Obv Newsletter Volume 10 English

USA / Head Quarter:
ONE BODY VILLAGE
P.O. Box 162933, Atlanta, GA 30321
Phone: 706 825 3032 (Vietnamese) - 770 845 6261 (English)
Email: info@onebodyvillage.org
Hotline in Vietnam: +84.949.754.294
VIET NAM - CAMBODIA - SINGAPORE - LAOS - USA
From: ONEBODYVILLAGE
P.O.Box162933,Atlanta,GA30321
Phone:7068253032(Vietnamese)-7708456261(English)
Email:info@onebodyvillage.org-www.onebodyvillage.org
ONE BODY VILLAGE
Newsletter Volume 10 - January 2016
Sunday 1st November 2015,
Dear benefactors, supporters and friends of One Body Village,
First and foremost I give thanks to the Lord for his guidance on One Body Village – and I thank our friends in Austra-
lia for answering the call to form One Body Village Australia (OBV Aust)
One Body Village Australia officially registered and operates since October 2015. One Body Village Australia is:
1. A non-profit organization
2. Independent and is not under the operational structure of One Body Village in the United States of America (OBV
USA)
3. Shares the same mission as One Body Village USA and One Body Village Canada: that is to combat child sex ex-
ploitation and trafficking especially in Southeast Asian countries
4. Email contact for OBV Aust is obvaustralia@onebodyvillage.org
May our Lord shine his love abundantly on you! Together we help the little children.
Be a Voice – Lend a Hand – Make a Difference and Save a Life.
Lm Martino Nguyễn Bá Thông
USA / Head Quarter:
ONE BODY VILLAGE
USA / Head Quarter:
ONE BODY VILLAGE
USA / Head Quarter:
ONE BODY VILLAGE
TO:_____________________________
Address:______________________________
______________________________
VIET NAM - CAMBODIA - SINGAPORE - LAOS - MALAYSIA - AUSTRALIA - USA

www.onebodyvillage.org
Newsletter Volume 10
English
Two years ago One Body Village was chosen to be the 2013-2014 Grant recipient from Union of North American
Vietnamese Student Associations, a non-profit, community-based organization founded in 2004 of Vietnamese un-
dergraduates, graduates, and young professionals.
And... toward the end of the eleventh annual leadership conference from July 24 – 27, 2014, the CPP (Collective Phi-
lanthropy Project) team of UNAVSA presented to OBV president a BIG CHECK of $85,849.88 — the largest amount
UNAVSA had ever raised for its CPP recipient in the last 10 years. The VSA at George Mason University (Virginia) was
named the TOP for raising more than 8 thousand dollars, and together with other Vietnamese Student Associations
in the Mid-Atlantic region (MAUVSA) they raised more than 25 thousand dollars for this year CPP.
The grant will help OBV to push stronger in our effort to prevent, rescue, raise and rehabilitate young male victims
of child sex trafficking.
OBV appreciates UNAVSA’s recognition of OBV Mission and Vision, and below were what OBV have done with CPP
support:
• Housing / Food / Rehabilitate / Educate for 6 male
victims in Ho Chi Minh City
• Support 1 at-home sexually abused male victim in
Nghe-An Province
• Under-cover / Search and Rescue in Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam
• Parents workshop in Can-Tho with 46 attendees
• 6 classes about sex trafficking awareness for 599
highschool students in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City
• 50 classes about sex trafficking awareness for more
than 6,500 highschool students in different districts, Ho
Chi Minh City
than 1,830 highschool students in Soc-Trang Province
than 1,120 highschool students in An-Giang Province
than 200 special children in Hoc-Mon and special Cari-
tas class
• 21 Summer Sex Trafficking Awareness for over 758
students around Ho Chi Minh City
• Organized Mid-Autumn Festival with Sex Trafficking
Awareness for over 1,000 street children & poor labor-
ers
• Sex Trafficking Awareness for over 630 young chil-
dren in Lao Cai, Da Nang, and Hue
U
N
A
V
S
A
C
P
P
O
B
V
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English
Her “report”...
5:30am - The girls wake up earlier
than I do to carry out their daily
cleaning duties. I supervise them as
they constantly need to be hurried
along to meet the 6:30am breakfast
call.
6:15am - Breakfast call.
6:45am - I supervise the girls as
they get ready for school. Making
sure they make their beds, well
groomed, bags are packed, and
the sleeping area is left tidy. I hurry
along the girls who are running late.
