In December, a bunch of undergrads set off for the slums of Phnom Penh in Cambodia to understand for themselves the social conditions that bred sex trafficking in the hopes of making a change, however slight.

Next week, we present to you Kampuchea Ros Bos Ngom (proudly pronounced in our best khmer) - Cambodia, you belong to me - is an exhibition of work taken entirely by the kids from these slums. The result of placing cameras in the hands of these children is a startling insight into their own remarkable brand of exuberance that defies the dangers of their daily lives.

To those who’ve sponsored a roll for a kid, thank you - you’ve seen the shots taken by a child with your very own sponsored roll; come see what the rest of the bunch have been up to :] 

And to the rest, you know what to do :]

<3 juliet

To be honest, I first joined this group on a whim. Vani The Queen Silly sent me one of her late-night, out-of-nowhere smses: Join this. Because men suck. (Guys, she was kidding about the men bit) The funny thing was that I did her bidding (I usually just ignore the girl), and I found myself wholly unprepared for just how emotionally involved I would get with this cause.

I never fully understood the implications of being objectified till now. I never truly grasped what it means to have a right to life - something as basic as a right to your own life, and to not have your choices taken from you. 

It started with our screening of the documentary Anonymously Yours - a film that weaved the accounts of 4 Burmese women into a chilling picture of the underground trafficking trade not far from home. 

One account was by a beautiful, lively Burmese child (she looked no older than 12) who told of how she was sold when much younger by her parents into a brothel, and later, again, by an aunt. 

At one point, she was sold into a business where she and other girls were lowered into a pond for hours at a time - to feed leeches. These leeches were then sold at the market, and the girls would be fished out of the pond unconscious each time from the blood loss. A friend at the movie screening pointed out that, in order to be used this way, these girls must have been cheaper than pigs or cattle; they were mere commodities. She eventually escaped, but I quickly realized that in her story there are no happy endings; to rescue herself, she had to sell her body in exchange for assistance along the way.

She didn’t cry while telling of the years of pain she went through: how 4 men forced her into sex at once, how she had hurt afterwards, how her own mother stepped on her belly to abort her unwanted child, how the foetus fell out of her the next day on the road, how much she bled.

Her composure in narrating what must have been unspeakably traumatic belies an unimaginable suffering. But she cried while telling about the kindness of people who would feed her for nothing in return. 

She was repeatedly conned on promises of food or clothes, and repeatedly sold into the trade. I cannot imagine what you must first go through to trust unquestioningly on a simple promise of food. Despite what they’ve been through, these are children.

It was a horrific cycle that repeated itself generation after generation: men gather at tea shops to use the girls in the back rooms; boys grow up and emulate their fathers. It was the way of life in these impoverished villages, and despite the overwhelming odds, the thing we must guard fiercely against is allowing these odds to tarnish our belief in this cause. At a seminar our group attended today, Daniel from CAMSA-Coalition pointed out that just because it is difficult to make a difference doesn’t make that difference not worth striving for. You do not have to lose your idealism in order to make a practical difference; in fact, it is this idealism you must keep to keep you going.  

Bridget, the President of HOME at today’s seminar, somehow managed to sweep away all our conditioned skepticism and our suspended disbelief in view of the paltry statistics available by saying: This is not about the statistics. This is about the persons who have become victims of trafficking. 

We had the privilege of hearing the first hand account of an Indonesian girl who, after being married off at 10 years old and consequently sold into the sex trade for about 8 years after, had finally escaped. She spoke of how she was sold by her stepmother, how she was transported from place to place within Indonesia, and then to Singapore to be exploited for sex. She has been held captive, starved, forced into serving up to 5 men at a single time, and up to 30 men a day.

Finally, she was asked what her dreams were for her future, and her earlier composure crumbled: I never dreamt of being a prostitute. Other people took me and made me this way, but I am not a prostitute. 

There is so much to think about, and I think, foremost on many of our minds is the question: we are just students - what can we do about this?

The answer we left with from today’s seminar was a resounding PLENTY. 

Daniel shared 5 steps open to anyone:

1. Volunteer (NGOs really appreciate the help)

2. Become more aware of the issue yourself, but hold onto your ideals in the process

3. Share this awareness 

4. Use what skills you have. Lawyer/accountant/economist/businessman/woman-in-training? You know what to do. 

5. Raise funds. 

As Bridget noted, all this advocacy amounts to nothing until it becomes a personal fight. She sees each abused girl as someone who could have easily been her own child.

If you feel that this cause speaks to you, we invite you to come down for our seminar on Wednesday to allow yourself the chance to turn what might begin as a whim into something that spurs you on to make a difference.

<3 Juliet  

Sex trafficking is an issue many of us undergrads consider irrelevant, something we shouldn’t discuss about, or just simply beyond our reach. You’re probably thinking what can a mere conference do to change this? It couldn’t possibly tell you anything more than what you already know, or care to know. And it definitely wouldn’t be able to tell you how you, as a mere undergrad could do to alleviate it, right?

