Most Americans are ignorant of the fact that millions of lives around the world are affected by the illegal trafficking of human beings. An average person living in America would not even be able to fathom how real this evil practice may be. The movies and/or the news serve as the only source of information revealing the truth behind this subject. Thus it has become so surreal to think that such an evil force may be dominant in our world’s society that the point has been reached where most are blind to the fact that it could be occurring in their own backyard. A pure example of such a life which has been so surreally touched can be found in David Batstone’s Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—and How We Can Fight It—she goes by the name of Srey Neang. After being sold into the hands of traffickers by her Cambodian parents in order for their chance to sustain the lives of their other children, Srey Neang was bought as a “house servant”(slave) at the mere age of seven. As she grew up, she, contradictorily, was constantly brought down. Srey was tricked many times into being sold into the hands of people who had the intention of treating her as an object instead of a person. She was so abused that one’s own imagination cannot fathom how such cruelty can exist in the world. Eventually, she ended up at a sex slave at a karaoke bar in Thailand where she ironically became a mentor for other girls who were in the same position as she. However, she still dealt with much persecution: “[their owner] forced women to have sex with ten men each day on average” (Batstone 36). Srey Neang’s life not only serves as an example of the evil exemplified by human trafficking, but also it serves as an inspiration for the rest of the world to prevent such things from happening.
One can only imagine the pain and helplessness someone can feel when being abandoned by family. Srey Neang dealt with this early in her life. She was never once addressed by name. She cooked her master’s meals, gave her baths, did her laundry, scrubbed her house floors, and “performed any other chore demanded of her” (Batstone 20). She was never once addressed by name; sometimes she would “[whisper] her own name softly to herself simply so that she would not forget” (Batstone 20). Everyday she would wake up before the sun rose just to prepare her master’s meals. She then would toil away for the rest of the day until her master lay her head down on her pillow for a night’s rest. The absurdity of these duties are magnified when taking into consideration that Srey is only seven years old when she has started working for this woman. Luckily, the woman dies when Srey is at the young age of twelve. Srey is then taken into the arms of the woman’s son and his wife. She did the same work, but this time physical abuse was added into the mix. “Both husband and wife beat her with a reedy switch or the slightest offense: the porridge was too salty, or the front door of the house had been left open. Often they beat [her] for things she did not even do” (Batstone 20). The was definitely not a family/working system. Rather it became a master/slave relationship.
Naturally, as Srey grew older she developed a desire to have a relationship with a person of the opposite sex. This is when Sovanna comes into play. Sovanna was a married man from Phnom Penh who, in his early twenties, looked as if her were sixteen. However for Srey, Sovanna became the man of her dreams and they eventually formed a relationship outside of the house she toiled away at. Little did Srey know that Sovanna held a secret agenda. Sovanna tricked Srey into escaping from her master’s home and believing that his mother oculd provide her a job and an education in Thailand. He used sweet sounding works such as these: “My mother could use your help in her shop. You could attend school and work for her on the weekends” (Batstone 26). In the end, Srey was tricked into becoming a sex slave at a Thai karaoke club.
From the instant Srey arrived at the club, she looked for the chance to escape. Each girl held captive at this place had sex at an average of ten dollars a day at a rate of only two dollars and fifty cents for every twenty minutes. “The johns [would] behave like adolescents, publicly pawing their ‘dates,’ squeezing their buttocks and breasts with little shame” (Batstone 60). Srey lived at the bar for an unbearable amount of time until she finally stumbled upon her own serendipity. One of the johns which she was picked to have sex with noticed a wound from one of Srey’s beatings. As conversation between the two picked up, Srey’s emotions began to spill out. All of a sudden, the john realized the whole scheme behind this karaoke club. He realized that women were being held captive to be beaten and have sex with any man willing to pay. He then helped her escape from the club and she was taken into a shelter named Hagar which was for women in the same situation as she.
Srey Neang’s story is one of the thousands of other stories which exist. If we as Americans think life is hard as it is, we should take into consideration the lives of people who are actually suffering at the hands of heartless business men. These slave owners in third world countries treat innocent, helpless women and children worse than Americans would reat their pets. “Twenty-seven million slaves exist in our world today” (Batstone 1). Imagine hearing twenty-seven million more stories like Srey Neang’s. This evil practice must stop now and awareness is the first step.
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