Sunday, October 24, 2010

Carry it Forward: Born into Brothels

This past week we have been watching the documentary Born Into Brothels in humanities class. I can honestly say that it is one of the most upsetting movies I have every watched in my life. And the fact that it is a complete documentary and that everything in it is real makes it even harder to watch.

Throughout the movie you meet a group of young kids that live in the brothels of the red light district. A woman comes to teach them photography so they might have a chance of getting out of the horrible future plans they have set for them. It is so disturbing that at the age of thirteen a girl who has just started puberty would be put on the line to be sold as a prostitute. And the saddest part is that this is the only life they know. They do not know that there are other choices and ways to get out. But on the other hand it would be so hard for them to get out because it would mean leaving their families which most of them seem very dedicated to.

When I started thinking about how I am going to carry this idea forward, I did not know what I was going to do. There is little action you can take when trying to help these innocent children without actually flying there and doing something (which trust me, I would in a heartbeat if I had enough money for a plane ticket and a plan for how to get them all out). But then I realized, carrying something forward does not only imply taking action on that specific thing. It can also mean carrying it forward into your own life, into the lives of those around you. To carry the message I have received from Born into Brothels forward, I plan to spread awareness. I had no idea that this horrifying crime to innocent life was happening anywhere in the world before we watched this documentary. I cannot imagine how many of my friends, family and people I work with have no clue about this issue either. It scares me that something of this magnitude could go on for so long, maybe not unnoticed, but sure as hell unattended to.

In a perfect world, I would love to bring all of the children and their mothers out of the red light district and into warm loving homes in the US but that would be culturally unsound. I also believe that it is wrong to take people out of their culture forcing them to adapt to a new one. So in the second most perfect (and a little bit more practical) world, I would want to just bring all of the children to America or just away from the red light district, and find them homes so that their children can have healthy, happy futures.

"You don't have to be great to get started. You just have to get started to be great"
-Les Brown

No comments:

Post a Comment