In upper Thailand, there is...
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In upper Thailand, there is a good deal of poverty. In this lush land, there is never total starvation, because many good foods grow wild, and are available to rural peoples for the taking. But there is malnutrition, lack of medication, and people may be dressed in rags. In these circumstances, it is easy to be tempted to take the "easy" -- or at least short -- way to provide for one's family. In the study pamphlet Children at Risk: Child Exploitation (published by the Office on Global Education of Church World Service), we are told that many of these villages are now essentially empty of girl children. They are now all living in Bangkok or other large coastal cities, sold to slave traders at a price of about $480 (which will provide for the family for four years), who then place the girls in prison-like houses of prostitution, where they are in high demand because they are more likely to be free of AIDS. Some of these children are as young as 7 or 8 years old, will be dead by the age of 20, probably of AIDS or a drug overdose. (A raid on a Bangkok brothel in 1992 found 18 prostitutes aged 14-19, 17 of whom tested HIV-positive.) The children are kept in this bondage "until they pay off their debt" (the price paid for them) at $4 per customer -- though usually they are never released. Back home, their families can now afford brick and cement homes, rather than thatch and wooden pole structures. And girl babies, who formerly might be left to die, are now hoped for and pampered so they will bring a high price to the next procurer who comes to the village. It would seem an interesting question to pose: Is life not more than food? -- Herrmann
