,000.  Sexual tourism got a foothold in the economy of Thailand during the Viet Nam war era when servicemen were sent to Thailand for R&R. Somehow, it seems that the buyers of sex, especially child sex, think that their behavior is acceptable in a foreign country.

Apart from the obvious problems such as HIV-AIDS, STI (sexually transmitted infections), pregnancy or more correctly – children giving birth to children, illegal abortions (estimated at between 1 and 4 million annually worldwide), drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and malnutrition, these children represent the future of not only Thailand, because this is a worldwide problem, but the objectification of this population ensures that they will remain at the bottom of the economic pile. So, you end up with a growing segment of the population with no hope, no prospects for improvement who are disenfranchised, which as we learned in the conflict segment of class, is ripe for violence and political instability.

The foundation I work with in Thailand, Child and Family Prison Ministries, is attempting to make a difference, but we are not the only foundation operating in Chiang Rai province. There are many NGO’s who work with children, some estimates have been as high as 300 NGO’s but this is an unconfirmed number. CFPM invited 18 of these organizations to a child development conference in February of 2009 in order to provide the attendees information and tools to help the children as much as possible. We hope to repeat the success of that conference in 2011.

The following is an excerpt of a lesson plan on childhood neglect and abuse.

Signs of Neglect

Failure to thrive

Self-stimulating behaviors, like thumb-sucking or rocking

Stealing food

Bed-wetting

Anti-social behavior

Neglect is the failure of a parent or caregiver to provide for the child’s basic needs. Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.

A child depends on the adults around him to take care of his needs.

We have learned that the child is not able to think like an adult. Finding food, water and shelter are adult chores and a child can’t figure these problems out on his own.

Failure to thrive – looks ill, very thin, no energy dull personality

Self stimulation is a way children try to soothe themselves. Thumb-sucking should stop sometime after age 3 or 4, especially in front of other children. If the child has learned that the adults around him do not provide any security – the child tries to soothe himself by sucking his thumb or rocking back and forth.

Food is one of the primary needs of a human – if a child is hungry he will try to steal food. If he has been hungry a long time, he may steal food from the kitchen and hide it. His experience has been that adults do not feed him, so when food is around, he takes it.

Bed-wetting in an older child may be a way for him to get some attention – even if that attention is getting scolded or punished.

Anti-social behavior is behavior that is not acceptable – example – yelling at the teacher, breaking things, hitting other, smaller children. The child tries to hurt someone before he can be hurt.

Signs of Physical Abuse

Unexplained bruises, broken bones in different stages of healing

Burns, especially without a “splash” mark

Fear of going home

Inappropriate reactions to getting hurt

Withdrawal, too friendly or aggressive

It is not unusual for children to have some bruises but there should not be very many bruises all over the body

Broken bones, especially spiral shaped breaks, are unusual. Children’s bones are still somewhat soft – they bend more than an adult’s bones. It takes more force to break a child’s bones than an adult’s bones.

Home should not be a scary place – you should be concerned if a child acts out, cries or runs away to avoid going home.

You should be suspicious of abuse if a child doesn’t cry when an injury happens – meaning an injury that would cause most children to cry.

Not joining in fun or enjoyable activities. Being too familiar with strangers, too friendly. Most children are somewhat shy and will gradually get friendlier. Lashing out, being mean or hurting other children is also unusual behavior.

Physical and Behavioral Signs of Sexual Abuse

Bruises, swelling or bleeding of the genitals or mouth

Blood stained underwear

Pain with urination, discharge, itchy genitals

Difficulty sitting or squatting

Seductive behavior – kissing, touching other children or adults

Behavior changes – anxious, clinging

Excessive anger at adults

Seductive behavior in children is a big concern. Most young children do not know about sexual behavior. Children do have a curiosity about what other children’s bodies look like, but they should not know what the body parts are used for in a sexual sense.

Sudden behavior changes in children need to be investigated. Something happened to change that behavior. Remember that the child may not want to talk about it. You need to be patient and make sure the child know he is safe and accepted.

Most children do not stay angry for very long. If a child is very angry at adults – it may be because he has been abused in some way. The anger comes from a feeling of betrayal. Children depend on the adults to take care of them…

What to do?

If a child confides in you, tries to tell you about abuse that has happened or is happening now, it’s very important that you believe the child. You always need to extend benefit of doubt to the child.

Children need to feel safe and secure in their new environment. They need consistent rules and predictability. Just because the children who come to your organizations have been rescued, that doesn’t mean that they will not ever act out because of their undying gratitude. They are still children who need discipline.

Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary Definition of DISCIPLINE

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline

1: punishment

2: obsolete : instruction

3: a field of study

4: training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

5 : control gained by enforcing obedience or order b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior c : self-control

The popular definition of discipline is punishment: but let’s concentrate on the second and fourth definitions. You are the protectors of the children, you are the model for correct behavior. You cannot lose self-control and expect them to follow rules that they see you do not follow yourself. Incidentally, the fear of a punishment may work with children who have not been neglected or abused, but in this population of children, what manners of punishment can you devise that would be worse than what they’ve already experienced? That’s why punishment doesn’t work. You want to correct the behavior, but it is even more important to praise their good behavior. You want to make your praise something they will willingly work for.

You should also consider counseling services for any children who have been abused. Children think that the bad things that happened to them are somehow their own fault. Their brains have not developed to the point of being able to think abstractly and their inner voice is telling them that they are bad. Frequently they act out because in their mind, they think that you will reject them once you know how “bad” they are, and so they just try to hasten the rejection they know is coming.

Some pictures from the 2009 Conference.

Some websites and videos of interest:

http://www.worldconcern.org      

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG3kc1F5jmk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7eIfBFLDtc          Sex Tourism in Thailand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QcFyOjiW2w      Somaly Mam

Works Cited

(2011). Retrieved April 22, 2011, from Merriam Webster Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline

Adolescence A Time that Matters. (2002). Retrieved April 22, 20011, from Unicef: http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/pub_adolescence_en.pdf

Brian M. Willis, B. S. (2002). Child Prostitution: global health burden, research needs and interventions. The Lancet , Volume 359.

Fugioka, R. (2002, May). Case study on EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR HILL TRIBES IN NORTHERN THAILAND - ... . Retrieved April 4, 2011, from FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/004/ak216e/ak216e00.pdf

Poulan, R. (2003). Globalization and the Trafficking and The Commodification. Canadian Women's Studies.

Umaporn Trangkasombat, M. (2000). Sexually Abused and Sexually Exploited Children and Youth in Thailand. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from United Nations ESCAP: http://www.unescap.org/esid/hds/projects/csec/pubs/thailand.pdf

WHO Thailand. (2011). Retrieved April 4, 2011, from World Health Organization Countries: http://www.who.int/countries/tha/en/

The Great Divide

The Thai government hands down harsh sentences for drug offenses. Even so, the prospect of long prison sentences has not deterred drug crime. Prisons are overcrowded and underfunded. Prisoners are given enough food to maintain life, but not necessarily health. For health, the prisoners depend on family or friends to augment the rice soup that is served for most meals. Female prisoners are even dependent on donations for feminine hygiene products. Medical care is scarce. So, if conditions are so bleak, why commit the crime?
The simple answer is money.
The cultural divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is clearly visibile in Thailand when you look at the differences between urban and village opportunities. In urban areas, especially for English-speaking Thais, jobs are avaialable in the tourist industry. Educational opportunities are more accessible. Rural Thailand villages may not even have electricity, much less jobs or schools. The villagers may not even speak Thai, since much of Northern Thailand has a large population of several different "Hill-Tribes." The choices are subsistence living farming, working in a rice field or drug smuggling. One or two drug jobs can provide more money than a year of back-breaking farm work. It should be noted that farming in village Thailand is comparable to farming in the US in the 1800's.

CFPM has established realtionships with several of the prisons in Northern Thailand. In addition to regular visits with the parents of the children who live in CFPM houses, CFPM also provides some educational programs to the prison populations (See pcitures above for past offerings), such as how to stay healthy in prison by frequent hand washing. Hand washing is a low cost and sustainable intervention that supports independent action, that is, the Thai population is not dependent on anyone for continued supplies once they understand the how and why of washing hands. An excerpt from a hand-washing lesson that will be given as part of a June 2011 missiosns project follows:


HAND WASHING - HOW TO PRIMER

The most important and easiest thing you can do to keep healthy is to wash your hands

Wash before you eat, after using the toilet, after nose-wiping or after changing diapers

In addition to the lesson above, there will be return demonstrations, and as allowed by prison rules regarding security, we will use a product called Germ-Juice, that involves rubbing a lotion on the hands, then washing the hands afterwhich the hands are placed under a blacklight. There are particles in the lotions that fluoresce under blacklight thus giving a really concrete example of the germs that are left on hands when washed improprerly.
(www.germjuice.com/Products.html)


For information regarding Thai Prisons - see the following link:
http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/Congress_2010/17Kittipong_Kittayarak.pdf

• Wet hands. Running water is best.
• Apply soap if you have it.
• Lather well.
• Rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds. Count 1- one thousand, 2-one thounsand...
• If you don's have soap, rub your hands briskly for 30 seconds.
• Remember to scrub all surfaces, including the backs of your hands and  between your fingers. Don't forget to wash your thumbs!

• Rinse your hands. Running water is best
• Dry your hands with a clean cloth, or air dry.
• If possible, use your towel to turn off the faucet.

