CHANG RAI

About to meet girls who had been rescued out of sexual slavery, I expected them to be almost untouchable, so deeply scarred that it would be almost impossible for them to function.  But as the story goes, these girls were quite the opposite. There was still a shyness reflecting the characteristics of a polite Thai person, but also a spirit that was opposite to the brokenness of sexual slavery- a spirit that embraced every aspect of life. 

Destiny Rescue Thailand is an organization which actively seeks out and rescues children from the multitude of brothels across Thailand. 

Once rescued, the children are treated like any other child should be treated. They receive one on one physical, emotional and psychological care, as well as education and the chance to play sport, make friends and grow up. Most of these girls come from the hill tribes in the north of Thailand. Bordering Burma, these hill tribes suffer from a large portion of the West’s drug consumption. With villages using and producing illicit drugs comes poverty and child neglect.  

Selling your child or sending them to work in a brothel in Bangkok, Pattaya or Chiang Mai is a normal and socially-acceptable practice for many villages. 

In a particular village in the outskirts of Chiang Rai, where Destiny Rescue Thailand is based, there are no girls from the age 13-21 because they are all 

working in the sex industry in the cities. These girls work in brothels or as bar girls and send the money they earn back to the village.

"Selling your child or sending them to work in a brothel in Bangkok, Pattaya or Chiang Mai is a normal and socially-acceptable practice"

Some girls at Destiny Rescue  are still sending money back to their families, only now Destiny Rescue has given them vocational training in a new trade and a job, whether it be making jewellery, sewing clothes or in a beauty salon. 

Destiny Rescue is doing extensive work in the hill tribes and villages where the girls are from to replace the socially-accepted practice of relying on the women and children for income. Under this mentality they will always slip into the sex industry because there is a demand. When people are hungry, sending your child into the sex industry becomes easier, especially when it is a socially-accepted practice and it is possibly what happened 

to your mother, your aunties and your sisters. 

I was surprised at how much I saw of myself in my high-school years in these girls. I could see their desire to be loved. They think boys are hot, they like pop music, they like to dance and they take their sport seriously- very seriously. They had been physically abused on a level I can’t even comprehend yet they laugh, joke, dance, play sport and are beautiful. Destiny Rescue practically shows them real love. Instead of letting what happen to them become a debilitating scar they are taught to dream, to enjoy and, most importantly, to love again.