BANGKOK — Lek, tiny which have long black hair and a bashful smile, try an enthusiastic ‘Ooang Nua’ — good Thai term definition ‘little girl about North’ — whose are employed in a good brothel is feeding their particular family members home.
Lek, 15, is among the most countless ‘Ooang Nua’ employed every year of the agriculture villages from impoverished north Thailand in order to stock the fresh brothels away from Bangkok.
Best because of their white complexions, young girls instance Lek, from the state out-of Chiang Mai, usually see by themselves located in unique ‘teahouses’ you to focus on old Chinese dudes who faith consorting that have more youthful girls tend to restore their individual youngsters and you can efforts.
‘The town guy came to our very own town and everybody is so happy,’ Lek told you. ‘The people confronted by our community headman therefore the the next thing I realized I was toward an air-trained bus sure to have Bangkok.’
‘My mother and father gotten step 3,000 baht ($130) for me personally. Which is enough to supply all of them and you will my five siblings for some time.’
She told you she as well as 2 most other village girls just who grabbed the fresh bus so okumak iГ§in tД±klayД±n you’re able to Bangkok did not understand what was in shop to possess them regarding the big city.
‘Of path mother and father understood I would personally become doing work in an effective teahouse from inside the Bangkok,’ she told you. ‘But just what otherwise could they actually do? They had no money whatsoever for dining.’
When she found its way to the city, Lek and her ‘sisters’ regarding the village got mats so you can bed in a room that have several almost every other girls ranging when you look at the age from fifteen so you’re able to 22. Dishes and you will periodic scientific checks together with have been given, she said.
Even after more six months from the brothel, she has maybe not ventured away from strengthening, found in the center out of Bangkok’s teeming Chinatown district.
‘We are not allowed to go additional,’ she said. ‘One out of my personal siblings attempted to run away single however, it trapped their own and you may beat their own. We never tried.’
Lek’s work day begins from the noon and comes to an end regarding ten p.m., seven days per week. A lot of their own big date are invested standing on a table during the a good dingy wishing space understanding comical guides and you will talking-to the brand new most other girls.
Consumers go into the teahouse by way of a maze off back streets, for the an open-sky Chinese bistro or more a couple of routes from rickety steps. They peruse the latest distinct girls towards the bench, each of just who wears a numbered badge.
The price are sixty baht ($2.60) for starters hour within the a little cubicle armed with a bed mattress and a pot out of Chinese teas simmering to the a hotplate.
Lek remains a community girl during the outlook, with a robust sense of family loyalty and you will a distinctively Buddhist sense of resignation
‘Usually We bed that have four or half a dozen men every day,’ Lek said. ‘Most try Chinese in addition to other people are Thai.’
Lek told you the man of Bangkok paid back the fresh groups of for every of the girls a lump sum, depending on the attractiveness of the fresh new girl together with negotiating ability of the town headman
Lek’s everyday ‘contract’ to the broker exactly who hired their are out-of long course. However, for instance the almost every other girls, she’s aware their particular worthy of into teahouse diminishes as she increases earlier.
Their unique mind is focused on the fresh new Thai New year escape away from Songkhran, well-known during the April, when she said she’ll be allowed to head to their own community from the northern.
‘I have never got good boyfriend,’ she said. ‘I do not think regarding it. Today every I’d like is to discover my children within Songkhran. I really don’t should look at the upcoming.’
