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I'm interviewing Commercial sex workers (CSWs) at the Ruili Women and Children's Center (left - Mr. Bangyuan Wang, of Health Unlimited and I'm sitting next to him in black)The Ruili Women and Children's Center in Ruili city, southern China
Back right - Gyen Nai, 33 years old.
Gyen Nai was shooting up heroin when I began to talk with him with the other Health Unlimited staff members.
The poorest of the poor and the forgotten
My trip to southwest China last week on behalf of a donor was a life transforming one for me. Though I’ve been there twice before, this time, it was different. I can’t put it into words. I spent time with blind people, AIDS orphans, prostitutes, drug addicts with HIV. I fell in love with these people and the region.
“Prayer begets faith, faith begets love and love begets service of the poor.”
“Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.”
Mother Theresa
A great passion has lodged itself in my heart to do what I can to help channel more resources and mobilise others to go (student volunteers, social entrepreneurs). I want to see that area TRANSFORMED by compassion and strategic services.
I know it will take a lot of work. I’m already behind in my fundraising work for elderly comfort women survivors… I want to raise funds for a holiday trip to the city (these comfort women survivors live in rural areas and this was recommended by lawyer Kang Jian who is in touch with more than 30 of them) and mobilise medical volunteers to provide treatment. These survivors also need art therapy and psycho-social care. If you’d like to help, please send me a message!
Rescuing desperate women
Two prostitutes are in need of help with their children’s high school tuition. These women are in their late 20s or early 30s and they are in sex work in order to cover the room and board costs of their sons’ school fees. We are in touch with a New York foundation to see if they would cover the school costs – however, these women must agree to get out of that line of work.
I also met Lisa Samuelson, a wonderful British woman and the director of an NGO called Eden that serves prostitutes in Kunming by offering a safe house, providing HIV and STI prevention education and a life-changing job program that trains them in jewelry making.
In one of my last blog posts I had mentioned that I wanted to track down an NGO that helps women escape prostitution so that the Burmese prostitutes I had met near the border area last year would have alternative employment.
Well, BINGO. Eden is the right organization. With local partners, we’re working towards bringing together different NGOs that work with prostitutes in southwest China to learn from Eden’s jewelry business. So far, Eden has been supporting 20 former CSWs who now live with dignity and hope.
Here’s the link to Eden: http://edenministry.myshopify.com
I’ll write more about my trip and post photos soon. I will leave you with one more quote by Mother Theresa that I lifted from Heidi Baker’s book Compelled by Love (I wept while reading this book about her work in England’s slums and in Mozambique):
“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindess in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. In the slums we are the light of God’s kindness to the poor. To children, to the poor, to all who suffer and are lonely, give always a happy smile – give them not only your care, but also your heart.”
Spending time with AIDS orphans at Mother's Heart homes in SW China (mothersheartchina.org). One of our donors funded the 3 homes for a year.
Me in striped shirt, So Lat (2nd from left), is 22 years old and addicted to heroin. My good friend Bangyuan Wang, program manager for Health Unlimited at far right.
The three guys on the right are with Health Unlimited, a UK-based organization that works with the most marginalised communities in the world.
The young man, second from the right, is a very dynamic outreach worker and the young man behind him is a drug user who helps collect used needles (in exchange for new ones to prevent the spread of HIV).
My good friend Bangyuan Wang, is the program manager of this project (in white T-shirt). He plans to go overseas for graduate study. We are trying to find sponsors and scholarships for him.
He’s an incredible leader and unsung hero who has selflessly worked amongst the poorest places in southwest China near the border. If you’d like to contribute to his tuition fees, please message me and I’ll connect you with Bangyuan.
Shooting alley
We found Lasan (left) on the ground. He had overdosed. Bangyuan Wang, program manager (and unsung hero) is sitting with him.
I’ll write about his story in the next blog post.
September 2008: This is the average daily used needle intake at the Health Center in S.E. Asia. This center offers medical support for HIV infected people and HIV prevention education.
September 2008: Listening to the stories of two 21-year-olds. They're HIV positive and recovering drug addicts.
Trip of a Lifetime: Meeting pioneers in HIV/AIDS work
I am prepping for an upcoming trip to conduct site visits to NGOs working in the sector of HIV/AIDS on behalf of a donor. Today, I have thought of my trips to southern Asia over the last several years. And I feel honored to have met so many extraordinary people in China, S.E. Asia, from North Korea and all over the world. These unsung heroes have inspired me and as I share their stories in this blog in the future, I hope they inspire you too.
(I keep pinching myself to see if my life is real. Am I really living this adventure? And how can I live out my convictions and core values with even greater authenticity?)
Soon, I’ll be visiting some heroes who are helping drug addicts, commercial sex workers and those infected with HIV/AIDS as well as those affected by the disease such as AIDS orphans. These people have made enormous sacrifices to support the ones living on the margins of society. Their compassion and courage astound me. How do they do it? What keeps them going each day? How can they not do the work? was one person’s response.
NGO staff disposes of used needles.
What can we do to remember people living with HIV? How can we improve upon the services that are provided to drug addicts and commercial sex workers (CSWs)? In the S.E. Asian country I visited, the commercial sex workers at one particular brothel did not have alternative employment opportunities in the region.
That’s no surprise. This is a village area stuck in circa 1960s. The dirt roads blew dust when the occasional motorbike or ancient bus blasted by. The buildings look rickety and run down. And there is no mall, not even a small one, in sight! Only outdoor markets with mystery meat splayed on the wooden table.
The brothel is in the building to the right. This is a Chinese neighborhood of a S.E. Asian country.
There must be more that can be done for these women at the brothel. Lives are hanging in the balance. The women are at risk of getting infected with HIV, venereal disease or suffering violence from their customers. They often come from impoverished family backgrounds and have to go into this line of work to support their families.
September 2008: Children of commercial sex workers playing outside of the brothel.
These CSWs at the brothel, I discovered that they would be open to learning new work skills. I know of some NGOs that offer jewelry making skills workshops and then sell the items overseas. I will see if I can connect these women at the brothel with an NGO that is willing to work with them and go through the oft-arduous process of raising funds for this project.
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