7:30am - All the girls have left for
school. I then teach/play with C.,
mainly just teaching her how to
identify colors and numbers. She is
able to count up to 10 from mem-
ory but struggles with recognizing
actual figures. I believe sending her
to the learning center will help a
great deal. She’s not incapable of
learning as she can interact well
while playing with others and in the
kitchen, she’s just a considerably
slow learner.
8:30am - I check the study room,
sleeping area, kitchen, and bath-
rooms to make sure everything was
cleaned properly. Check the laun-
dry to see which girl hasn’t washed
her clothes.
9:30am - Sister Th. and I usually
start cooking lunch.
10:30am – Elementary and
middle school kids arrive
home. I supervise while they
change out of their school
uniforms and help out in
the kitchen. Everyone has to
be hurried along or nothing
usually gets done with the
younger girls.
11:30am - Lunch call.
12:00-1:30pm - Middle school kids
leave for school after lunch. Ele-
mentary kids stay home and naps
before leaving for school again at
1:30pm, or I do extra tutoring dur-
ing this time. C. naps until 2:30pm.
CL (a highschool girl) comes home
during this time for lunch and a nap
before heading to school at 3pm.
2:30pm: I teach numbers & colors
with C. for only 30 minutes as she
doesn’t function as highly in the af-
ternoon. She then likes to play skip-
ping on her own while I supervise
outside.
3:30pm: Middle school kids come
home first and begin food prepa-
ration for dinner. I help out where
A week living in OBV house
We always ask volunteer to be a “family member”, not a “guest”. In November, 2015, Lisa (Thảo) - a student from
Australia - volunteered to stay in OBV house for a week. Would you like to know how it was?
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English
possible and supervise to hurry the
girls along.
4:00pm: I call this rush hour as all
elementary and middle school kids
come home from school and need
to shower and wash all their uni-
forms and clothes from the previ-
ous day. The girls need to super-
vised 100% of the time during this
time of the day or else we won’t
meet the dinner call. Mrs. Th. takes
care of the girls in the kitchen as su-
pervising 17 girls isn’t possible for
1 person.
6:00pm: Dinner call.
6:30pm-9:15pm: Everyone begins
homework. Throughout my week
at the house, I have taught & tu-
tored every girl except CL and S.
The younger girls do need a dedi-
cated person to constantly super-
vise them while they study. Not
only to help with homework but to
calm the chaos.
9:30pm: Bed time.
Although my stay has been short,
I want you to know I care deeply
for these girls. I never thought I’d
connect with them the
way I have in 1 week
worth of teaching.
Maybe because the
girls felt comfortable
with me and opened
up to me which made
the experience much
easier Some girls are
struggling with school-
ing not because they
are not trying hard enough but
their capacity (genetically and fun-
damentally) has been reached.
Schooling is THE most important
thing for a child’s future but some
of the girls may benefit more from
learning a trade rather than being
force fed math equations that they
just don’t understand.
I completely and utterly adore and
revere Sister Ngoc. She is the heart
& soul of this home and OBV is
very lucky to have her on ground
zero with the girls. Before entering
the house I never thought about
the people behind the scenes,
the ones that cook and discipline
these girls. It is no easy task and
Mr/Mrs Tr-Th give their 150% ef-
fort into raising these girls. From
an outside perspective, constant
scolding and disciplining seems un-
fair towards these girls as they are
just… children. However, it takes
effort to notice the girls’ mistakes,
it takes courage to point out their
mistakes, and it takes a lot of love
to then punish and discipline their
mistakes (which they make all the
time). I’m very happy that Mr/Mrs
Tr-Th are there to help out.
I love these girls like my little sisters
and would love if I could continue
to be in their lives, especially the
senior students. I want to help out
financially and mentally in their fi-
nal years of study before they get to
make the choice of either staying or
leaving the OBV home.
Regards,
Lisa Vuong
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English
Her reflection …
Hope. Believe. Persevere.
This truly is the house of hope. I
found love where I least expected
it, right here with you girls.
They say there’s a story behind ev-
erything. How a picture got on a
wall, how a scar got on your face.
Sometimes the stories are simple,
and sometimes they are heart-
breaking. But I want you beautiful
girls to know that your stories and
circumstances do not define you
or your future. You are the choices
that you make and the education
you fiercely endeavour. You are
your thank you and the gratitude
you show to those who help you.
Remember the hands that have
paved you the path to a better fu-
ture. Keep your head held high and
remember there are faces you have
never met that are supporting you.
They say the best gift given to you is
at birth, your mother. You are all so
lucky to have 2 moms –your birth
mother and Mom Ngoc. Although
my stay here has been short, I know
she has done her best to restore
faith in you, teaching you that a
stable foundation to any future be-
gins with an education, and believe.
