CF Culture

CF Field Updates & Blog

05.11.11

SCARLET CORD(ING) IN SURABAYA – A VISIT WITH THE CEMETERY PROSTITUTES

Two years ago, I saw something that I would not have believed was true had I not witnessed it myself.  It was the phenomena of the cemetery prostitute in Indonesia.  It is a last stop for sex-workers long ago thrown to the curb from other outlets where sex is bought and sold for as little as 7000 IDR (about 90 cents).

My first introduction was quite by accident.  I was attending a church in the same cemetery with friends from an organization called Pondok Kasih- it was a fellowship of Ambonese refuges that were squatting there.  When we entered the cemetery, it was daylight.  When we exited, it was night and the girls had come to take their spots on the above-ground graves for the evening.

I was in Surabaya for a couple of days for meetings at the U.S. Consulate.  I invited my friend, Petrus Medi, a Humanitarian Program Director for Pondok Kasih, to join our meetings.  I also asked him if we could go to the cemeteries.  Winda Winowatan, our YCFI Indonesian Director was also along.

Stepping out of the van, I didn’t know what to expect, or really what I was there for, for that matter.  I was a little trepidations, to be honest.  I didn’t want to be a disaster tourist but I felt that I needed to go back to this place.  I knew that I wanted Winda to see the place so she could get an idea of some future vision that we have to serve these girls. More than anything, I wanted a conversation.  I wanted to know what their lives were like.

What I was met with were 20 fast friends.  Winda is a tiny thing.  I lost her in the crowd right away.  She dug in and started getting to know the girls immediately.  When I found her, she was sitting on a grave talking to three or four, learning their stories.  I put my toe in the water with similar conversations.  Generally speaking the girls were old.  One said that she was 49.  I was surprised.  She looked to be aging well.  What was her story that had her in this place?  A few were clearly much older.  If not older, they had lived life so hard that they were effectively older.  One’s facial features indicated a stroke at some point in her life or some other condition that limited her function.

We got the story on the location.  This wasn’t the most populated cemetery.  In addition to the 20 girls there were 5-7 pimps guarding the road in.  This place was getting a lot less action than it once did because the police were cracking down on it.  Every few days they would sweep through and throw girls in jail.  Without anyone to come and claim that they knew who they were, girls would sit in jail for days until they would be arbitrarily released.  The police wouldn’t just come to arrest either.  They would also come for sex.  I asked one girl how often she was required to have sex with police.  She said three times a week.  I asked if they paid.  She said they didn’t.  It was free.

Then we did what Pondok Kasih does several times a week.  We fed them dinner.  I immediately thought of our friends at Scarlet Cord.  I thought, “Hey, we’re Scarlet Cord Surabaya!”  The guys from Pondok Kasih then talked to the girls for a few minutes.  They let them know about medical clinics coming up just for them.  They urged that they come in for anything and get some basic care.  They were also offering some classes and other services.

The girls were grateful.  Not just for the food; they were grateful for the conversation.  I asked them if I could come back sometime.  That if I did, it was just to talk.  I left with one of those all to familiar feelings suggesting that I was walking away with much more than I had given.  Once back in the van, Winda said that she could have stayed all night.

Pondok Kasih offers residential care for street-bound elderly women.  I told Petrus Medi that one of my dreams is to take that a step further and to offer similar services to the cemetery girls.  These aren’t girls that can necessarily retrain for a brighter future.  My assumption is that many are HIV positive and have already lived out most of their days. What they do now is what they have to do to survive.  What if the basics of survival – dignified shelter, nutrition, etc. – was taken care of for them?  They could live out the balance of their lives in peace.  You have to agree, that would be pretty cool!

05.09.11

DIPLOMACY AND A COMMON CAUSE – THANK YOU’S TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT

We just finished up with an incredible meeting.  It was a gathering of Indonesian NGO’s hosted by the U.S. Consul General in Surabaya, Kristen Bauer.  The purpose of the meeting, beyond an opportunity to network, was to bring attention to our cases in Amurang that is generating a potentially nation-changing Judicial review before the Constitutional Court.

The meeting was quickly pulled together by Dan Phelps, a Political and Economic Officer for the State Department.  His interest in seeing this through is a demonstration of an exemplary amount of dedication to the purpose of his job.  Dan will be moving on to his next assignment in the Middle-East in a short three weeks, but shows no signs of short-term thinking as he finishes up in Indonesia.  For that we are truly grateful.