But, what if this conference did just that, and more?

What if, through objectively addressing the issue by experts in the field, it made you a more informed individual, an advocate of freedom, starting a ripple of change in your community?

What if, through listening to accounts of sex-trafficked victims, it evoked empathy and not apathy?

What if, this conference made you realise that taking a stand against this modern day slavery, actually requires no more than whatever you have and whoever you are right now?

We make no promises that it would but we don’t want to wait around anymore, passively learning about in class, as we continue to feel powerless each time we read about it. We want to instead actively seek out answers to why such a trade continues to thrive, how something as wrong as this has continued to go unnoticed all these while, and how we can start to stop it on our watch. 

Think about it, we’re going to be the next generation of leaders, businessmen, scientists, doctors, lawyers, filmakers, change makers, social workers, nurses, teachers, architects, politicians and citizens of Singapore. What history will our generation we be writing?

One that told of a revolution against indifference, of a people that cared beyond themselves, that reached out to others even when they could have said no?

At least thats what we’re hoping for, but we can’t do it without you.

Join us, as speakers from UNIFEM, H.O.M.E and Riverkids Project tackle the questions of 1) What is Sex Trafficking?, 2)What does it mean to me as a student living in Singapore? and 3)What can we do about it?

Myths, real-life accounts, policies and laws will be covered, shedding light on this taboo topic. Don’t miss this chance to uncover the truth behind sex trafficking, to understand how women and girls are duped each day to a life of coercion, captivity and rape and then subjected to the cycle of being used as a mere commodity in areas not too far from our shores.

Conference will be held at the Mochtar Riady Building (the new Business building), SR 2-6, on Wednesday, 24th March at 6.15pm.

We know you would probably have an assignment to rush, but why not take an evening off to see the world beyond your undergrad life :)

RSVP to trafficklights@gmail.com to reserve a goodie bag + refreshments.

Hello!

Welcome to the very first post of the Traffick Lights blog! First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to read this, when i know you could be doing other more interesting things, like doing a tutorial, or say facebook stalking that hot guy/girl, haha.. So let’s try to make this worth your time.

So what is Traffick Lights? We’re a bunch of undergrads, just like you, who was used to living a careful, happily apathetic life of trying to get a darn A on that stupid bellcurve (Seriously who invented such a torturous grading system??). But there was always that nagging feeling that came in quietly at times, that made us stop and think, seriously what is all this for? A comfortable life? To fufill out fillial duty to our parents and provide for them through the 5Cs? To be able live life in the fast lane with our Porsches? Have you ever felt that? We were in a position to help, to use the education, to do things within our means to look beyond ourselves and give back to society, after everything we’ve been given, but question was to what?

And then we came across the book, David Batstone’s Not For Sale. Did you know slaves still existed throughout the world? That South-East Asia had a thriving sex trafficking system that contributed to making this trade the third most profitable in the world? That youths, who differed from us only by the fact that they were born under a different set of circumstances, were sold as mere commodities, often tricked or lured by false promises of a better life? Apalled by the accounts of sex trafficked victims in our neighbouring countries, and the realisation that as Singaporeans/Asians, we were in a perfect situation to help our neighbours, we were moved to do something about it, in our capacity. We set out at first to do something very small, like get Bodyshop to set up a booth in school, in lieu with their STOP campaign, but things snowballed fast. Through phone calls, meetings with NGOs, and chance encounters with others, we started entertaining the idea of a campus movement, raising awareness as well as trying to bridge NGOs and undergrads together in this fight. and voila! Traffick Lights was born.

Which brings us back to our main point. We’re undergrads. So yes, we’re the privileged bunch with the education, and yes we’re going to make it in life, and yes we’re going to be the next generation of leaders, businessmen, scientists, doctors, lawyers, filmakers, change makers, social workers, nurses, teachers, architects, politicians and citizens.

Are we really going to let this chance slip by, the chance to be the new generation of Singaporeans, the one with a social conscience, the ones who will change the world? Its easy to turn away and say its not our problem. Its even easier to shrug responsibility off by making the conscious decision to continue living in apathy.

But who said life was easy anyway? so why not take up this challenge?

We’re not asking you to jump in and be all scarily gung-ho and insist this heinous trade stops now by formulating direct-action plans in brothels this very moment. All we ask for you is to not turn away, to make a choice in taking a stand on this issue. Understand it better, don’t contribute to it, help if the chance ever arises, and don’t stay ignorant. Be curious, be creative, and never lose the faith that we can fight this trade.

Because trust us, every other person you face is going to tell you that nothing can be done. But that’s not going to stop us from taking a stand for what’s right, against this modern-day slavery.

-Riane