M’s dilemma VIII: A twist in the tail
In 2010, while living in the mountains of northern Vietnam, I became friends with a teenaged Hmong girl named M. The following year M was abducted, and was believed trafficked to China for sale as a bride or prostitute. Last year, I finally succeeded in contacting,...
Shattered
It has now been one month since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake which rocked Nepal, and the impoverished nation is still reeling. Many of the hundreds of aftershocks, with magnitudes as high as 7.3, might be considered major earthquakes in their own rights, and have left...
Home
What was planned as a short break from The Human, Earth Project has been a busy time for me here in Australia. At one point I caught myself working on three computers synchronously, juggling eight terrabytes of external hard drives to get everything in order for the...
Aftershock
It has now been one week since the colossal 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Nepal and the surrounding region. As the damage is assessed and the death toll soars, it seems likely to surpass Nepal's 1934 earthquake to become the most devastating quake in Nepali...
Shock
In 2011, I spent a monsoon season living in a village in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal. Ten months ago, I returned to that village to reconnect with Amma and Laksman, a local couple there that had taken me into their family. I also reconnected with Saroj,...
Storytelling
Since finishing the first draft of the Sisters For Sale documentary script six weeks ago, I've been working with the script and footage synchronously, to understand how the story works in practice. I've been searching for the best way to condense a complex and...
About a girl
My primary motivation for returning to Asia 19 months ago was to search for M, a teenaged Hmong friend who had been abducted and presumed trafficked to China for sale as a bride or prostitute. Many people believed that search to be impossible, and I'll freely admit...
Who cares?
Recently I've been receiving more attention for my work with The Human, Earth Project. It was thrilling to see last night's premiere of the documentary Bargain Brides, on Vietnamese women being sold as brides in China. A large portion of the documentary focuses on P's...
Bargain Brides
Last year I celebrated Christmas in the village home of my friend P, a recent survivor of human trafficking.P, her family and I were also joined by an international film crew producing a 50-minute television documentary on the countless young women being trafficked...
A crisis of sorts
I'll admit it - I'm an addict. For too long now I've been slave to an addiction which has cost me vast sums of money and separated me from my family, friends, and the life I once loved. I'm talking about travelling. Am I joking? Yes and no. I had my mid-life crisis...
Making diamonds of coal
I was given a one-month visa when I entered Cambodia, and I set myself the goal to complete the first draft of the Sisters For Sale documentary script before that visa expired on 10th March. (That's today). It was an immense job that involved sifting through and...
For the win
Thanks to all of you who showed your support in January, I'm excited to announce that The Human, Earth Project is now one of 5 worldwide finalists for the 2015 best topical weblog award! The Human, Earth Project blog records the life-changing experiences of my...
Stay young
This week marks another birthday for both myself and The Human, Earth Project, and a perfect opportunity for a spot of navel-gazing. It's incredible to think it's now been more than ten years since I began travelling the globe. My adventures then, although they seemed...
Meet Ethos
In 2010, I was living in a small mountain town in northern Vietnam. In that town I became friends with M and P, two teenaged Hmong girls from a neighbouring village who were later abducted and sold across the Chinese border. Last year, I spent three months in that...
Two dollars
I'm generally a very tolerant person who prefers to avoid physical confrontation, and Laotians tend to be extremely calm and easy-going people. That's why it came as a surprise when three largely-uneventful weeks in Laos ended with a team of Laotian border guards...
No news is good news
I apologise for not having written earlier; I was too busy writing. The last time I wrote to you all was on my final day in Vietnam, and today - three weeks later - is my final day in Laos. They've been three highly rewarding weeks. I've finally...