Believe in yourself, believe in your
abilities, believe in God, and most
importantly believe in love. The
true essence of love is caring for
someone in a situation where you
don’t necessarily have to. That’s
what Mom Ngoc, Aunt Th, and Un-
cle Tr have given you: Love.
Aunt Th, and Uncle Tr on behalf all
those who have donated to build
this house of hope, we thank you
from the bottom of our hearts for
the sacrifices you have made to
give these girls a place to call home.
I’m so glad that I got the chance to
meet the hands that have feed,
clothed, washed, and disciplined
these girls.
Girls, I leave you with 3 last words…
Hope, Believe, and Persevere. Have
hope in humanity; there are still
good-hearted people out there who
will offer you a hand when you fall
to your knees. Believe in yourself;
nothing is ever impossible if you
want it with all your heart. Head
up, shoulders back, fight, and per-
severe. Be proud of who you are,
fight for the life that you deserve,
and then have courage to keep go-
ing when all seems to fail. Life gets
better than this, just work harder. I
promise you this much.
I wish each and every one of you a
world full of happiness and know
that you will always be close to my
heart. Thank you for teaching me
how to love in a whole new way. I
am forever grateful.
A special note to my girls:
C: I don’t know what it is. Maybe
I knew you in my past life but you
have changed a part of me. Re-
member to wear your slippers on
the correct foot, don’t answer back
to your sisters, don’t put your fin-
gers in your mouth, and there are
no such things as ghost! If you are
naughty, sister MA has the right to
put you in the naughty corner.
N: 5x8 is 40, not 35! Remember, if T
is sad what do you do?
T: You have the eyes of an angel.
They were the first thing I saw when
I walked through those gates. Stay
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English
beautiful my dear. Also, if you don’t
want N looking at you then first you
mustn’t look at her!
BN: You are very intelligent so make
the most of the education you are
given. Also, calm down and stop hit-
ting your sisters when playing.
T1: Thank you for letting me read
your letter about
your teacher,
you write beauti-
fully. Remember
to wash your pil-
lowcase every 2
weeks!
T2: Write down
the rules for the
board game so
the girls won’t
have to fight over
who gets to have
the next turn on
every role of the
dice.
D: I love your eagerness to learn
even when you get the question
wrong. You are not allowed to have
any water 2 hours before bed. You
have to stop wetting the bed!
Tr: Learn how to speak up when
Mom Ngoc asks you questions, only
then will you learn how to stand up
for yourself as you get older.
MA: Thank you for raising your
hand when I asked if someone can
take care of C after I leave. Girls,
you all belong to the one home.
Love each other like true sisters.
M: The smartest man will always
tell you that there is another man
smarter than he is. Learn patience
my dear, it’s a virtue.
Th1: Thank you for the pencil with
my name engraved on it. I’ll always
think of you and the cut you got
when making it.
Th2: Don’t rush to grow up. Before
true love can find you, you must
learn how to love yourself. So love
yourself by getting good grades at
school. Love exists, trust me.
N: Remember “not” means no. And
the dictionary is your best friend!
The next time I come back, we’ll
play basketball!
CL: You are 3rd
in command after
Mom Ngoc & Aunt Th. I see great
leadership qualities in you, a born
leader. Study hard and the world is
your oyster.
S: I will send my Australian ghosts
by airmail to come play with you at
night time! Always scaring the girls,
if C wets the bed at night time then
we all know who is cleaning it up
the next morning. YOU!
N: Just like your name you are as
beautiful as a fully blossomed flow-
er. Remember, when you build that
amazing house like the one we saw
on the way to the mar-
ket I’m coming to live
with you and to be your
adopted child! I love
your ghost stories! Also,
try to eat slower in the
future… you’ll be doing
your stomach a favour
my darling.
D: My sweet little D! I
wish I could pack you
in my suitcase and take
you with me! Please
remember what I’ve
taught you… Practice
where you lack, practice until you
weakness becomes your strength
and then practice some more.
Make the most of Aunt P. when
she’s here on Saturdays and ask her
every question about Tourism, she’s
going to help you get closer to your
dreams. It’s never a coincidence
when we meet people; God has
put them in our lives for a reason
so make the most of it. I wish you
all the success in your final years
of study; don’t waste the love that
has been given to you. Study hard
and study well. Thank you for being
such good company.
