Refugee mother lives with uncertain hope

_{By: Khwan Lake (Tel:++6683 9474191)}

For about 3 years, I had not heard her calling me 'Mother' and hadn't seen her.  I talked and asked her many questions continuously but I couldn't understand a word of what she was responding or saying to me.  Soon, I realized that she no longer knew Shan language. 

My daughter, Nang Hsi, was so young when she left home 5 years ago.  On the 13th of December in 2002, a woman called Nang Hseng Herng came to my house and she asked for my daughter and my niece to go and work in Mae Hong Son.  She also asked other teenage girls in my village to go with her. 

At that time, I lived in Nong Kham village, Ho Merng Township, Eastern Shan State.  My family is farmers and it consists of 3 family members.  Nang Hsi is my only daughter so I didn't want her to go at first and also she was just 11 and too young to work. 

She told me, 'Mother, don't worry about me, let me go.  If not, I will end up envying my friends when they come back with money'.  I also thought, it may be best if she go and work because it is difficult to survive in our village, there is no other job except farming.  At the same time, we are also oppressed and exploit by the SPDC soldiers day by day.  Therefore, finally, I did unwillingly let her go. 

I didn't know that Nang Hseng Herng is a human trafficker.  She guaranteed me that she would bring back the girls to visit the village once in every 3 months.  She also said that the jobs are not difficult and they only have to keep the house clean.  She promised, as for my daughter, she only needs to look after an old Thai lady and keep the house clean.  She then gave me Bahts 500 (about US$ 15).  I now realized that she has bought my daughter for that amount and my heart ache whenever I think about that.  Soon after my daughter left, my husband died from suffering from an unknown disease.  

Since she has taken my daughter in 2002, I have never heard about my daughter.  But in 2005, a Chinese lady living in Na Mon village, Ho Merng Township went to Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand and saw my daughter.  She was brought up as a prostitute.  The lady said, my daughter is working in a bar and the pimp use obscene languages and beat her up.

The fact was that, the Chinese lady was curious about my daughter because she looks like a Shan girl rather than a Thai.  She then asked the girl about her origin.  My daughter told her that, she lived in Ho Merng and her parents are Nang Mone which is my name and Long Kaw, my husband.  The Chinese lady then secretly brought her from the bar and protected her.  That's when she rang me but she has forgotten Shan language.  We spoke for awhile without understanding each other but it was worth it.

I heard that, she is now protected by an organization; I am not really sure what it is.  Last year, a Shan woman called Nang Mao came here in Loi Tai Leng and talked about my daughter.  She is from Bangkok and she told me that my daughter is under their care and told me not to worry about her.  She gave me the business card but I can’t read it so I don't know what it says.  (In fact, it was a business card of 'Friends of Women Foundation'). 

I am waiting for my daughter here but I haven't heard anything from her since then.  I am thinking of her all the time.  I imagine her appearance, how tall she is, how grown up and beautiful she has become all the time.  Especially, whenever we have festivals and hear the sound of Kong traditional music, I think of her more.  I am wishing for someone to bring her back to me. 

After my first husband die, I remarry to my current husband and we now has a daughter and she goes to school in Loi Tai Leng, Shan State Army control area.  We have been living here over a year.  We left Ho Merng because it is hard to make ends meet and also we were oppressed by the SPDC soldiers. 

Here, we make a living by finding vegetable from the surrounding areas and collect broom plants in the jungle to make brooms and sell them.  Sometimes, we also work as paid day worker.  We live in the refugee camp section near, SSA-S head quarter, Loi Tai Leng.  We gain food supply and basic goods such as rice, oil and blankets from NGOs.  Life in Loi Tai Lieng is much better than living in Ho Merng.  All I want now is to see my daughter and waiting for her every day.

(This story is told by an emotional mother, who eagerly is waiting to see her daughter  whom she had let go to work in Thailand but instead the girl had been sold as a prostitute by a trafficker 5 years ago since the age of 11.  The mother now lives in Loi Tai Leng in Wan Mai village refugee camp which has about 124 refugee households.