"It''s a growth industry- by author, Leonie Campbell-"Angels of Saigon" and "The Baby Merchants"
Lifeline to Survival in Third World Countries.
"Poverty and hunger has created a void of despair, within many Third world countries. In Vietnam, desperately impoverished parents still sell their female children into prostitution, or as ‘brides’ for the markets in China.
Due to the ‘one child’ policy in China over many years, parents have chosen to keep only male children. This elimination process has created an imbalance in rural China, where gender-determined abortions have culled the population significantly.
In the rural provinces of Vietnam, children as young as eight years old are brought by corrupt, ‘traders in flesh’ and are transported over the borders of Cambodia, China, Laos and Myamma. Their lives are the harsh reality of brothels, drugs and violent men; the only escape is usual a painful death. But, no one mourns these lost children; their parents bury their shame, trying to keep the rest of their family alive. The bartered ‘child’ money has paid for the next crop of rice.
One Vietnamese mother said, ‘I wish that all this had not happened in my life…
We are a poor family and needed the money to survive…
This was the only way to buy the seed for our winter rice crop…
I thought that after my daughter had worked for six months in a brothel, that I would bring her back to her family in Vietnam.
I was so afraid that she would get ill…
I cried a lot because I pitied her.’
Some young women willingly travel across the border into neighbouring countries. These women believe that by prostituting themselves, they will save enough money to support their family. They become the victims of the Meebon, indentured into slavery, prostitution and drugs. Their hopes of returning to Vietnam are shattered, as they find that the debt of bondage is forever.
In Third World countries, the practice of selling of babies to childless foreigners has escalated; where high profit, overrides the rights of these children. Are there guarantees in place, to protect them in their new countries? Who teaches them about the history, and culture of their country of origin, or their ethnic language?
This is a dilemma facing these countries, and United Aid agencies, today; selling of children, trafficking, drugs and prostitution. Today, the hard facts are; that it’s a ‘growth’ industry.
The author, Leonie Campbell has written "Angels of Saigon" and "The Baby Merchants" based on her experiences while living in Hanoi, Vietnam during 1997- 1998. Both books may be viewed at available from www.bookworm.au.com and www.authorsden.com
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