Humiliating memories in a foreign land

Humiliating memories

We were present at Keo Con village, Keng Du commune (Ky Son), one day at the end of the year, when we heard the news that the young girl Moong Thi M had just returned after many years.tricked and sold across the border. Accompanying us were two officers from the Mass Mobilization Team, Keng Du Border Guard Station. After nearly 10 years, the stilt house located halfway up the slope of Moong Pho Lu and Moong Me Lu's family was filled with laughter again. Because since M was tricked and sold to China, despite being optimistic, they could never have imagined the day they would see their child again. Only when M returned did the painful days of their youngest daughter become clear.

M recounts the humiliating days after being tricked and sold to China. Photo: Tien Dong

M recounted that in 2013, when she was just 14 years old, she was lured by Xeo Van Thon (born 1988), residing in Don Boong village, Na Loi commune, to work as a factory worker in Binh Duong. Listening to Thon's sweet words, M did not hesitate to follow him with the hope of working and earning money to send back to help her parents, not knowing that she was facing many traps. After M agreed, Thon drove M to Muong Xen town, where a friend of Thon's picked her up and took her to Vinh city by bus.

After arriving in Vinh City, M was arranged to stay there for one night and then the next morning was taken to Hanoi. Since he had never left his village before, M had no idea what Hanoi was like. Here, M was picked up by someone and taken to the border. Only when he reached China and saw strange writing did M realize that he had been tricked.

Both scared and homesick, M cried until she had no more tears. M wanted to go home, but in return she only received threatening looks and words. At this time, a person speaking Vietnamese told her to stay here, get married, and give birth to a child for him, then he would let her go home. In February 2015, M gave birth to her first child, but she still could not go home because the Chinese husband said he had spent about 80,000 yuan - equivalent to about 240 million VND to buy M, so he refused to let her go home. After much hesitation, after she gave birth to 3 children for the other family, in August 2022, M was allowed to go home to visit her family, but the 3 children were kept.

With no identification papers or relatives, M was taken across the border to Vietnam by the gang members. Upon arriving in Vietnam, she was picked up by some Vietnamese people at the Cao Bang bus station and taken to a bus home. After returning home, she immediately went to Keng Du Border Guard Station to report the person who had sold her.

M and her mother after many years apart. Photo: Tien Dong

Unlike M, the young girl Mong Thi T, also living in Keo Con village, was able to return home earlier after being tricked and sold to China. In 2013, T, then 13 years old, was lured by a person named Luong Thi Phien, who knew some people in the village and often visited the village, to work for a company. Having dropped out of school after finishing middle school, T agreed to follow Phien to work to earn money.

When she arrived in Vinh City, T was taken by another person to a bus and told to go to Saigon. Not knowing where Saigon was, T was still convinced that she was going to work. Only when she reached the other side of the border did she realize she had been tricked. T was locked in an abandoned house with a few other women. A few days later, several Chinese men came to see her and buy her as a wife. In 2017, after giving birth to a child, T insisted on returning home, so the other family agreed to let her return, on the condition that she leave the child behind.

Like M, T was taken to the border by the gang members to cross the border into Vietnam. T remembers that he had to sit in a car for 6 days to get from his place to the border, then take a boat across the river to cross the border into Vietnam through Lao Cai province. T was picked up by several people at Lao Cai bus station and then took a bus home.

Propaganda to avoid being deceived

According to Mr. Luong Van Ngam - Party Secretary, Chairman of Keng Du Commune People's Committee, up to now, 7 children in the area have been tricked and sold to China. Because the children lack knowledge and their families do not care much, they are often lured and lured by bad guys. In recent years, the locality has also coordinated with the Border Guard Station and relevant agencies to actively propagate, to raise people's awareness to avoid being lured and lured by bad guys.

Of the 7 children in Keng Du who were tricked and sold to China, all have now found their way back to their hometowns. 3 of them are married and have settled down.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Tai - Deputy Chief of Operations - Keng Du Border Guard Station said: Human traffickers often take advantage of people's lack of knowledge, especially girls aged 13-15, to lure them to work for companies and then trick them into going to China to be wives or prostitutes. Therefore, Keng Du Border Guard Station has developed a plan to propagate to the masses in many forms such as printing leaflets and direct propaganda. For families with children of the right age, they should go to the place and persuade the families and the children themselves not to listen to sweet words to go to work. When discovering strangers coming to the area to entice them, they need to report to the authorities. In addition, the Station also encourages people to go to any legitimate company that organizes job consultations to develop the economy.

Xeo Van Thon (born in 1988), residing in Don Boong village, Na Loi commune, one of the two subjects who lured and tricked Moong Thi M into selling her to China. Photo: Border Guard

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Tai, human trafficking requires victims to have a basis for fighting. Since 2019, when victims returned to their hometowns, the Station has coordinated the fight against 4 special projects. In 2019, 2 special projects were fought; 1 special project in 2021 and 1 special project in 2022.

The difficulty in combating human trafficking is that there are cases that occurred over a long period of time, from 2013, 2014, but it was not until 2021, 2022 that the victims were found. After the victims returned, they directly denounced the subjects. Some subjects were persuaded by the unit to surrender, but there were also subjects who had to coordinate with units and forces to organize the capture...

Most recently, on September 18, 2022, Keng Du Border Guard Station arrested Xeo Van Thon (born in 1988), residing in Don Boong village, Na Loi commune, and Moong Van Duc, residing in the same locality, for human trafficking. These are the two subjects who lured and tricked Moong Thi M into being sold to China, after which each subject received a salary of 40 million VND.

In response to concerns that the victims, after returning from China, might return and lure other girls at home to sell them, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Tai said: After the victims returned, the unit sent officers to mobilize and support the victims. The Provincial Border Guard Command itself and social organizations have also had many activities to support and advise the victims to help them integrate into life. Therefore, up to this point, there has not been any case of victims becoming victims of human trafficking. Some people have also started families and stabilized their lives after returning.