Sex Workers

Today was the best day ever because our program director finally arrived.  John Loike is really cool and so excited about this program, he even cancelled tomorrows presentations and is taking us to the snake farm, aquarium, electronics store, and then tim johnsons home.  So anyways todays first lecture was on human trafficking.  sadly that adorable young child that we bought roses from probably came from cambodia along with 2,000 other kids.  they will go back there but their parents for whatever reason (no vehicle, work, etc) will probably not be able to pick him up and he will roam the streets with thousands of other kids.  i found out that sex trafficking amounts to perhaps 1% of all human trafficking cases yet it gets around 49 million in funds a year.  the disproportionate amount of money is because the media portrays it as being the worst form of trafficking, while the amount of men that are trafficked is actually higher because they travel with friends instead of family, are more wreckless, and are in thailand more because of the sex industry anyways.  also the reason most people are trafficked is because they need people to work illegally, and the worst is the fishing boats because if you refuse to work you are pushed over the side or shot, and it is really like slave conditions...

our next field trip was to the foundation empower (i think i am volunteering there next week).  it is for sex workers and it was really a lot different than expected.  the picture that is always portrayed is that these women are sob stories, not being able to pull themselves out of their misery and they needed to be saved.  this place showed me the exact opposite for this location, the women felt empowered because this was their form of work,  they were annoyed that people asked them stupid questions because they were just people like you and me.  they were usually  the breadwinners of their families and some were lawyers, doctors, and even public health officials.  we met a particularly friendly sex worker who showed us some strip moves on the pool they had installed at the space.  she brought her mom who had worked during some war.

all in all it was a very interesting and eye opening day.  the red light district is interesting it is composed of three streets with one only being for japanese people.  when we were leaving it was around 4 and people were setting up the place for the night market outside the clubs.  they worked so fast because they do it every night and it was truly extensive.  the stores around there were so expensive because the tourists want to buy the sex workers nice things so hey. i am ordering kfc to the dorm, working out (intensity workout for the first time since feb 28), then knocking out because after that long day planned for us tomorrow we are going to our thai friends birthday party tomorrow night, the floaty markets at 6 am on saturday, out with our thai friends at a hang out for northern thailanders, and then followed on sunday by the largest open market in the world, jay jays.  seeing as i wont be sleeping on the weekend, I need my rest now.

also shoutout to nantale, she is the one who encouraged me to make this blog and i love her to death.

best,
hopefully pictures come soon

also email me if you want a souvenir, eaa2123@gmail.com and also what you want

loves