Here we go again
P has successfully reconstructed her life, M's situation remains unchanged, and my work here in Vietnam is finished... Which is fortunate, as I'm being forced to leave the country. This time, it's nothing personal. Yesterday I discovered that, for reasons known only...
A fire in the belly
What has, for you, been the most fascinating moment of The Human, Earth Project? Was it amongst those moments when at last I succeeded in contacting, locating and meeting with my trafficked Hmong friends P and M in China? Was it the moment when, after three years and...
An incredible year
For those of you who haven't been following the adventures of The Human, Earth Project through 2014, it's been an incredible year. Here are a few of the most memorable moments: The year began with Hmong friends in Laos. Days later, my trafficked Hmong friend M...
No rest for the wicked
On Christmas Eve, just as many of you were beginning your holidays, I was going back to work in the mountains of northern Vietnam. Although Vietnam lies within the tropics, winter here in the mountains can be bitterly cold, as I experienced during my initial...
Inspiration
Kim neung con bo sep. That's a Laotian phrase I encountered recently, which was translated for me as: When you eat alone, it's not delicious. For the past five months I've been working alone. I've had zero face-to-face contact with my collaborators on The Human, Earth...
Losing my teeth
One month ago, I was concerned I'd become too deeply entangled in the life of my Hmong friend P, a recent survivor of human trafficking. I couldn't see how to step away. After we'd returned from our road trip, and the violent stalker Lucky Charm had made his unwelcome...
M’s dilemma VII: Swirling uncertainties
After five long and frustrating months spent trying to arrange her rescue, I was told my trafficked Hmong friend M had fallen pregnant to her Chinese "husband" for a second time. If the rumour was true, it could very well be our last chance to bring her home. I was...
M’s dilemma VI: Game over
On Monday 6th October, after four long and frustrating months, my friend Charlie and I finally had an opportunity to organise the rescue of my trafficked Hmong friend M, who would then be returned to Vietnam under the auspices of the Hanoi-based NGO Blue Dragon.M,...
M’s dilemma V: A golden opportunity
It had been two months since I'd spoken to my trafficked Hmong friend M. M's planned rescue had been cancelled after the Chinese "husband" who'd bought her had been alerted to her intentions. I had stopped calling M in the hopes that his suspicions would subside. The...
M’s dilemma IV: Burden in my hand
At the last possible moment, I'd cancelled the rescue of my trafficked Hmong friend M from the "husband" who had bought her in China. I'd given M hope, and it had proved to be a very dangerous thing. M's "husband" had been alerted to her intention to leave and,...
M’s dilemma III: Mountains beyond mountains
Late last year, I spoke with a friend about climbing mountains and running marathons. A parallel was drawn with The Human, Earth Project - in a sense, the Project has been a way of testing myself, and discovering where my limits lie. How far was I willing to go before...
M’s dilemma II: Nowhere to turn
For the first time in almost three years, my friend M - trafficked from Vietnam and sold as a wife in China - had been given the power to determine her own fate. The decision that confronted her, however, was a decision no mother should ever have to make - a choice...
M’s dilemma
Is human trafficking necessarily an evil? Is there any situation in which trafficking could help, rather than harm, its victims? What if, for example, the only way to give my trafficked friend M her freedom was to help bring home her Chinese-born child - which would...
When roosters lay eggs
The Hmong people here in northern Vietnam have been raised in mountain villages of extreme gender bias, alcoholism and abuse. For many of the young Hmong women who have come to town, almost anything is preferable to marrying a local Hmong man and returning to life in...
Beyond all limits
Over the past year, there have been countless antagonists in our story - human traffickers, paedophiles, and those who would rent or buy women. Now, however, P and I have a more immediate menace. He has a weapon, a gang, and a lust for violence. He knows our names,...
A can of worms
It is a strange moment in history for the Hmong people of our little valley, and this is quite likely The Human, Earth Project's most bizarre episode ever. One of the reasons that the women here are so vulnerable to human trafficking is that their options here at home...