Some Background Information

Thailand has several ethnic minority people groups who live in the mountains of northern Thailand. Some of the tribes are Hmong, Akha, Karen, Yao and Lisu. These “hill tribe” people are treated as second class citizens, in much the same way as Native Americans were/are treated here in the US. The villages are very poor, in many cases there are no utilities, no stores, no schools and no hope. Because they are “hill tribe,” they do not have the proper government paperwork to obtain an education or employment. The hill tribe people face choices that include subsistence living, bartering goods like chickens, eggs or fish that may have been caught in unsanitary waters. Or they may try working in the rice fields. Despair and diseases of poverty are rampant; malnutrition, dental problems, alcoholism, drug abuse, and neglect, as well as physical and sexual abuse of children to name a few of the problems.

Just as in America, when people are desperate, the choices they make to survive are not always good. Men and women, boys and girls get caught up in drug smuggling because of the opportunity to make a substantial amount of money in a very short period of time for comparatively little effort. A frequent scenario that is played out over and over is this: a drug lord will befriend a desperate girl, asking her to perform “favors” such as carrying a package from one village to another. The girl is paid well for her efforts. However, after a period of time, the drug lord will alert the police to the girl’s drug smuggling activities and she is arrested. In the meantime, a large shipment of drugs gets through to its destination on another road. The drug lord appears as a conscientious citizen and the police get to make an arrest. Another shallow victory in the drug wars!

If that girl has any children younger than the age of three, those children will go to prison with her. The prison sentences in Thailand are very long and the prisons are crowded. The type and amount of food served is merely adequate to sustain life. There are no fresh fruits or vegetables offered at meals. Medical treatment is meager if available at all. Dental care is virtually non-existent in prison. Women are not given feminine hygiene supplies. The prisoners are dependent upon friends or family members to supplement their needs. Even if the families can get to the prisons, they may not have the means to support the incarcerated family member.

Even if that girl was not transporting drugs herself, if her husband or boyfriend was the drug runner, oftentimes the girl will be arrested, tried and convicted because she should have known about the illegal activity and reported it.

It should be pointed out that children being raised in the prison system are not unique to Thailand. Many western countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Australia also keep mothers and children together. The belief in this practice is that by keeping mother and child together, a family bond is established and that upon the release of the mother, the bond will be re-established. The biggest difference between the penal systems in Thailand versus the western countries is the length of the prison terms. In Thailand, the lengthy prison terms are punitive and meant to be a deterrent. Many people in Thailand serve 10 years or more for infractions that would result in probation or diversion in the west.

After children reach the age of 2, they can no longer stay in the prison. If the children have relatives in the villages, they are returned to their village. Because of the poverty in the village, the children are not always welcomed, but are frequently seen as a burden. The children’s parent may have a new partner and that new partner may not want to assume responsibility for someone else’s children.

The children may be left in the care of elderly grandparents, who are old and sick and not physically capable of caring for young children. The grandparents are faced with trying to raise the children of their children. In all likelihood, the grandparents will not outlive the prison term of their son or daughter.

In the village, because the situation is so desperate, the children are frequently neglected, verbally and physically abused or worse. There are many child predators that buy and sell children for the sex trade that is rampant in Thailand. Unfortunately, the sex trade is largely subsidized by western men.

If there are no relatives available to take care of the children, they are sent to a state-run orphanage. The orphanages are large facilities where there are more children than can adequately be cared for by the staff. Family ties are broken as the orphanages do not have the means to arrange for visits to the prisons. Because there is little opportunity to form bonds and attachments to adult caregivers in an institutional setting, many children never learn to trust anyone. They develop attachment disorders, and are deprived of the chance to become independent and responsible adults.

These are the faces of children whose world has been turned upside down. How can they be future leaders of Thailand if they don't have a stable family life, access to clean water, shelter and education? Who will teach them to be responsible adults? Who will teach them right from wrong?

The start of a Blog

The impetus for starting this blog was a class assignment. The class is entitled Sustainability and the Seven Revolutions, which has been an interesting and enlightening class. Very briefly, this class has us looking at world population, resources, technology, information, economic integration, conflict and governance and how each of these topics interrelate, all with the goal of making us better global citizens by getting us to think about our responsibilities to each other.


My assignment: A virtual pulic service project designed to educate, stimulate, provoke or otherwise inform any readers of this blog. Being a nurse, the obvious topic of choice is healthcare. Being a frequent visitor to Thailand, having made a significant connection to the people of Thailand, healthcare in Thailand is also an obvious choice.


My connection to Thailand began in 2005 while on a missions trip with my church. Since that first trip, I have become interested in the plight of children whose parents are incarcerated and the ripple effects that prison sentence has on the children, the extended family, the community and ultimately the country. For more information, see  www.cfpm-thailand.org. Over the next week, I will be adding pictures, lesson plans and more background information on my adopted country of Thailand.