Trafficking victims savour fresh start
By Rong Jiaojiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-07 07:05

Xu Wanping's eyes mist as she listens to the giggles of her 13-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter watching a martial arts programme on TV in the lounge of her new two-story home.

Xu cannot believe it she has waited 17 years for this laughter.

In 1988, an 18-year-old Xu Wanping, whose name is not printed to protect her identity, left her Jingxian Village home to go looking for work at the Jiuyanqiao Labour Market in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

A man approached her and said he could help her find a job. There was money to be made, he said, in doing housework for the rich on the coastal province of Jiangsu, more than 1,000 miles away from Xu's home.

"He seemed so earnest," said Xu, "and I had to support my poor family, so I followed him to Jiangsu without a second thought."

But when they got to Suining County, Jiangsu Province, Xu's life took a turn toward tragedy when she became one of the many victims of the dark trafficking world.

'Not home, but hell'

The trafficker forced Xu into a common-law marriage with a 37-year-old farmer who paid 2,000 yuan (US$247) for her.

"By day, he forced me to work long hours in the field. By night, I was locked in a dark cellar with no means of escape," said Xu. "I thought I would die there."

The launch of a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking in 1994 handed Xu the first of her three lucky breaks.

"Police asked me if I wanted to stay there or go home and I said 'home,' without a doubt. Although life there in Jiangsu was much more affluent than in my hometown, it was not home, but hell to me."

Her nominal husband, who Xu refused to name, frequently beat her and her children daughters Xu Qingqin, Xu Xiaoli and son Xu Peng.

"In his eyes I was less a human being, more a thing he bought to bear babies," she said.

Respecting family planning regulations, police told Xu she could take her son and leave the daughters behind.

But Qingqin immediately threw herself to the ground and grabbed her mother's legs, begging not to stay. The police relented. But Xiaoli had to stay.

Yet Xu's return to her aging parents in their shabby home in Sichuan did not prove an immediate happy ending to her story.

"They (neighbours) saw me as a curse on my parents and the neighbourhood because I wasn't submissive like those other women who had been sold to other provinces and had gone on to lead quiet married lives with their husbands.

"They assumed that I must have done something wrong and been driven home by my husband. They had no idea about domestic violence."

During those dark days, suicidal fantasies dominated Xu's thoughts.

"But thinking of my parents and my children, I let go of the idea," she says. "I had a responsibility to them, and I knew I had to go out and earn a living instead."

She borrowed cash for one pig. From 1994 to 2001, she sold her blood, 600cc at 160 yuan (US$20) twice a month to pay for her children's school tuition fees.

Then in 2002, a glimmer of hope came when Renshou County, which administers Xu's township, was chosen to pilot a programme by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Almost immediately, her children's 1,000 yuan (US$123) annual school fees were paid. Xu was assigned half an acre of farmland, four pigs and 20 hens.

Last year, when Xu's home was almost totally destroyed by heavy rainfall, the county women's federation invited her to move into a new house they built for just such an incident.

"After 14 years of tears, fear and devastation, finally my children and I have a real home," she said.

Broader picture

Xu's tale of trafficking is by no means unique. There were 1,325 women trafficked out of Renshou County between 1995 and 2001, according to Cao Guihua, director of the county women's committee.

There were also 1,223 women brought to Renshou by traffickers from other provinces.

Nationwide, there were 24,809 reported human trafficking cases between 2001 and 2004, and 51,164 women and children were rescued, according to the Fourth National Conference on Women and Children in Beijing in August.

With an estimated US$500,000 aid from UNICEF since 2001, the Ministry of Public Security and All-China Women's Federation have operated 60 anti-human trafficking programmes, mainly in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sichuan and Henan provinces.

One such programme sets up women's activity centres to reintegrate trafficked women into the community and equip them with practical living skills, explained Wang Daming, director of UNICEF anti-trafficking programmes.

Three women's activity centres were erected in Baofei Township of Renshou County in 2001. Equipped with televisions, VCD players, newspapers, magazines and anti-trafficking publicity materials, the centre offers comfort not just to trafficking victims, but to all the women of the village.

"Every month, we organize activities including lectures on farming and pig-breeding skills, watch song-and-dance videos and conduct psychology workshops with college student volunteers," said Cai Boxian, director of the village women's committee.

Participation has exceeded expectations, said Cai.

"You can understand how lonely they used to be and how much potential can be explored in them," she said.

Good news

Not everyone has a tragic story to tell, and for some trafficked women, they experienced a fate opposite of Xu's.

Trafficked from Yunnan Province in 1992 to marry a 39-year-old farmer in Mingquan Village of Sichuan, Yang Songjiao admits life was harsh for the first couple of years.

"In summer, I still wore a sweater and the only dress I brought with me from my hometown," she said. But Yang, 29, has chosen to stay with him because "my husband treats me well and we haven't had a single fight since marriage. I want to live with him and my son."

Assigned two pigs and eight sheep in 2002, Yang is always ready with a husbandry tip for other women at the centre.

Yang said her annual family income topped 3,000 yuan (US$370) in 2004, with several piglets due to be delivered next year.

The average annual per capita income of Renshou's 1.6 million inhabitants is 1,850 yuan (US$223).

Yet for those who haven't been as fortunate as Yang, programmes still continue to serve as a lifeline for trafficked women.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour urged closer partnership to combat the problem region and empower victims to obtain their rights.

"These women and children should be receiving assistance as victims instead of being treated like criminals. They should be given security, not shame," said UNICEF's Wang Daming at last August's Asia-Pacific regional human rights conference.

"It's also crucial to build a human trafficking reporting system through women's committees, police stations, labour and education departments combining to prevent more women from becoming victims," said Wang.

The county women's federation of Renshou offers regular workshops on the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests and the Law on the Protection of Minors at the centre, says staff member Cao Guihua. The purpose, she says, is to let villagers know that trafficking is illegal and that if they are in trouble, those laws can be a powerful tool.

Last year, for the first time, not a single trafficking case was reported in Renshou.

Xu's daughter Qingqin and 19 other girls were granted a six-month internship at the Sheraton Lido Hotel in Chengdu as part of a trafficking reintegration programme.

Picking up the pieces

The programmes have changed the neighbourhood's attitude toward women like Xu Wanping.

"I was very moved when one of my neighbours told me I could grow my corn in her field," said Xu. "I declined because I know she's not rich, but she argued I need more help because I am raising two children on my own. To hear those words themselves was more than enough for me."

With her certificate of qualification, Xu landed an 800 yuan-a-month job at a three-star hotel in Renshou County. She bought her mother a TV and installed a telephone in the family home.

When she has saved enough money, Qingqin says she plans on taking English and computer classes at night school.

"I want to find a more promising job in the future and let my mother enjoy a carefree life," she says.

Meanwhile back at home, sitting on a sofa beside her TV, Xu admits she now spends much of her time fending off the suitors: her neighbours seem determined to find Xu a love match.

"After my kids grow up, maybe I will consider a new family," said Xu. "After all, I'm only in my 30s and I believe I will have a better life in the future."

(China Daily 01/07/2006 page3)