Small Village Overcomes Stigma of Women Who Have Been Trafficked

In Hop Tien Village in northern Vietnam, one village has overcome the stigma and power of trafficking. Predators had come to this village to recruit women and children as young as 5 or 6 to be sold over the border to China which was only 4 miles away.

Even after some victims had been rescued, the women who returned were disowned. Some built makeshift tents tucked high in the mountains, a long way from town, because they were not welcome in their village any longer.

But a woman named Vang Thi Mai took in some of these women and changed their lives and eventually their whole village. She employed them in a small textile cooperative run by her and her husband. She taught them to separate hemp stems into strands, spin, weave and dye fabrics. At first she was ostracized by the village for reaching out to the women, but gradually attitudes began to change.

Today the co-op is over 110 women strong. The women’s work has increased household’s incomes fourfold. Because of this, Mrs. Mai has been visited by Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and has represented her culture (Hmong) at an international craft fair in Paris where NGO’s Oxfam and Caritas became involved with her co-op.

Although it has been hard to change the opinions of some of the older villagers, the younger ones no longer ostracize the once trafficked women and support Mrs. Mai in her work. Her village is better off than many others in her province thanks to the work of the victims of trafficking and Mrs. Mai’s vision.

-excerpted from NY Times article by Julie Cohn, 8-17-11,

Sengalese Village Wipes Out Malaria Thanks To a Determined Dad

El Hadj’s daughter, 11, was just about to start school in her village in Senegal when she contracted malaria and eventually died. Malaria claims a life every 45 seconds.

But El Hadj vowed that malaria would never kill again in his village. He worked with a group of local women to protect the village. They cleaned the village and surrounding area of trash and removed standing water. In addition they gave new mothers and their babies mosquito nets. They taught the mothers how to use the nets, tucking in all the corners so no mosquitoes could bite them.

Next El Hadj recruited the village chief to go door to door to ensure every family used their nets nightly. They were fined 50 cents if they weren’t using the nets and the money went into a pot to pay for emergency transportation if there were emergencies.

Results? Amazing! The village has gone from 3,500 malaria cases a year to nearly none. Now they are going from village to village to implement the same program. Because of their effort, nearly 50,000 people are protected from malaria.

El Hadj has turned tragedy into triumph.

(Information from Fast Company.com, David Arquette)

Rescue News from IJM Bangalore

After a week of persistent advocacy from IJM Bangalore, government officials responded to the evidence documenting a cruel slave owner and rescued 24 children, women and men from an abusive brick kiln.

The night before the laborers were freed, the owner and his friend threatened to lock the laborers in a shed and burn it to the ground. The families were not unused to verbal threats and physical abuse. In the past, several laborers had tried to run away from the harsh conditions, but they were tracked down and beaten in front of the others, an example of the punishment that awaited other subordinates who might try to escape.

Today, these families no longer live in fear - instead, they are safe in their home village, where IJM has helped them resettle.