11-2015
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English
January 8, 2015 - Reuniting with
the girls is always my favorite part
of my mission with One Body Vil-
lage. It has been four years since I
was first introduced to OBV by my
dear friend Kelly. I experience feel-
ings of dread, anger, sorrow, and an
overwhelming tightness in my chest
every time I recall her stories about
rape and torture of children no
older than eight years old. She told
me of a young girl who was tied to
a four-post bed drugged and raped
for long and insufferable hours un-
der the weight and sweat of the hei-
nous man who bought her. In tears,
she told me of how that young girl
cowered with impenetrable fear
under a table at the sight of that
same man days after her abuse. To
me, the most unspeakable crime is
that of which the freedom and in-
nocence of children is so audacious-
ly violated by monsters disguised as
men and witches of women who
allow it to happen. The wicked
business of stealing children, sell-
ing children, and sleeping with
children is foul andimpermissible.
I was greeted with gleeful delight
when I met the girls again this Janu-
ary. The young girls that I met three
years ago, who captured every bit
of my attention and commanded
every ounce of my devotion, have
grown to be even lovelier than our
first encounter. Their hair have
This is our mission group 2015! We
are from all over the world, includ-
ing Malaysia, USA, and Italy. I’m
the only Canadian!
Throughout the year, I make bracelets to raise money and awareness for
OBV. I have gained much support from family, friends, and strangers with
this initiative and I thought it would be nice to give each group member a
bracelet to break the ice! The feather represents freedom and transforma-
tion for children enslaved by sexual abuse.
We endured a long (and stinky!)
bus ride to the girls’ home our first
day in Vietnam. It was worth it to
see their little faces again!
See heaven’s got a plan for you
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English
grown long, their faces matured,
and their demeanor is notablymore
elegant and demure. Even little
C.L. has grown many inches since
I saw her last! It touches my heart
that they still remember my face,
my name, and what we have done
every year together. As always,
D. compliments my makeup and
says, “Co Trang de thuong qua!”,
which translates to, “You’re so
easy to love”. I could say the same
about each and every one of them.
I always bring goodies for the girls. I brought them little gift bags filled with toothbrushes and toothpaste (the
nurse in me told me so), hair ties, headbands, and candy. They treasured small gestures like this so much that
little T. even put her books in the gift bag and brought it to school.
M.A. wrote me a poem
about her mother last
year. I have it framed in
my home. She was one of
the top of her class last
year, and I am told that
now her grades are slip-
ping and she often picks
fights in school and can
be a bully. I don’t blame
her anger but hope that
we can teach her to find
peace and love in herself
and others around her.
As always, they love to braid my hair while we make balloon animals to-
gether.
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English
And then I met C., who was res-
cued by OBV less than a year ago.
Her dark brown eyes were wells of
sorrow. Her sulky expression and
slouched, spiritless posture conveys
an inarticulable gloominess. I was
instantly struck with sadness when
I saw her hiding in the doorway at
a safe distance. As her story goes,
she was raped by her mother’s
boyfriend at the tender age of four
and a half years old. Her mother, 26
years old, was veryindifferent to her
existence. C. wandered the streets
aimlessly with her teddy bear
wrapped in her arms while picking
cigarette butts. She never went to
school. She never learned to speak
properly. Her brutally defiled body
was left swimming in a pool of her
own blood after the twisted villain
was done with her. The government
and community sponsored C. with
a great sum of money as her story
captured media attention. What did
her mother do with it? She selfishly
spent the money on her own needs.
C., now six years old, seldom smiles
and close to never does she laugh.
How could she? What did she have
to love and laugh about? C. keeps
to herself, despite the gentle efforts
of her older OBV sisters to engage
her. She was basically mute when
she first came to live with OBV. She
couldn’t even say, “Mom”. All of her
mannerisms reveal a child that was
If only you can see the sadness in
her eyes.
I love walking the girls to school
every morning. We eagerly walk
together hand-in-hand. They were
proud to show me their classrooms
and didn’t want to part when the
school bell rang!
This year, we took all the girls from Vietnam and Cambodia to a Dam Xen
Water Park as a reward for their good behaviour throughout the year. They
loved it, and I loved seeing them playful and happy!
Aren’t we all adorable?! I’m so in love.
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English
dren like them, are subject to the
depths of human depravity. Their
historyofsustainedsexual,physical,
psychological abuse is unfathom-
able. People ask me how and why
I continue to fight for them, given
that I work long hours in the emer-
gency department that exhausts my
time and energy. I cannot fail these
children, especially having met
them, by diverting my eyes from the
neatly disguised face of slavery that
abandoned and neglected by fam-
ily. I once caught her quirkily eat-
ing a sandwich with a spoon with
mismatched shoes on her feet! Al-
though I chuckled at the time, I was
quickly reminded that she is a dam-
agedand tormented child who will
require years of love, structure, and
discipline to be even a fraction of
what we would consider, “normal”.
