Faces of Burma: Part I

Sally also explained a bit of her perspective on the Burmese situation. Every few weeks Sally and her husband take a trip to the Thai-Burmese border to check in on the program there. It is not possible for them to stay there full-time and they are restricted to a half-day crossover. It is also quite dangerous. She relays estimates of upwards of 80 percent of women in this border town are involved in prostitution. The difference between prositution here and in Chiang Mai is that in this town it is a forced employment-- based on the extreme poverty of the people. This area is very near to the golden triangle. Drug-lords will pay a family upwards of $3000 for their daughters. This amount is unimaginable to most and makes the choice to sell regretfully tempting, furthermore as families may be under the impression that they will get their daughters back after a certain period of time. Some families do receive their daughters back though Sally tells one story of a girl returning home so badly beaten and disfigured that she needed reconstructive surgery. The hospital bill made the families choice to sell their daughter an even more regretful one. It pained me so much to hear these stories and statistics. Burma is really in need.

The program there involves a safe house for burmese women formerly involved in prostitution. Sally describes the women staying there as fiery evangelists and advocates to their cause and changed lives. I hope to visit there and meet these women. Perhaps I will have more to relay.

I asked Sally what her vision is to help these women; what she thinks they might benefit from. She replied, "mass-marketing". She explained that World Vision had a program whereby they would create large orders of jewelry to be made by these women, 1000 of this kind, 1000 of that kind etc. This is what they would benefit from, but more frequently. She is waiting for the right person, or team of people to come in with a passion and vision and make it happen. It also seems to involve macro-economic issues, and opportunities with-held by the Burmese government.