Saturday, January 22, 2011

Some things you see just follow you around in your head. For example a 16 year old ex-prostitute, who ran away from an abusive mother and started selling her body just so she could buy a motorbike. When she returned to her village with the money, the mother was nice to her, and told her, “It's too late now. You’re already in the mud so just continue doing it.” This mother is the same person who beat her up in public because she went out with a classmate. It’s hard to forget this young girl, and even harder to understand her situation.

It’s very hard to look at a middle-aged fisherman in a bright orange prisoner outfit. T-shirt, shorts, a pair of red shoes. He was caught for people smuggling and is looking at 5 to 7 years jail sentence. It was hard looking at him walk out the room, stop to pull up the hem of his shirt to wipe his tears and cover his face. He understands why he is in prison, but he clearly doesn’t understand why he will have to serve 5 to 7 years away from his family, friends and home. And neither do I.