Friday, May 7, 2010

Thursday was my 3 month anniversary here...and it was a good day.  The
bar where we did the raid a few months ago when I first arrived was
officially closed.  It was incredible that so many of
local police came out to celebrate
the occasion.  It really showed how IJM is partnering with local law
enforcement to help with the issue of human trafficking. 

I woke up early today to attend the trial for a particular

case.  It was a held in a room smaller

than most of your living rooms, and since around 15 floor managers are

being accused (sorry if my legal lingo is wrong), the client who is

testifying is only several feet away from her perpetrators.  They all

wore yellow shirts and black pants, the clothing worn when you're in

jail here.  I found it difficult to look these people in the eye, or even

be in the same room as them.  I saw some of the women crying while the

judge and defense attorney would joke about issues related to he case.

 It was weird to see so many women who were accused, however I

wondered what their story was, and if they been GROs (guest relations

officers) when they were younger, since it is common to move up in

rank over time or as you get older and are no longer considered

"wanted" as a GRO.

I felt so protective of our client when she was having to testify,

especially when she would start to cry talking about the specifics of

sexual acts she has had to do over the past.  I learned many details

that were pretty horrifying and I can't really get out of my head. She

had to show so much

courage, because the court required her to stand up and point to each

one of the perpetrators saying their name.  I kept thinking that if I

had trouble looking these people in the eye, how much more difficult

it had to be for her.  None of the other girls have yet been able to

identify by name who the floor managers were, so this was significant

for the case.  After the trial one of the social workers said

to me that she thinks my presence there made the judge and defense

attorney behave much better than they had in the past.  When I asked

why, she simply said there is a reverance here for westerners.  At

first I felt good that I could do something to help without really

doing anything, but then I realized how insanely unfair that is...when

I (or any other westerner) is not there.  

Later on tonight when I got on the elevator, a young girl was riding a

Dora the Explorer bike (yes on the elevator) while singing twinkle

twinkle litle star.  She was so innocent, and I kept thinking about

the client today.  How she looked so young, and was so young, and had

already experienced so much in her lifetime.  I started to tear up

thinking about how many children don't have the opportunity to act as

kids, and have to grow up so fast here.

I'm definitely still processing all I have experienced, but that's

what I've come to so far.

Can you believe it's already been 3 months?

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There is a night market in Ortigas, beginning at 12:00am and lasting until around 12:00pm on Friday nights...well I guess that means Saturday.  There are several tents offering a variety of foods.  Hope, Edgar and I went with some new friends, who convinced us to try isaw - .....chicken intestines.  It didn't taste all that bad, but Hope said while she was eating it she wanted it to be more crispy tasting.  We laughed it off saying her southern taste for barbecue is typically for meat that is burnt.  The next day we found out that isaw actually is supposed to taste a little crispy and that what we ate my have been undercooked and not as well cleaned as it should have been.  We weren't throwing up yet, so I think we're fine.