I also met T. for the first time this
year who was a victim of unspeak-
able cruelty. Already naive and too
trusting because of her mental
delay, she was lured by a neigh-
bor into a grassy field. The vicious
man raped her, beather sense-
lessly, and even twisted both her
nipples until raw, bleeding, and de-
tached from her body. He was mo-
ments away from killing her if her
mother had not found him hover-
ing over her limp body. The man is
now in prison but I truly think that
even death is not a fair and just
punishment for this godawful act.
These girls, and so many other chil-
Sister Ngoc (mother of the OBV home) said that C. has never been so
happy and attached to anyone like she was to Danh, one of our group
members. Within moments of meeting each other, she instantly opened
up to him. She has never laughed, played, or been so verbal with anyone.
She wakes up every morning searching for him. She clutches onto his hand
every moment they are together. He is that symbol of strength and protec-
tion that she never had.
T. is different from the other chil-
dren. She also keeps to herself and
tends to eat with the adults in the
home. She mumbles when she
speaks in a low tone that is difficult
to understand. Her suffering was
unjust and I become increasingly
angry when I think of what she
endured.
Other OBV children welcomed
C. with open arms. It is touching
to see their attentiveness to her.
Being the youngest of the home,
the other girls treat her like a little
sister. They make sure she is safe,
happy, and full!
clings to them like a shadow. I am
so happy to be a part of One Body
Village that gives them the ten-
der love, care, dignity, and respect
that they were so cruelly denied.
Angela
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English
January 13, 2015 - It is always a
humbling experience to visit the
parish of Father Cong on the out-
skirts of Can Tho, Vietnam. The
people who live in this area have
very little possessions besides their
sweat-drenched cotton shirts, tat-
tered sandals (sometimes no shoes
at all!), and rickety-roofed cots to
call home. Families cannot afford
to send their children to school.
They cannot afford medical care.
Older adults receive little social as-
sistance and cannot afford medi-
cine for very common chronic dis-
eases like high blood pressure and
diabetes. Middle aged men and
women work long hours to make
The Have-nots
A journey to church or the market can be a long and treacherous one, especially if you live on the other side of the
river! You must walk, catch the ferry, and walk some more. No luxury cars and bridges here!
Well, there are bridges, but they look like this! Do you dare?!
One of our community develop-
ment initiatives (led by Anh Sang)
includes sponsoring the parishio-
ners with ducks. They breed them,
feed them, sell them, and if the
business fails, they eat them! It
has been a very successful method
of sustainable income for the poor
people in rural Can Tho. Ultimately,
it prevents them from selling their
children, because they have an
alternative income source.
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the bare minimum to feed their
dog, their chickens, their ducks,
their children, their parents, them-
selves, and maybe two or three
more family members who have
shacked up under the same roof.
The socialist ideologies of Vietnam
where the working class is sup-
posed to benefit, have not fully
been executed with the introduc-
tion of a mixed economy and mar-
ket mechanisms in the 1980s. The
liberation of the productive forces
created a better life for most Viet-
namese people; however, it cre-
ated relations of exploitation in
the developing sector. It also cre-
ated an elite group of rich people
whose interests are separate and
apart from the masses of workers
and peasants. The most obvious
problem is the corruption amongst
government and public officials.
They have an overwhelming inter-
est in big houses and luxury cars in-
stead of in the suffering of millions
of workers in industrial zones and
peasants working umpteen hours
in rice fields. The gap between the
rich and the poor is astounding. For
example, I have family members
in Vietnam who share a small 400
square foot apartment between 10
people, while others share a seven
floor mansion that cost 2 million
Here is a home of one of the parishioners. You can see that it lacks privacy and stability. When it rains, it floods the
entire house as the floors are unpaved and the roof and walls are barely sealed!
The two above photos are examples of bathrooms. On the left, one would squat over a pond of eels that the family
would eat!!!!
12

English
USD between 3 people. Given the
corruption in Vietnam, I can see
why health care, education, and
social services remain at the bot-
tom of the priority list and why
the people of rural Can Tho con-
tinue to live in destitute conditions.
What the parishioners of Can Tho
lack in worldly possessions, they
boast in love of family and com-
munity, kindness, hospitality, ser-
vitude, and faith. I have never met
people so humble, so honest, and
so generous. They welcomed us
into their next-to-empty homes
with open arms and offered us all
the food and drink that they saved
for themselves. A “meal” to one lo-
cal family was a bowl of rice, soy
sauce, and a plate of boiled cab-
bage. They have no cell phones, no
televisions, no cars, no tablets nor
iPads. “Luxury” is the opportunity
to take the bus home from Church
after saving $20,000 VND ($1 USD)
to do so. I spoke with a decrepit and
sunburnt 80 year-old woman who
chose to walk an hour to church
every Sunday in order to save the
$40,000 VND to buy fish instead!
