A star in the making (Little Street Urchin)

Miss Nong Ming has had a rough start in life, but is now set to shine

Our almost eight-year-old Klong Toey Miss Nong Ming made the Bangkok 10 o'clock night TV news a couple of nights ago. She shouldn't have though. In fact, it was "bad form".

True, the camera blurred her face, but, "darn it", for some dumb reason they blurted out her full name and showed the place where her family camped out under the tollway along with Miss Nong Ming playing with other street kids, recently off the street at a "family child protection centre".

Trafficked at seven and a half years of age, the TV showed her still pretty much forlorn, hungry, covered in months of grime, but in a clean uniform like everyone else in the place. She said she'd rather wear her Klong Toey street kid clothes, with those worn out flip flops. But no matter how poor and ragged, even a glance at Miss Nong Ming on the TV screen told you immediately that there is a hidden greatness in this street child - you just know she's going to be a star.

A thug, a criminal, she ain't. A trafficked child she is. Trafficked by her mum and dad. She's Klong Toey's best! Covered with mosquito bites, half a dozen bigger bruises, feet full of cuts and broken toe nails, but also good news. The medical people say no sexual abuse yet.

A trafficked child, where her whole family - the mum and dad thing - went terribly wrong. Like Miss Nong Ming being the number one money maker in her family instead of being number one in her first grade class. Mum said you go to school next year. Now you help me. And her dad too hammered all the time to notice.

Also, she's logged kindergarten time in a slum pre-school, plus maybe five months' first grade time in another social welfare home last year.

Her mum lied to the officials. Said all was fine. They no longer lived under the tollway. Dad had a job. They'd moved into a house. In all of Miss Nong Ming's life, they had never lived in a house. So mum's story was all lies.

The officials believed mum and she took her daughter home. Arriving in Klong Toey, mum didn't even give Miss Nong Ming enough time to say hello to her wildly happy stray dog named Dog. Within an hour, mum had dressed her daughter in her Klong Toey clothes, still unwashed after five months and Dog had been sleeping on them every night for a soft bed. Mum sent Miss Nong Ming off with her rag to pander and wash windscreens on that tollway exit leading down into the Klong Toey port. Mum was drug hungry and dad was booze thirsty.

No school for Miss Nong Ming because of a time conflict. School hours cut into her time washing car windscreens, begging and selling flower garlands.

Selling a flower garland? Easy. Doing a car windscreen? Almost impossible. Touching their car is a huge no-no. Drivers, even men, feel threatened. "Dirty kid. Don't get any closer! Get your dirty hands off my clean car!" The kids say only the kindest of women roll down their windows to speak to them - and give them some baht coins. Their best hope is to find men driving their own cars, who are slightly hammered. They give the most money.

Miss Nong Ming? She's a pro: 50-70 baht a day. She'd go out at rush hour when the cars are lined up, waiting for the red light to change.

Between rush hours, Miss Nong Ming helped mum sort through garbage bins, collecting second hand goods like thrown away cans, plastic and glass bottles and cardboard, scrap metal. At the junk dealers, Miss Nong Ming did the horse trading, as mum's mind was not always there because of the drugs.

Mum married young to a street boy. No wedding ceremony - that's for rich people. The dowry was 50 baht as mum was pregnant. Used goods.

Soon Miss Nong Ming was born. Dad got more into the booze, was a mean drunk and beat up mum constantly for money for more booze. Mum wasn't skilled at the occasional sex for hire business. She was too embarrassed. So she started doing small drug deliveries for a guy near the slaughter house part of the slum. She herself became an addict.

Times always change. The guns and motorcycle hit squads started shooting drug folks. The shootings did not stop the drugs in the least, simply caused adjustments. Prices skyrocketed. Everything became much more clandestine. Part time "occasional" drug runners, especially addicts like mum, were dropped. Now, only trusted clan members. Appearances are everything and to the casual observer, the problem had gone away.

But mum's addiction did not go away, and dad still had the shakes without his booze. The agent told mum to get lost or her five-year-old daughter might have an accident - even perhaps disappear.

So two steps down the food chain. Mum now used half an amphetamine pill when ever she could find the cash. Before in the good old days, it was two a day. Same with dad. Drink when he could. Now he bought his booze "re-packaged" at the local shop. Three shots poured into a local brown elixir pocket-sized bottle. The "eleven tigers" medicinal powder mixed with rice whiskey. Moonshine, the cheapest in the market.