Around the room today were great people who I was honored to be gathered with.  Many of them were identifiably Muslim, but among them was a Christian pastor who explained that he was retired from ministry but was now trying to do what he could for trafficking victims.  At some point in the conversation, I spoke up to say, “Pastor, you’re hardly retired from ministry and, for that matter, you are all ministry directed people.”

As each introduced themselves, their work and specific issues that they were dealing with, I quickly understood why Dan was so eager to see us all in the same room.  The common thread of conversation was that there was a hole in the law that resulted in traffickers not being brought to justice, girls being criminalized and, most of all, enhancing corruption in the police force.

We asked each to sign on to the judicial review.  I explained that Compassion First was sponsoring and paying for the review, but that we wanted them all to sign on as though they were participating in the same way.

One of the very interesting pieces that I picked up from nearly everyone was the struggle to keep victims willing to testify.  It seems that as the cases progress towards a court date that families are easily bought off, and girls appear in court with letters that state that they were willingly involved in their condition of being trafficked and the cases get thrown out.  It provided me the opportunity to talk about long-term aftercare.  So far, all of our girls, except for one, have stood strong in their cases (The one was a case that was going nowhere due to the fact that her repeated perpetrator was her own sister and the chances of her testifying against her were nil).  The connection of aftercare – and the clear better future that is being offered – with a girl’s legal advocacy is the key to a through-and-through effort by the survivor because it is all attached to her future.  All of the cases lost in Surabaya were without the benefit of long-term committed aftercare.  It brings to mind the tagline that belongs to our friends over at Transitions Global: “Rescue is not an event; it is a process.”

The State Department is not technically involved in our case.  I have another meeting tomorrow at the Embassy in Jakarta that may lead to more provision.  That said, they have made a huge difference just by showing up.  I have witnessed diplomacy in action first-hand.  Their presence has no impact on the law or the process, but is causing those in Amurang to stand up straight.  The police chief asked me to a meeting shortly after the Consulate’s visit to our shelter last week.  The purpose of the meeting would be to demonstrate that they are handling this correctly and in an upright fashion.  I was not able to attend the requested meeting but did send along a letter that outlined concerns about their deliberate human rights violations and severe conflict of interest issues given their police force being absolutely complicit in both the securing and soliciting of prostitution from our underage clients — Clients they are now trying to prosecute.  I implored him that he, in his leadership role, had the great opportunity to do the right thing.  I also took opportunity to let him know, in short, that I was going to do everything that I could to make Amurang famous one way or the other.  In our Consulate meeting today, I said (without hubris) that once we have the appropriate attention that suggests that authorities in Amurang know that everyone is watching, we will bring charges against the police.

As we were departing, I was able to have a few more words with Dan Phelps.  He said, “We’re two sides of a coin on this.”  As they dedicate themselves to their diplomatic activities — trafficking in persons being very central to their efforts — they absolutely rely on private organizations to carry out the street level tasks.

For those of you that support our work, we are so grateful.  If you don’t, please consider doing so.  We need the help!


05.04.11

AN ENCOURAGING VISIT FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Yesterday we met with representatives from U.S. Consulate in Surabaya.  They had been made aware of our work from a number of sources, most strands of conversation having to do with our Amorang case–A trafficking trial that is granting us a window of opportunity to change Indonesia through a judicial review before the Constitutional Court.

Becky Davis, Winda Winowatan, Pak Sofyan, Dan Phelps, Mike Mercer

I was very encouraged by this meeting, mostly by the expressed appreciation of the U.S. State Department for the work that we’re doing.  In a number of settings I have said that we’re the only U.S. organization dong anti-trafficking work in this massive nation. That statement was once challenged by someone within the State Department, though the person challenging it cited no examples of others.  Yesterday, Dan Phelps, a POL/ECON Officer for the Consulate confirmed that we’re the only ones he’s heard of.  Human trafficking is a significant part of his portfolio and in his words, “(they) are very serious about it.”

I’ll be meeting again with them at the Consul Generals residence in Surabaya on Monday. It will be a meeting of Indonesian NGO’s — Mostly a meet and greet.  He’s asked me to speak about the Amorang case and the pending judicial review.  I’m certainly grateful for an invite as such, mostly for the partnership that we will be able to cultivate with these other local stakeholders.