At times I cannot help but feel
guilty. These people share my lan-
guage, my roots, and my culture.
They look like me, talk like me, hope
like me, and dream like me. But un-
like me, they have obstructed ac-
cess to the very basics of needs,
including food, clean water, shelter,
and clothing. Don’t even talk about
sanitation, education, and health
care! I am free, while they are held
captive in impoverished limbo.
I am always humbled in their pres-
ence because despite their strug-
gle, they are rich in character. They
don’t deserve my pity but my re-
The old lady on the left is too weak to get out of bed. She mostly lays on
her side day after day, night after night, year after year. She has not left
her home in the last 5 years. I noticed a large infected sore on her left but-
tock. On the right, this old woman of 89 years old lives with her husband
and daughter. The daughter sells lottery tickets to bring home food for her
family.
This old woman lives by herself. The Vietnamese government sponsors old
people $2,000,000 VND (approx $100 USD) to get by. Every time she leaves
her home, thieves in her village strip her clean of her possessions. They
stole her roof, her siding, her mattress, and her water pump (right). She
patched up the holes in her home with tarp and old clothes. I’m surprised
she still has a door!
spect. I admire the people of Can
Tho for their kindness, their per-
severance, their livelihood, and
their defiant faith and optimism.
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English
We rode our scooters to the rural areas to deliver our new year presents to
the locals.
Our modest gesture was well
received and appreciated by all
the locals. Their toothless smiles
confirms it! I would do it over and
over again.
After packing and wrapping the
rice cakes, we had to steam them
in the large pot (I didn’t know such
large one existed) for 14 hours! The
ugly ones are mine.
Together with all the children of OBV, we made “Banh Chung”, a traditional
Vietnamese sticky rice cake to give to the poor villagers of Can Tho. We
coupled it with a “red envelope” containing $100,000 VND as a nice ges-
ture for Vietnamese New Years. Even though the girls have been through
hell and back, they acknowledged that they are lucky to now be respected
and cherished in the presence of a warm and loving family. They were glad
to give back to people in need and were also so eager to outdo me! They
won of course, because my cakes turned out terribly!
Angela
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English
A little bit of Christmas
12-17-2015 OBV Malaysia had
the pleasure to work in conjunc-
tion with SUKA and Association of
Women Lawyers to bring a little
holiday cheer to Rembau children
detention center.
Despite the long drive out, the day
was considered a success for the
girls, the house mothers, and all
volunteers.
We arrived on site and checked
in with the security guard. Rem-
bau children detention center is a
compound with different sections:
drug addicts, trafficked minors, and
illegal domestic workers are only
some of the occupants here. Today,
we would be visiting the house for
trafficked minors: girls aged new
born to 18.
The house typically has up to 70
girls, however today, there were
only 12 left (and a 2-month baby
boy, born to one of the girls, and
had been ‘booked’ for his organs
to be taken upon birth!). I was told
most of the other girls who previ-
ously lived here were able to have
their paperwork sorted out and
were taken back home.
As our car rolled to a stop, the girls
stuck their curious heads out the
front door. Shyly they started to
step outside towards us, and when
they recognized Olivia and the two
sisters, their faces lit up.
“Salamat pagi! Salamat datang!”
they chorused, running over to help
unload the car. Younger girls fussed
over the presents, older girls helped
bring in the rice and Christmas tree.
Malaysia in itself is a diverse coun-
try, with the average person speak-
ing 2 or 3 languages, a combination
of Bahasa Malay, English, Mandarin
and Tamil. This detention centre
also had girls from Vietnam and
Myanmar, so there were at least 5
languages being spoken at any time
that day.
Together, we put up the tree, while
Sister Marysol played Christmas
carols on her ukulele. By the time
the other volunteers from Suka
and Association of Women Lawyers
came through, we were ready to
really get the party started. With
the myriad of nationalities and lan-
guages, we were able to belt out
‘Jingle Bells’ in English, Vietnam-
ese, Chinese and Bahaha Malay.
Our girls from Myanmar, despite
not having any known Burmese lyr-
ics for the song, still clapped and
danced along.
We were actually warned before-
hand by the house mothers that
they would have to screen our lyrics
to ensure our carols were not too
focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This was fair, considering it was a
Muslim-run establishment. How-
ever, all our carols passed the test,
and by the end, even the house
mothers were singing their hearts
out!
