The desire to live of a Thai woman in Nghe An who was a victim of human trafficking

Horrible days in a foreign land

One day in August, the small stilt house of Mr. Lu Pho Bien located halfway up the hill in Pung village (Muong Ai commune, Ky Son district) echoed with the laughter of women sitting and embroidering. Among the crowd was a woman whose legs had been amputated up to the knee. Occasionally, when she wanted to move, she would take the prepared cushion, kneel on it and drag herself step by step. That was Ms. Lu Thi Tim (39 years old), Mr. Bien's second daughter.

Seven years ago, Tim returned from China to the astonishment of her relatives and friends. Everyone could not hold back their tears when looking at the legs of the woman who was once the “beauty queen” of the village.

Time has passed, but for Lu Thi Tim, the memories of the days of fleeing from human traffickers in a foreign land are still like a tearing wound in her heart. Tim was born into a poor family, both parents relied on farming to make a living. As a Thai girl, Tim was one of the most skillful embroiderers in the village. Growing up, she only wished to find a job that suited her interests so that she could help her parents make ends meet.

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In December 2011, when I saw that I wanted to find a job, Mrs. VTN in Son Thanh village (Ta Ca commune, Ky Son) came to persuade me and promised me a stable job. She said she would take me to Laos to embroider dresses. I was so excited that I begged my family to let me go, but I did not expect that she would trick me into selling me to China.

Ms. Lu Thi Tim (39 years old), Pung village (Muong Ai commune, Ky Son district)

According to Ms. Tim, when she got on the bus to Vinh city, Ms. N. gave her a glass of soft drink and told her to drink it to prepare for the journey. Tim did not expect that the glass of water Ms. N. gave her contained sleeping pills. She was unconscious until she reached the other side of the border. Here, she was locked in a closed room with many other people and was strictly monitored by human traffickers. “They said that Ms. N. had sold me to them and now I had to get married to pay off my debt. I did not know who I was marrying, so I was determined to not accept it even if it meant death,” Ms. Tim shared.

The days locked in the stinking room were hell on earth for Ms. Tim. She always thought about her family, her homeland and wanted to escape and return home. One day, when the guards were not paying attention, Tim ran out. Not familiar with the terrain, she just ran as far as possible as long as she didn't get caught.

But the more she ran, the more she got lost in the deep, deserted forest. According to Tim, the forest she was hiding in was a cold and snowy place. Hungry because she hadn't eaten for a long time, with no shoes and only thin clothes on, there were times when she thought she wouldn't survive to see her family again.

On the seventh day, two old Chinese men found Ms. Tim, who was about to faint from hunger and cold under a tree in the forest. She raised her hand to signal for help and they took her to a center for the destitute. There, doctors diagnosed that Ms. Tim’s legs were frozen like stone, and blood had not circulated for a long time. And they decided to amputate her legs in half to save her life.

“When I woke up and saw that my legs were gone, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The world seemed to collapse before my eyes. At that moment, all I could think about was that if I lost my legs, I wouldn’t know when I would be able to find my way back to my family and village,” Tim said, holding back tears.

For nearly 6 years living in that homeless camp, Lu Thi Tim never stopped missing her homeland and only wished for a miracle to happen to her. Then, during a raid by Chinese authorities on illegal immigrants, they discovered Tim. Knowing where she lived, the Chinese side informed the Vietnamese authorities and coordinated to find a way to bring Tim back to Vietnam.

Overcome the pain

Although she no longer has legs, returning to the arms of her family and village is a great happiness for Ms. Tim. Ms. Tim's mother said that when her daughter first returned, no one in the family recognized her because she was thin, dark and had no legs. For nearly 7 years, her daughter has been missing, and for that many years, her family has not slept well. However, for the people in Pung village, Ms. Tim is much luckier than some cases like Ms. Van and Ms. Ven in the same village - who have been missing for nearly 15 years without any news.

After staying at home for a while, seeing her parents getting old and still having to work hard to support her, Ms. Tim could not bear it. Her legs were gone but her hands were still intact, and her hobby of embroidery was still burning in her heart. So Ms. Tim brought out the tools that had been hidden in the cupboard for so long to start working.

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The first few days I started embroidering, my whole body ached because I had no feet to support myself on the ground. Sometimes I couldn’t control my hands anymore because I hadn’t embroidered for many years. I was so tired that I wanted to give up, but thinking of my parents and not wanting to be a burden, I forced myself to continue.

Ms. Lu Thi Tim (39 years old), Pung village (Muong Ai commune, Ky Son district)

Now, the nimble hands of the Thai woman have become even more skillful. The needles and threads from Ms. Tim's hands continue to create beautiful brocades. Although she can only embroider a few pieces each month, she still sells about 2 million VND to support her family. Many customers, impressed by Ms. Tim's skill and determination, buy her embroidered products at high prices, so her income is increasing and becoming more stable.

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The village has 130 households with 563 people, of which poor households account for 57%. In recent years, many people in the village have left their hometowns to work in companies in the South. Lu Thi Tim's will has encouraged many women to stay in the village to earn a living. The amount of money Tim earns from embroidery for the poor people in Pung village is indeed not small.

Mr. Luong Ba My - Secretary of Pung village Party cell

From her own pain, whenever she knew that any women in the village intended to leave their hometown to work in China, Ms. Tim would meet them to propagate and advise them. No one knows since when the small stilt house of Mr. Lu Pho Bien's family became a place for women in the village to gather. Every time like that, Ms. Tim would tell her story as an advice to those who still believed in the sweet words "going to China for easy work, high salary". Thanks to that, everyone stayed or went to companies that needed to recruit people in the province and in the country to work.

Ms. Lu Thi Phieng (born in 1984) in Pung village recounted that: Last year, due to family circumstances, she intended to listen to some people's advice to go to China in the hope of finding a job with a monthly salary that, according to her, could not be equal to even if she worked in her hometown for a whole year. However, when she learned of her intention, Tim came to her, took off the socks from her amputated feet and told her the reason why she was like that. "Every word that Tim said was like a needle stabbing into my heart. I suddenly felt cold and no longer had the thought of going to China to find a job. At home, whether full or hungry, there is still family and hometown" - Ms. Phieng shared.