Miss Nong Ming has never even slept in a house - only a shack. Mum and dad are total street/slum people. The best they had when Nong Ming was a baby was a small empty sea-land shipping container. Then the owner needed it, so back living under the Klong Toey five storey walk up flats. Thrown out of there for littering and making a general mess, they moved under the tollway. The camped out there, next to one of the large pilings. No roof, cardboard and a couple of large plastic bags, a partially burned mattress throw out by someone after a fire. Cooking with scrap wood. Toilet? Anywhere and everywhere. Most embarrassing for a four-year-old girl going on five. Buying water occasionally, at five baht per three gallon tin. They had a mosquito net, but Nong Ming slept outside the net with her stray dog. The two of them kept each other warm. Now there were no scraps for Dog, but she stayed anyway. Roamed during the day, but at dark, came back to protect Miss Nong Ming. Sleeping outside the mosquito net because Nong Ming was afraid of her dad in his drunken stupor and mum wouldn't or couldn't protect her.

Miss Nong Ming and mom collected saleable items, made maybe 15-20 baht for a whole day of scrounging. The exact price for dad's "re-packaged" brown elixir bottle of booze. The equivalent of three shot glasses. Dad? He guarded cars parked in the slum by night. Soon, mum forced Miss Nong Ming to beg from the cars lined up at the red light at the exit ramp. Collected 50-70 baht a day. That's what she told the TV camera. She also told the TV camera that she would always give all the money to her dad. But afterwards said "almost" - sometimes when she was so hungry, she would cry, and then hide seven baht so she could buy instant noodles. Eat them dry out of the package. Not even share them with Dog. She was that hungry.

They grabbed mum and dad for vagrancy, but nothing about trafficking their daughter was mentioned. They brought Miss Nong Ming to a respected government shelter where she sleeps safely, eats regularly, goes to school. With the new law for children, her mum can't just "come and get her and take her home".

Her parents must prove they can feed her, that she will go to school. They will not send her to beg or wash windscreens during school hours. There will be regular police visits, etc.

Tomorrow and the day after?

Dad and mum? His nights guarding parked cars earn him just enough to eat, but not much for the "eleven tigers" booze. Certainly not for buying cigarettes by the package. If he smokes, it's the loose tobacco hand rolled in newspaper. Thus, he has to make some choices. The police have warned him no more vagrancy. All of this will be as it will be.

Mum? We've cut a deal with her. Dad did agree. We will give her a hot meal each noon. She has to come and must eat here with us, so we are sure she actually eats the food herself. That should suffice as she continues as a bag lady. Another part of the deal is we will rent her a push cart at five baht a week. Miss Nong Ming, if and when she wants, can live with us, go to school. Mum can see her every day.

For Miss Nong Ming, she's brilliant. Today at the government home, she's clean, has clothes that fit her properly. The scars and scabs and broken nails have healed. Special shampoo removed the lice. Enough to eat. It will take her some months to finally believe that she doesn't have to gorge herself at each meal. It takes that long to realise her next meal is safe. She loves school. Top scores in mathematics. Slum street kids learn money counting as soon as they can walk! And as I said above, there are flashes of greatness in this child. She will be a star.

She is worried about Dog. We checked. A neighbour lady feeds Dog most days and Dog still roams, but wanders back to their abandoned camp site at dusk. Waiting for Miss Nong Ming to come home.

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Father Joe Maier, C.Ss.R., is the director and co-founder of the Human Development Foundation-Mercy Centre.

For more information: info@mercycentre.org; http://www.mercycentre.org

About the author

Writer: Father Joe Maier

Position: Reporter

Lao girls lured into child-sex trade in Udon

The conditions driving young Lao girls into prostitution are no different than those behind the thriving child sex trade in Thailand some 20 years ago

Ambling down a quiet, dimly-lit street lined with wooden houses, Peerawit Kampira tells his guests from Bangkok not to be afraid. "It's safe here ... because you are with me," he said half-jokingly.

IN THE DARK: A young sex worker in a rundown room. PHOTOS: PORNPROM SARTTARBHAYA

As we get closer to a house with pink-lit rooms, two bouncers in tight jeans and T-shirts called out: "Please come in. We have pretty girls!"

There are plenty of pretty girls around in Soi 2, and Mr Peerawit, a 32-year-old social welfare worker, has spent the past eight years chatting up young Lao women in Muang Udon Thani as part of his research on the trafficking of underage Lao girls into prostitution.

"It used to be a close-knit community here," said the bespectacled, long-haired Mr Peerawit, who was born in this neighbourhood. "Things began to change some 20 years ago, when brothels were set up in Soi 2, with the arrival of girls from the northern Thai provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phrae and Phayao."

