Chan’s Story

Running on the muddy, pothole-filled road, in a hurry to get home to watch her sister, Chan was offered a ride by an older man from her village. Relieved at the chance to get home sooner, Chan hopped in the man’s truck.

Chan was eight years old and in the second grade. She lived in a small village in Southeast Asia and, like many of her peers, she loved school, her friends, and, of course, her family. Her school was a little over a mile away from her house and she made the 18 minute walk daily. She dreamed of going to college and being a teacher when she grew up. Chan’s parents worked over twelve hours a day collecting recyclables, making just enough to pay for their children’s schooling and food for the family. Chan had a three year old sister who stayed with an elderly neighbor while her parents worked until she got home from school.

Chan was a lot like any eight year old girl. She loved to take their scrappy little dog for walks around the village pond with her friends, and attempt to skip rocks across the water. She did her best to help her mom cook dinner, and was very proud of her ability to wash the vegetables all by herself, standing on her trusty blue stool. Chan especially loved the holidays, mostly because of her love for the ice-cream that always accompanied the celebrations.

It was just a few days before one of those holiday celebrations that Chan hopped in the back of the man’s truck on her way home from school. It was about ten minutes into the ride that Chan realized that they were not heading to her home, but towards the city. Confused, but trusting, Chan stayed in the back of the truck until they stopped in front of a brothel. She was taken inside, told to obey whatever the brothel owner told her to do, and was left with three other underage girls.

For ten months Chan was held against her will at the brothel. She and the other girls were repeatedly raped.

One day Chan heard some men shouting and then she was taken again. This time, it was by law enforcement officers who had raided the brothel after receiving an anonymous tip that there were underage girls in danger. The brothel owner and his wife were arrested, and on that day the law enforcement officers took Chan to Rapha International’s Survivor Care Campus.

At only eight-years-old, Chan had experienced unbelievable trauma and had seemingly lost all of the dreams and desires she once had. She struggled to trust anyone and rarely spoke. After several weeks at Rapha’s Survivor Care Campus, Chan began to show signs of her former self.

A Rapha social worker, Akara, reviewed Chan’s case and met with her to learn more about what resources and support she needed to fulfill her future goals and successfully reintegrate back into her community. Chan talked about how she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, but was afraid that she wouldn’t be as smart as her classmates, since she missed almost an entire year of school. She also told Akara about how she was afraid that something similar might happen to her younger sister in the village. Akara was able to set up a tutoring schedule with a teacher at Rapha for Chan to catch up to her grade level. Akara also met with Rapha’s legal advocate and together they visited Chan’s parents and younger sister to discuss safety concerns and share that, partly through Chan’s testimony, the man in their village who had sold Chan was in prison for child trafficking. Akara made two additional visits over the next few months to teach Chan’s parents and others in the community helpful safety tips to protect their children. Akara also met one-on-one with Chan’s family to explain that when Chan returned home things would look different than before, and gave them tools for navigating emotions that may surface.

At the end of two years, just before a national holiday, Chan had built confidence, coping skills, and hope for the future–she was ready to reintegrate back into her community. For the holiday celebration, along with loads of ice-cream, her parents invited Akara and Chan’s house mothers from Rapha to celebrate with them. For the first time in over two years Chan’s family would be together for good.

That night, after the party, Chan helped her mother carry the dirty dishes to the sink and saw her trusty blue-plastic stool. She realized that she had grown so tall over the past two years, she no longer needed it. That night, Chan washed dishes alongside her mother. What was once her least favorite chore, had turned into a moment that Chan and her mother would be satisfied to linger in for hours.

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* Chan’s story represents the experiences of thousands of girls who have received care and treatment at Rapha.