Besides Christmas carols, the girls
were given ‘team building’ exercis-
es such as ‘human knot’ and ‘Chi-
nese whispers’. The Association of
Women Lawyers also gifted each
girl with a Loom kit, and the girls
sat and made fancy bracelets and
other loom jewelry.
The Journey to Malaysia...
To understand human trafficking, one must immerse oneself into one of the major hubs for the buying and selling of
humans: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Malaysia’s trafficked victims are sold as domestic workers, sexual slaves and organ farms. Victims can be as young
as 3 months, to as old as 60 years old.
Kuala Lumpur is one of my favourite cities to visit, for shopping, eating and clubbing. I never knew or even imagined
that underneath that facade lay a darker working class. While I still love KL for it’s melting pot of cultures, I now
have a deeper understanding of how not everything is always as it appears to be.
15

English
Unfortunately we weren’t able to
get a catering company out to the
detention center, as it’s quite far
out. Instead, for lunch, we feasted
on KFC, and Nasi Ayam. Delicious,
regardless, and the girls were very
happy.
Finally, it was time for gifts! While
another round of Feliz Navi-
dad and Jingle Bells played in the
background, Santa (a volunteer)
passed out gifts to the girls and to
the staff for their cooperation in the
day. Each girl was gifted with a ted-
dy bear, a bath towel, candy bars
and general hygiene products....
things many of us take for granted.
It was an extremely humbling ex-
perience to be a part of a warm
and fun day for girls whose future
remains unclear. Of course, to im-
prove for the next event, OBV will
endeavor to work more closely with
SUKA and Association of Women
Lawyers to come up with a more
detailed schedule, with back up
activities, to ensure that we are all
in sync and ready for any situation
that may arise.
Despite very few hiccups in the day,
it was still a success, where just for
those brief hours, the girls could
smile, sing, and dance, forget their
troubles and lose themselves to the
festivities.
Because we all need a little bit of
Christmas sometimes.
An OBV Christmas
12-18-2015 OBV-Malaysia, along
with SUKA organized a Christmas
party for the ladies of Rumah Wani-
ta detention centre.
Similar to the party we had held the
previous day for the youths, we fo-
cused on music, team building ex-
ercises, a feast, and of course, pres-
ents from Santa.
The ladies at this detention centre
do not have an easy life. Many were
forced into prostitution. But they
are strong and positive women,
who have toughed it out and work
towards a better future for them-
selves.
There is always a difference when
working with ‘older’ women, com-
pared to minors. Remember, these
are women who have seen things,
and experienced things we could
not even imagine. It is with little
wonder, then, that they looked at
us suspiciously as we set up for the
party. It was not surprising, that
they were not as open to the idea
of sharing Christmas with strang-
ers. Who were we? What did we
want from them? There is also the
matter of pride, the whole ‘I don’t
need your pity or charity’ way of
thinking that many of these women
seem to possess.
But the human heart is an amazing
thing. With a lot of smiles and en-
couragement, they slowly warmed
up to us. Laughter started to ring
out, voices got louder as they joined
16

English
in with games and songs. Conversa-
tions began as slowly they opened
up to us.
After a few rounds of Christmas
classics including Jingle Bells, Silent
Night, Jungle Bell Rock, Feliz Navi-
dad and Mary’s Boy Child, the la-
dies took over and shared with us
their hidden musical talents. The
Thai ladies sang tradi-
tional Thai songs while
one played the guitar
and another beat the
drums. The Vietnamese
women also stepped up
and gave us Vietnamese
versions of Christmas
tunes.
But what surprised ev-
eryone was, despite not
speaking the same lan-
guage or understand-
ing each other 100% of
the time, they came to-
gether to sing a heartfelt
harmony of Shontelle’s
‘Impossible’ and One Direction’s
‘That’s what makes you beautiful’.
The day ended with lunch, catered
by a local restaurant, presents from
Santa, more laughs and smiles.
OBV were proud to be a part of this
experience, and we can only hope
we improve and make each Christ-
mas equally as enjoyable.
The Breath of Life
12-18-2015 The average person
breathes 16 breaths per minute,
equaling 960 breaths per hour,
23,040 breaths in a day.
These are useless facts that we all
take for granted every day, some-
thing we don’t even notice, until it’s
taken away.
Such is the case with Nhi*, a Viet-
namese working girl in Kuala Lum-
pur, Malaysia.
A prostitute is exposed to many
things that many of us seldom think
of: besides putting herself through
degrading acts, violence and psy-
chological abuse, she also exposes
herself to the risk of HIV, other STI’s
and pregnancy.