When these northern Thai women started to pick destinations further south, to Pattaya, Phuket and foreign countries around 1991-92 - many on a circuit influenced by human trafficking gangs - the vacuum was quickly filled by traffickers from the other side of the Mekong River.

Here in this booming town awash in foreign tourists and entertainment zones, one can stumble on a bar with a dozen or so attractive Thai women looking to make some quick money. In another part of town with a number of pubs and restaurants, more Thai women walk around, settle into tables, laugh and share drinks with their friends.

BRIGHT LIGHTS: Beer bars where Thai women entertain mostly foreign men.

But in the "Lao section", except for Soi 2, there is generally an air of somberness. Lovelorn men discreetly scour the row of wooden houses, which are partially hidden by rusty corrugated tin fences. With a slight knock on the tin door, bouncers will let them in.

At Soi 3 we meet Phen, a girl from Vientiane, in one of the so-called "tin houses".

It's almost midnight and the narrow street is empty. Mr Peerawit knocks on the door and a burly man lets us inside. There is no weapon search. No words are spoken. In a large room with pink neon lights there are 10 girls in short skirts sitting on a long sofa, watching television.

We settle down in wooden chairs and order three bottles of soda water. It comes with a bill for 180 baht. Three new customers arrive, all of them casually dressed. They pick three girls, and all of them disappear into the back of the house. All this is done under the watchful eyes of the pimps.

HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE: The entrance to a brothel during the daytime.

After paying 600 baht, Spectrum has a closed-door chat with Phen, who says she has been there for only two months. All her co-workers live in the same house, with their own rooms. It is equipped with a bed, a fan, a bathroom and a television set.

Phen gets 200 baht for each customer. The remaining 400 baht goes to the brothel owner for food, accommodation and other expenses. She has a buddy, named Kaew, who is also from Vientiane.

Chompoo, another Lao girl interviewed by Spectrum, is from Luang Prabang. Both Chompoo and Phen say they have been persuaded by their friends to come to Udon Thani.

"We have not been forced to do this," said Chompoo, who has been in Udon for nearly one year.

"I send money home every month.

"If there are no customers, we are free to go out during the day," she added."The owner also lets me go home for Songkran [also the Lao New Year]."

It's unclear how many underage Lao girls work in Udon Thani's sex trade. By observation only, seven of the 30 girls in the brothel Spectrum visited looked to be in their early teens. All the pimps say none of their girls are under 18 - which would make them children as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

TWO-STAR ROOMS: The entrance to a rundown motel.

Social workers like Mr Peerawit say Udon Thani has gained a reputation as a haven for child sex - mainly because of the easy availability of children driven into the business by poverty-stricken parents and caretakers, and because of lax law enforcement and corruption.

"Poverty is so overwhelming in some rural parts of Laos that girls as young as 12 or 13 are routinely sold by parents or guardians into the sex trade as virgins, fetching a price from 2,000 to 3,000 baht," said Mr Peerawit.

"After the trafficked girls spend a week or so with the first client, they work in brothels like these in Udon," he added.

As time passes, the price drops until she's earning 150 or 200 baht per client. This is the net income per client after deductions are made for accommodation and other expenses incurred by the brothel operator.

As part of his research, Mr Peerawit has travelled to some poverty-stricken villages in Laos, where he learned that the conditions driving young Lao girls into prostitution in Udon Thani are no different than those behind the thriving child sex trade in Thailand some 20 years ago.

DOWN-MARKET: There are rows of ‘tin houses’ down this lane used as brothels.

"It's the same story of the poor village girls coming to the city," he said, peering down the length of Soi 7, where a group of men, one in khaki trousers, loitered under the dimly-lit neon lights.

"The proliferation of consumer goods, and the need for money to buy them, has fostered the attitude that the sale of young girls into prostitution is an acceptable form of income," he said.

"Many people say that prostitution is the world's oldest profession and it isn't going to go away," he added. "But no government can deny its responsibility in allowing underage girls to work in a place like this."

The case is clear because Thailand has ratified ILO Convention No 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, as well as Convention No 138, which mandates that ratifying states pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour.

Mr Peerawit has his own ideas on how to solve the problem, but was reluctant to have them published because he worried that it could upset some powerful people. "Because I live here," he said, "I am afraid for my own safety."

This is the first of a two-part series on Lao child prostitutes in Udon Thani.