As we parted ways, he asked us to be very aware of an uptick in sex-tourism.  As good efforts on the part of governments, NGO’s and the media constrict the opportunities in the other Southeast Asian hot spots, “They’re coming here now and it is only going to get more prevalent.”

05.03.11

GOLF HEALS

I wish I could remember the person that posted the phrase, “Golf Heals,” on Twitter about a year ago.  I remember replying and reposting.  We interacted a little.  He said, “I hate coming to the end of every round.  I wish it were 100 holes.  It doesn’t matter whether I’m playing great or terrible.”

I’m in Indonesia right now filling the gap while both of our Western Directors are away. One is returning from time with her family after the sudden loss of her brother.  The other had to exit the country for the last time before obtaining her working visa.  In their absence, I seized the opportunity to take a couple of the girls to the driving range to see if the hook could be set.  I have allowed a plan to introduce the game of golf to trafficking survivors as a component of their recovery to sit on the back burner for now while we tackle some bigger things.  That said, I’m still hopeful for such a program that would work in conjunction with CF Golf back in the states.  I believe the world of Golf cares and would get behind it (Golf manufacturers, we only need equipment and 30k for a full-fledged program with your brand prominently displayed…any takers?).

Vista Golf club is a six-hole goat track situated around a 200 yard max driving range.  The chances of death-by-shank are higher than one would want to tolerate.  Your stance is taken on a rubber mat with a small removable hitting surface placed in front.  It’s shabby, to say the least, but its good enough for golf.

The aftermath (Note the shirts–Go Ducks!)

It was good enough for the girls too. They beat away for more than an hour. They got some good instruction from the local range assistant too.

Proud of her sore hands, “D”, who has had quite a rough go of late said, “I’m happy in my heart today.”

Golf heals.

04.18.11

A HANDFUL OF GIRLS-A NATION OF GIRLS

I’m no longer frustrated by the fact that we only have a handful of girls in our still less than a year old after care facility.  I was at first.  We were very hopeful about an active anti-trafficking police force in North Sulawesi and the way that they immediately engaged us.  A lot of factors, bigger than us and them both, have them not as active as either of us had hoped.  Early police intervention efforts in Papua on behalf of North Sulawesi girls did bear fruit but were riddled with failure at the same time.  The quick discovery and severe part of the difficulty was that most of the brothels employing underage girls were owned by their law enforcement counterparts which made actual police action all but impossible until other resources come into the picture.

It seems that police and even the courts are a huge part of the problem, which has me thankful that we only have a handful for now.  Our partners and allies in the government that might otherwise be generating more rescues are joined with us in a pitched battle against the police and the court of a city a couple of hours to the south of us. The court is systematically criminalizing victims and letting the traffickers walk.  They are operating with complete disregard for the law and worse, the human rights of the girls who are the victims of the traffickers.  Two of these girls are clients of ours.  We’ve learned that all others that did not have the resources of our shelter are now serving prison sentences.

Our staff and legal counsel have fought and toiled for these girls.  As they have, they have also fought for those that sit in the jail cells.  With every legal move that is made, new illegal maneuvers are made by the police and court.  We have been forced to enlist the help of protective agencies from Jakarta.  There is ongoing work with the criminal divisions and internal affairs with the police at the state levels.  Police have been arrested.  Even so, strategies have had to continue to be developed with the expectation that the arrest threats could become next day realities.  We again find ourselves wonderfully served by the staffs of our US Senators offices as they assist us.

As we continue to beat back the illegal efforts of an insistently corrupt entity, we now take the fight to the high court in Jakarta.  This week Compassion First will sponsor a judicial review of the law before the Constitutional Court of Indonesia and how it is being applied.  It is an expensive and extensive endeavor but, if successful, it will change everything.  The game will not be over for traffickers, but it will be more difficult because their corruptible loophole will be gone.  It should, however, be over for those in authority committing unconscionable acts against victims. And when it is over, we hope to scour the jails and fill our center with survivors.

We set ourselves to a mission of going where others had not.  That means that we would be doing the groundbreaking work which is at times back-breaking and difficult. As well, it can be frustrating to answer the question of why we have so few clients when in fact, our staff has all the work they can handle and more.  It seems that even though we’ve only been operational for a few months, the expectations are pretty high and so they should be.  It may be true that we only have a handful of girls.  At the same time, it is true that we are serving a nation of girls.