When I first decided to head to Thailand and Cambodia, I was sitting in Turkey with my boyfriend, Hakan, who was trying to convince me to stay there. I figured that I was 24, and have had a decent little life, growing up in America, with the ability to travel and live freely. I don't think there is anyway that I will ever be able to figure out why some people are able to live like I have, and others have lived within slavery. Growing up a child slave, as a sex worker or a factory worker at a young age is something that is entirely beyond my comprehension. Certainly most people would agree.

I decided that the time had come for me to do something that would help them, even if it meant to risk or lose my life within the process. The time had come for me to try to make a difference, as my life is supposed to be more than just handling odds and ends English teaching jobs, and going to school. I have always had a side of me that looks at the bigger questions, what is life meant for? Why do I have all of this when others do not? Most importantly, what am I supposed to achieve with all of it? "To whom much is given much is expected."

I returned to Chicago, due to the fact I hadn't been home to see my niece or my family, and complications had arisen at home. I wished to help with everything at home, but shortly after returning I began to realise that I don't feel welcomed there, and that it was probably more beneficial for me to go return abroad.

I arrived in Thailand in mid to end September. As most of you readers know, I found work, but the volunteer organization that I was supposed to live with and receive free room and board until the new semester began (and with it my work) fell through.

I began to search for another person who's aspirations coincided with my own. That was when I met an English man in the region named Andy.

If I were entirely honest, I would admit that my decision to go out with him was based largely upon the idea that he would hopefully agree to work with me. I decided to meet him at the largest brothel in Bangkok and went from room to room with him gauging his reactions and testing his knowledge on the sex workers life in South East Asia. He handled himself so well. He wasn't judgemental in any way towards the various sex workers, ie, the transvestites that were following and at one point sitting upon him. *forgive me for being so bold, but this is my blog and I wish to convey my thoughts and ideas.

I began to get sidetracked by the idea of doing more than working with him. Soon after realising my distraction, I decided it would be best to relocate to Cambodia.

I took a bus and then shared taxi into Phnom Penh. I arrived at the Swiss Hotel, and asked them where to grab some food. I headed to the riverfront and ate a healthy cheap dinner. When I left the restaraunt I noticed a nice Cambodian guy sitting on a motorbike offering me a ride to my hotel. I asked him a few questions on the way back.. "Do you want to make a lot of money? Do you mind dangerous activities? etc."

To which he (Ada) responded, "Yes! I'm Cambodian, we love danger." 

When he dropped me off I thought to myself, great Ive found my number one here.

The next day we spoke about my plan, which I had formed with the help of my best friend, Chahir, to stop foreign sex tourists within the region. Very simple plan, just blackmail. He agreed and was adamant about getting started. I told him to tell all of his friends, and to see what we can come up with.

 On my third day, I had already gotten my motorbike and was out to get some breakfast. A nightime whore-house that in the day time just is a very cheap place to grab a meal was where I decided upon.

I sat down at one of the two tables, and took note of the white foreigner sitting across from me with a child close by. He kept glancing over his shoulder, and with his Australian accent would tell the girl, who was likely not older that 8 that he loved her, and reminded her of what he had paid for and what gifts he had given her.

I don't oftentimes jump to conclusions, and Phnom Penh, unlike other areas of Cambodia is known for having cleaned up the levels of paedophilia, child molestation and other crimes. 

Soon a bus came and took him and the child to Vietnam. When he left a group of women who work at the bar came and sat by me. Telling me he was a "very bad man" through their broken English. 

I figured out the story after a few minutes of talking with them. He had bought the child from Thailand, and trafficked her across international borders... Likely performing sexual acts with her and then bribing those who caught him or gave him any trouble.

I knew about the situation from studying it, but I hadn't realised the ease at which foreigners were able to travel across international borders with children. I say children because its boys as often as it is girls.

I began to tell the women of the money that they can make bribing these creeps who come and use children in their presence. The women had family in the police, and I discussed the normal bribe amounts that the foreigners are made to pay if they are caught in the act. Typically ranging between $20 and $200.

For a police man that makes $27 legally a month before bribes $20 is a lot. I took their numbers and met with them often to discuss the latest and listen to the horrifying tales of abuse they've witnessed.

For the next month off and on, Ada and I went around teaching prostitutes, drug traffickers and at one point a police man how to collect a thousand dollars or more bribe from the paedophiles. 

It became clear to Chahir and I that if we were to create a climate where the police officers knew just how much was at stake in the lives of these foreigners who were enslaving children and using them in the most brutal ways, then they would begin to collect a lot of money for doing the right thing. 

If it caught on it would be like wild fire we hoped and spread across the region, thus causing a near extinction of foreigners who prey upon the children of poverty in the region.  Sadly, as Andy pointed out, there is a backlash to this plan, in which the innocent foreign male population is also caught up in it. 

I met a tour guide, and without sounding too official I asked him how much it would cost to take a child that wasnt legally mine across an international border, claiming that I lived in Vietnam but wished to adopt a Cambodian child... The cost... $20

I asked the police officer I met with why he didn't catch more foreigners, and found out that they are scared to mess with white men. It seems that all the foreigner has to tell them is that he lost his passport or he doesnt have one, and they'll let him go. At which point I asked him "Do you have a gun? Why the fuck don't you use it?" There is a lot of ignorance that causes fear within the police in Cambodia. A. they dont know the international law well. B They dont realise that if the foreigner gets caught and has to go to jail in his own country he is going to get beaten in jail by the inmates for being a rapist, let alone probably killed due to his victims being children (thanks to my dearest friend I'm familiar with this). C. They don't realise to the degree that this is a very prohibitted act within our culture in the West, and thus his friends and family would likely disown the man.

I spoke to several people but somehow I managed to keep a low profile. I met one man who claims that the government is in on the trafficking and that there is a gang offshoot setup solely for the purpose of trafficking and selling the children. I am not sure to the degree of truth that is held in this statement, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I also heard stories of school children who would be grabbed into cars on their daily walk to school by foreigners who wished to prey on them, and the narrow windows that allowed them to escape.

The thing that suprised me the most was that if I were to meet these men that I saw walking with these children in a different setting I may actually talk to them, hell, maybe even agree to date them. I seriously began to lose the little faith I have in the human race.

All in all, there wasn't much that I accomplished. I learned the locations that they were selling the children, the few dollars that the foreigners were using to pay for sexual acts, and I even came close to meeting the devil herself (the woman who sells the children on the street next to the French embassy) when Ada didn't forewarn me and drove down her street then made a very obvious uturn when she caught eyes with him.

I tried to get involved with UNICEF there. The workers are largely corruptable, and thus I didnt wish to discuss with them my ideas though I kept their contacts.

NGO workers and sex workers within the region have tried to take steps to helping these children that they see being trafficked through orphanages and when they speak with the police, it gets them into trouble. I was even told that you can get a price put out on your head for knowing too much. If you can pay $5 or less for raping a child ... murder cannot be so much more?

For these reasons, and for the lack of effect that I didnt know if I was producing I began to stay away from it for a while, and besides this I was an English teacher at Pannasastra University so I had other things to focus on.

If I do go back, Likely this will be my goal. If any reader is interested in helping with this please send me your ideas, you know where... 

<3

Jessica