Thursday March 5, 2009

Tricked into a dark trade

By TAN JU-ENG

The Star’s online TV channel SwitchUp recorded the stories of three young victims of women-trafficking in Sabah recently. With the global economic downturn, more foreign women are being lured into the sex trade here.

Watch the girls tell their story on www.thestaronline.tv/switchup

PRECI* is 23 and already has three children aged six to nine years old. She is one of thousands who are poor and desperate, living on the fringes of Manila city in the Philippines.

Her state of deprivation makes her, and those like her, vulnerable to scams and con men. No amount of street wisdom could protect her when an offer of a good paying job overseas was dangled before her.

Victims of women-trafficking being counselled at a centre. In the background are Preci (left) and her sister Amie. – Photo by TAN JU-ENG / The Star

It was a bait tempting enough for Preci and her 22-year-old sister, Amie*, who has a nine-year-old daughter. The sisters closed their small grocery shop, left their children in the care of relatives and went off with a woman recruiter who told them they could earn up to 15,000 peso (RM1,185) a month working as waitresses.

“All I wanted was to earn enough money to make sure my daughter gets a good education. I worked hard because she is very bright and I want us to stay together in one house,” said Amie who left her daughter, at birth, in the care of an aunt.

As soon as they landed in Kota Kinabalu last year, the two sisters together with three other Filipinas were sent to work as prostitutes in a spa. Their protest was to no avail as their passports were withheld by the recruiters.

Several days later, the women managed to escape and reported the matter to the police and the Philippines embassy.

“I don’t want to see my daughter go hungry but I do not want to go to another country again,” said Amie, who is waiting to return home. The women are being sheltered at a refuge for battered women in Sabah.

They have been staying at this centre for the past three months. While there, they had a chance to recover from the trauma of being victims of human-trafficking.

“When the women were sent here by the Philippine Embassy, they were angry and aggressive. They were angry at being duped into coming here. All they wanted was to go home.

“But they can’t yet. Meanwhile, we counsel them and keep them safe in the centre,” said residential manager Sister Angelina Peters.

The centre was set up by the Good Shepherd Sisters in 1983 as a shelter to help women and young girls in trouble. The cases include unwed mothers and abused women. The centre also doubles as a hostel for troubled young girls.

“As we went further with our outreach work, we found that there’s more to counselling, sheltering and motivating these women. We started taking in unwed pregnant teenage girls,” explained Sister Angelina.

With such cases on the rise, the centre is being renovated to accommodate 19 girls, up from its maximum capacity of 12 a year.

“Most of the girls were brought here during early pregnancy, and some in their eighth month, by their parents. They will stay until the baby is born. Then the parents will take the mother and baby home or give the baby up for adoption,” said Sister Angelina.

Last September, the centre extended its services to victims of women-trafficking. Eight women were rescued from being trafficked as prostitutes.

“We help them to overcome the trauma of being lured into this country to become prostitutes,” said Sister Angelina, adding that one of the women had an ectopic pregnancy when she first arrived at the centre.

Unscrupulous recruiters are preying on these desperate women and forcing them into the sex trade when all the women wanted was to earn money to support their children back home.

Amie’s friend Jenny*, 22, broke down when she shared her predicament. “I had given birth to my third child by Caesarean. The baby was very ill and we did not have money to pay for the medication.

“I have two other children, aged six and seven years. We were running out of money and I did not want my children to suffer like my baby. I wanted to make a lot of money, so I came here,” said Jenny.

The women had phoned their families in the Philippines but the dire economic situation back home overshadowed the women’s plight. Sadly, the families could only ask if they were still sending money home.

“One of the relatives told me that the incident had already happened and there was nothing they could do. And that the family depended on the woman to send money home,” said Sister Angelina.

* Names have been changed to protect confidentiality.