The SOLD Project: How Education Can Change the Lives of Thailand’s At-Risk Children
By Heather & Michael Colletto, SOLD’s Communications Directors
Thailand’s rich natural beauty is no secret. Venture outside the emerging economy of any city in Northern Thailand and you will find yourself surrounded by lush green mountains, fields, and rural villages—home to the countless hardworking Thais who make up what is still a vastly poor, agrarian society. In one such village just outside Chiang Rai city, nestled in the shadow of Doi Chaang Mountain among infinite shades of green, lives a young girl nicknamed “Cat.” She is a tall, shy student at the head of her class whose smiling eyes testify to an incredible story—the story of a tragedy averted, a life forever changed by hope.
In many ways, Cat’s story begins a world away with a young woman named Rachel Sparks-Graeser. As a recent college graduateworking in New York City in 2006, Rachel was horrified to hear that child prostitution is shockingly common in our world today—arguably most prominent in Thailand. Long a popular travel destination for its beautiful mountains, quiet beaches, and rich culture, Thailand often attracts tourists of another sort—those looking to exploit the beauty of Thailand’s young women and children for sex.
Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained notoriety as one of the sex tourism capitals of the world. Although prostitution has technically been illegal in Thailand since 1960 (and undisputedly so since the passage of The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996), it is still widely tolerated and openly practiced throughout the country. In fact, some estimate that sex tourism accounts for as much as three percent of Thailand’s GDP. As a result, many of Thailand’s women and children are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. In every major city in Thailand, women and children can be found for sale.
With a desire to do something—anything—to address the reality of child prostitution in Thailand, Rachel raised money, assembled a small film crew, and flew to Thailand to expose the issue and meet the faces behind the statistics. As her crew interviewed countless workers in the sex industry, they discovered a common theme: the girls—and boys—who worked the Red Light Districts had become caught in a life of exploitation because poverty had left them with no other choice. Too poor to finish school, these children were left unequipped and intensely vulnerable to victimization. Without adequate education or tangible, practical skills, they are unable to find gainful employment to provide for themselves and their families.
What struck Rachel hardest as she spoke with young sex workers was that the exploitation of these children was preventable. If these kids could have just stayed in school, none of them would have been prostitutes.
While human trafficking in its most traditional sense is alive and well in Thailand, particularly among the migrant population fleeing political unrest, it is actually less common for traffickers to abduct or coerce children into prostitution. There is hardly a need for such effort, as Northern Thailand’s poverty and education costs continue to drive uneducated, at-risk children to the cities to look for work. Thailand’s sex industry gains its foothold through poverty, lack of education, and poor social conditions.
When Rachel and the film crew met Cat at age 11, she was a bright, fourth grade student who dreamt of becoming a national athlete—a dream she would likely never realize. Cat’s father had recently passed away, and though her mother worked long hours to provide for Cat’s education, she knew it was not enough. Planning for the future is a luxury of the wealthy. In Thailand, public government school for one child alone costs about $1/day, more than one-third of a rice farmer’s daily income. Although hopeful she could support Cat through grade seven, Cat’s mother confessed that her young daughter would soon have to drop out of school to help bring in an income for the family. An undereducated girl from a rural village would have great difficulty finding a suitable job in Cat’s small hometown of Chiang Rai. Cat would most likely have to look for work in a bigger city, and her mother, a former sex worker, knew firsthand what dangers awaited Cat in the urban landscape. (more…)
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