About the author

Writer: Songpol Kaopatumtip

Position: Former Perspective Editor

Youth camp sows the seeds of peace

There is no quick remedy to restore peace in the Deep South, but a regional fishermen's group hopes that learning about different cultures will enrich the young and teach them to be more moderate and rational

When Sunirun Ratanawilailuck asked permission from his teacher at a Chiang Mai school to attend a muliticultural youth camp in Pattani, the teacher teased him, saying he would measure his body for a coffin.

NEW PERSPECTIVE: Arefuh Bachuh tells his personal story.

"I knew he was making a joke, but I felt odd when he said it because I was feeling uncertain myself about going there," said Sunirun, a Karen-Thai who is a member of the Inter-Mountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association (IMPECT), a nonprofit organisation which is working to promote education for ethnic people in northern Thailand.

"But my desire to learn the facts about the problems in the southernmost provinces overcame my fears," said the Grade 12 student after he had returned safely to his home in Chiang Mai.

Sunirun attended the camp at the invitation of the Pattani Province Small-Scale Fisher Network Association (PSSFA).

The PSSFA is a network of community organisations in six districts of Pattani which has been working to promote the awareness and quality of life of small-scale fishermen in the province through peaceful means.

"We want to educate our younger generation about peace and living with people of different faiths. We want them to learn about the struggles of other people. But it is no less crucial that they also learn about their own roots," said Muhama Sukree Masaning, the chairperson of the PSSFA.

BUILDING BRIDGES: Suwaiba Jehma, left, from the South, gives her impressions of the camp that allowed her to discuss issues with people from the North like Sunirun Ratanawilailak, right.

The core members of the PSSFA are aware that the ongoing violence in the deep South might give a wrong perception about people there to the general public in the rest of the country, as well as the young people in the area themselves. Mr Sukree said that neither the local Buddhists nor local Muslims are aiming for political power, they just want to live their lives in peace.

"But violence has interrupted our way of life and even caused some locals to have bad feelings about people of other faiths," he added.

"The youth camp was aimed to groom the young people, to broaden their thinking and attitudes. They should have the ability to think objectively and not accept generalisations or make judgments without sufficient information."

The PSSFA organised the camp with the assistance of the Canada Fund, the Embassy of Canada in Bangkok and Prince of Songkla University. The idea was to invite six young people with different ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs from northern Thailand to join 56 young people from the South. Most of these were the children of fishermen in Pattani province, but some were from Narathiwat and Yala.

Some came from broken homes, others were children of parents who were killed in the violence, three attended a school for special children, two were autistic and one had Down syndrome.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Camp participants listen to a woman explain how she makes her fishing tools.

Besides gaining information about different cultures and individuals, the youths took part in recreational activities and lessons in art and other subjects. All students interested in participating were asked to write an essay describing why they wanted to join the camp, their understanding of the situation in the South and what contribution they felt they could make to the learning process in the camp.

One of the essays submitted to the PSSFA from a young person from the North indicated his belief that violence was common throughout the whole region and killings were a daily fact of life. These perceptions were given by the mainstream media that penetrates people's homes and reports only violent incidents.

Some of the writers from the North said that the violence stems from the bad behaviour of some authorities. This occurs in the North as well, but it is passively accepted.

"There is more to the situation in the South than meets eye. It is not people against the authorities, but a mixture of things. There are good authorities and there are locals who are troublemakers as well," said one of the PSSFA leaders, who asked not to be named.

As for the southern youth, most of them wrote that they don't know who is causing the troubles, but they left no doubt that the violence does affect them.

"I am afraid that my father will be a target of militants as he works for the good of the community.

EXPRESSING THROUGH ART: camp participants from the South display their artwork describing the situation in their villages.

"He might be viewed as someone who works for the state because he has to cooperate with state officials. The troublemakers do not like the government - they might attack my dad," wrote a camp participant from the South, adding that her whole family worries about safety in their daily lives.

"My dad does nothing against them (militants), but we don't know who is who," she wrote, adding that she hoped the camp would help broaden the thinking of the younger generation and teach them to live in harmony with others.

Bukorri Jehuseng, from a pondok school in Pattani province, wrote that conflicts arise over trivial issues stemming from cultural differences between the Buddhists and Muslims, but these sometimes become big issues because of a basic lack of understanding. Asked why he wanted to participate in the camp, he said: "I will have the chance to learn from people of different beliefs."

From talking to and reading the words of these young people it is clear that the desire for a peaceful society is strong. Many pleaded with all concerned parties to stop using violence as a solution to conflicts.

OLDER GUIDE: Sukree Masaning is always willing to talk to young people.

