Thailand’s institutionalized slavery...

I recall watching a 1985 American film recently, “The Color Purple” which tells the life of a poor African American woman named Celie Harris. By the time she is 14, she is sexually abused repeatedly by her own father and is later forced to marry a wealthy young local widower who treats her like a slave. The film shows the problems African American women faced during the early 1900s, including poverty, racism, and sexism.

Celie Harris reminds me of the real-life story of a childhood friend of mine named Jaa, whose poverty-stricken mother in Korat, in the northeast of the country, sold her. I was growing up in Thailand when I first met Jaa. She was washing dishes at the kitchen of the home of a grade school friend named Mali.

Looking back, I now realize that Jaa was a child slave. I befriended Jaa because we were close in age. I often questioned why Jaa had to do such tedious housework when girls her age went to school early in the morning, every day.

Defying my friend’s mother, who often told me not to talk to Jaa, I treated her as a friend. I would visit her in her tidy storage room with a torn mattress, which Mali’s mother provided for her. I was not aware then of the issue of child slavery because I was a child myself. Full story...

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4. Why slavery is here to stay...
5. Chinese slaves in Japan...