Nhi has been in hospital for about 2
months now. The doctor confirmed
Nhi has turberculosis (TB) of the
throat and lymph nodes, a highly
contagious bacterial infection that
can be spread through the air, and
in this case had also caused a sec-
ondary TB-meningitis infection in
her brain, causing poor Nhi to fall
into a coma for 5 days.
When we visited Nhi just before
Christmas, her 32kg frame strug-
gled to lift herself up into sitting po-
sition. Her lips were dry from lack
of water -- she told us that it hurt
her throat too much to drink or
eat -- and she wheezed and gasped
for air. It is clear the TB has not im-
proved.
Nhi is over the age of 18 and there-
fore does not qualify for OBV assis-
tance. However, with no family in
Malaysia, and all her friends now
long gone, it was only the right
thing to come and visit with Christ-
mas presents to raise her sprits.
In fact, there have even been ques-
tions as to why any charity should
help her at all. After all...she ac-
tively chose to be a prostitute. But
17

English
one must understand that there are
many layers to every story.
Nhi moved to Malaysia with the
promises of a proper job. She took
it, with every intention being to
send all her earnings back to Viet-
nam to support her family and chil-
dren. Echoing the story of many
other victims we have encoun-
tered, Nhi’s job could not make her
enough to even pay for board. As a
result, she turned to prostitution to
pay off her debts that had accrued
for the short time she was there.
Girls who are promised one job,
only to be tricked and cheated and
forced into prostitution...are they
not considered trafficked girls as
well??
Nhi has a rough path ahead of her.
Once she can breathe unassisted,
and the doctors deem her TB under
control, she will integrate herself
back into the community. With any
lucky, the legalities for her situation
will be sorted and she will be able
to be reunited with her family in
Vietnam.
Until then, we have faith that each
breath Nhi takes leads her to the
path of recovery.
Note: Names have been changed to
protect the privacy of victims of It’s
amazing what the power of hope
can do.
It’s amazing what the power
of hope can do.
1-29-2016 A little over a month
18
ago, I visited a survivor of trafficking
in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Nhi*
had contracted TB (Turberculosis)
of the throat and lymph nodes.
Weighing a tiny 29-30kg, she could
barely talk, and would wheeze out
a sentence, gasping for breath be-
tween each word.
On that trip, I learnt that the doc-
tor who was treating Nhi at the
time, was not very open with her
results. We asked if she was going
to die, and he provided a vague
answer that was neither here nor
there. However, a new doctor had
been assigned to her case. The first
lot of good news was that Nhi had
tested negative for HIV, at least for
the moment. This gave us hope that
she would be able to fight on her
own. The question was, would she
want to?
“What are you looking forward to?”
I had asked her.
She looked at me, longing in her
eyes and answered simply “I want
to go home”.
We asked the new doctor if she was
going to die, or if she had a chance
of living. She replied positively, and
we immediately told Nhi.
“You have to do everything the doc-
tor says,” we urged her. “Make sure
you take all your medicine. Make
sure you walk a little every day so
you can grow stronger….then when
you are strong enough, the doctor
said you can go home!”
Moving forward, it is now the week
before Lunar new year. I went to
visit Nhi again. Although not notice-
able, she has gained 2 kilos, and is
now sitting at 32kg. Still unbearably
thin, but progress, despite slow, is
still progress.
Animatedly she told us about what
she had been up to. I mean, in all
fairness, when you are confined to
a hospital room there isn’t much
she could possibly get up to, but
she told us she had been walking
around twice a day, and starting to
crave food. She had downloaded
a load of photos of food, to make
sure when she got back to Vietnam
she would remember to eat them.
She hoped to open a restaurant and
cook all the foods she was craving.
It was amazing to see the transfor-
mation between the two periods
of time in which I saw Nhi. The first
time she just simply couldn’t be
bothered. And this time….this time
she was full of energy, full of hope.
A quick chat to the doctor said that
yes, she was improving slowly, day
by day. But the reality of TB is that
many patients are in hospital for up
to 9 months and then bedridden at
home for up to another year before
they make a full recovery.
Nhi still has a long journey ahead,
but this time I have good feelings.
This time she’s got hope from my-
self in her corner, too.
Jacqueline Huynh

English
AUSTRALIA (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) - October
FUNDRAISING 2015
Canada (Toronto) - November
19

English
3rd Annual Fundraising from Houston-OBV Group
November 2015
We prepared months in advance
Thanks to the supporters for many auction items
Bidding Enjoying meals drawing raffle tickets
Thank you for our Houston team, Bid4Real, and all other supporters who helped us raise over
$167,000!!
OBV free gifts
20

Obv Newsletter Volume 10 English

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