"We want peace, I want to ask everybody, including young people and the general public, to stop their improper actions," said Fadeeha Doloh from Pattani. The sentiment was echoed by Suraida Samae "I beg the troublemakers to stop using violence, please let us have peace," she wrote.

EMPATHY EXCHANGE

The cultural exchange was not only from South to North. The young people from the North also shared their lives and difficulties with the students from the South. The six northerners were made up of animists, Christians and Buddhists and spoke five different dialects. What they have in common is that they are all from ethnic minority groups and they are all trying to live in the mainstream society without losing their dignity and cultural identities.

When 21-year-old Arefuh Bachuh, a Thai-Akha who lives in Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai, told his personal story he stunned the whole camp. He spoke Thai with a heavy accent, but no one laughed at him as Thai was not the first language of any of the young people at the camp.

Arefuh was born in Thailand but he has no citizenship status. Arefuh's family is landless and stateless and survives by doing odd jobs. He is luckier than his siblings as he has a chance to further his studies. He won a scholarship and gets support from his sister.

"My younger sister had to drop out of school to earn a living and set aside some money to support my schooling," he said in front of the 62 camp participants.

SHARING PASSION: camp participants enjoy cultural exchange activities.

He gave some additional information about his community. "My village in Mae Ai has no electricity, and most of the people in the village have no Thai nationality. Some are addicted to illegal drugs. Our poverty is the result of our lack of access to land and jobs.

"People in my village cannot travel freely. We have to ask permission from the assistat district chief every time we want to travel beyond our district, and sometimes we have to pay a fee as well," Arefuh added.

Other students from the North said they were also victims of generalisations, such as being branded as people who are doing slash and burn agriculture or involved in drug trafficking.

"I have to tell you that we are being blamed for destroying the forest. How could that be? We live in the forest - we have to save the forest. If there is no forest, we have no food and no water," said Yuthana Rojanakhirisanti, a Hmong from Chiang Rai.

Mae Hong Son native Kemika Chanta, an ethnic Lau who also is without citizenship status, told a story passed down from generation to generation that indicates her ancestors have been living in what is now northern Thailand for more than 700 years. The oral history is supported by historical evidence.

"We had to stay in the forest after some conflicts with rulers of Chiang Mai [in the time of the ancient Lanna Kingdom]," said Kemika, a fourth year student at Rajabhat Chiang Rai University.

The information from their new northern friends provided a new perspective for the young people from the South, who also came from diverse backgrounds. Many in the camp expressed their feeling that it was a great experience to learn from other traditions. "It's great to learn how the northern tribal people live their lives and what their problems are," said Nipa Maeha, from Narathiwat.

Madeeha Lammuadoh, a Grade 11 student from Narathiwat whose parents are separated, said: "I appreciate that our friend from the North takes good care of Ti [nickname of the boy with Down syndrome] in the camp. It is a good example that we should learn to be more caring people.

"I also feel so sorry for Arefuh, who still lacks citizenship."

The participants at the camp had the chance to visit a fishing village in Yaring district of Pattani, where they learned about the struggle of fishermen against the big commercial trawlers that invade their three-kilometre protected zone along the coast.

They are using the nonviolent means of submitting letters, peaceful protests and following up on their demands for the government to enforce the law.

The young people were also encouraged to broaden their thinking by watching a documentary film about a music group whose members are Muslims from central Thailand and write down what they thought. It was impressed on them that their thinking was a reflection of their beliefs and judgements, which in turn are based on their culture and the way they are taught about their religion. At the same time, the documentary highlighted the diversity of Thailand's Muslim population.

Many of the young people were aware that the film was a tool to get them to engage in discussion and think more critically.

"The lesson can be applied to other situations, such as how we should look at the GT 200 device. Should we immediately believe what we are told?" asked Suwaiba Jehma, a Grade 12 student from Pattani.

Most of the participants were eager to attend more multicultural events, but they want them to be during school holidays. They also want such events to include more cultural performance activities.

"I am very impressed [with the camp], even though I had to be absent from school. I think it is worth it as I can learn from real life and friends from different cultures and backgrounds. I hope we can invite more people from other parts of the country to come to our homeland," said Fadeelah Sa-aa, a fisherman's daughter.

Sunirun said he has a deeper understanding of Muslim culture and Muslim people.

"I will go back to tell my friends in Chiang Mai that they are friendly people. We should not brand them as violent. They practise their religion dutifully. I think it is hard to be like them.

"I learned to respect the differences, and I have to say that our cultural diversity enriches Thailand. It's like food - we need different dishes on our table," he quipped.

About the author

Writer: Supara Janchitfah