The girl who risked everything to escape slavery
Hanh travelled to Ho Chi Minh City so full of hope for a new life, only to be trafficked out of Vietnam and enslaved by a series of men. Now scarred but undaunted, she has battled her way to a bright future.
A NOTE FOR OUR READERS
This story shares the real experiences of Hanh, who escaped human trafficking. While we believe it’s important to share these realities, we also recognise that some details may be difficult to read. Please take care as you continue.
NO MATTER THE COST
Hanh climbed into the window and looked at the ground below.
She had been betrayed so many times; trafficked out of Vietnam and sold and resold between different men who trapped and exploited her. Twice already, she thought she had escaped her nightmare only to be cruelly thrust back into it.
This time, standing in the window and looking down upon the outside world, she was going to make sure she got back home to her family – no matter the cost.
FALSE PROMISES
Hanh grew up without a father. Her mother scraped together a living by taking on whatever odd jobs she could find in the city a five-hour walk from their village – but she didn’t earn enough to keep Hanh in school.
“I felt sad and worried because I had to drop out of school at 14 years old,” shares Hanh.
Nervous about her future, Hanh searched for a job that would help to lift her family out of poverty and allow her to finish her education. A lifeline emerged when a friend offered her a job.
“I was so excited and really looking forward to starting a good job to help my family.”
LEAP TO FREEDOM
Hanh’s excitement was short-lived. Almost as soon as she arrived to begin her new life, Hanh was trafficked out of Vietnam and sold into a forced “marriage”.
Hanh was trapped inside a house thousands of miles from her family, locked in a room and forced to follow her captor’s demands. After months in slavery, she found a man online who promised to help her escape. He got her out of the house but demanded a ransom fee. When Hanh was unable to pay, he sold her into another forced “marriage”.
Again, Hanh was trapped inside a house and denied contact with the outside world as her new captor tried to break her spirit. Like last time, she searched online and found someone who promised to help her escape, but it was another trick, and the man demanded a fee after getting Hanh out of the house. When she couldn’t pay, he sold her into yet another forced “marriage”.
This time, Hanh was bought by an elderly couple who wanted her to bear a grandchild from their son, who has an intellectual impairment. As soon as Hanh arrived in the house and the couple locked her in a small room, she realised that they had no intention of treating her as a member of the family or even a human being – just a vessel for a baby.
On her second day in the house, Hanh climbed into the second storey window and looked out into the night. Whether she made it back to her family or died in the fall, it would be better than living in sexual slavery and having the baby of a stranger from a violent family who bought, trapped and abused her.
Hanh jumped, slammed into the concrete and suffered serious injuries. When the family found her lying on the ground, they dragged her inside and locked her back in the same small room, where she went months without medical attention – and where her “husband” continued to try and impregnate her.
Finally, Hanh’s condition declined to the point where her captors had to take her to hospital. Seeing her chance, Hanh reached out to a doctor who then alerted the police.
Hanh was finally safe, but it would be another year, following extensive treatment and making statements to police officers from her hospital bed, before she could return to Vietnam. When she was finally ready, Blue Dragon helped her to come home – just over two years since she first left home, dreaming of a new life.
TOUGH TOO
Hanh will bear both physical and psychological scars forever. But she was determined not to let her dreams be crushed by the people who exploited her.
When we provided her with safe shelter, medical support, physical therapy and psychological counselling, she did everything she could to forge a bright, new life on her own terms.
On Hanh’s daily route to physiotherapy sessions, she often encountered difficulties that seemed insurmountable. Even walking up the short ramp to her sessions was at first an impossible challenge. But she powered through and overcame them.
“I told myself: ‘This is only a small obstacle, the road ahead will be tough, so I must be tough too.’”
With grit and determination, Hanh quickly adapted to her new life, joining activities at our centre, attending extra curricular classes and making new friends.
“I have countless unforgettable memories of my time with Blue Dragon,” shares Hanh. “But Duyen, my social worker, holds a special place in my heart. She made me feel supported and cared for, like a big sister.”
After two years living in Blue Dragon’s care, Hanh was finally ready to move into her own apartment.
UP AND UP
After Hanh moved out of our centre, she enrolled in a vocational course. She soon graduated and started an internship at a tech company.
For Duyen, who continues to support Hanh through thick and thin, seeing Hanh make it on her own in the big wide world was a deeply moving experience.
“The most memorable moment for me is when Hanh told me she had passed the interview. That was such a good feeling to see her thrive like that.”
And things have kept going up for Hanh. Her hard work and creativity impressed her boss so much that he quickly promoted her to the company’s main content creator, charged with growing sales across their social media platforms.
YOUR ATTITUDE DEFINES YOU
All those years ago, Hanh travelled to begin a new life so full of hope. Now scarred but undaunted, she has battled her way to a bright future.
“I faced a lot of obstacles while trying to figure out my career, but now I know what I’m capable of and what I want to do.”
Hanh has always done whatever it takes to forge her own journey on her terms. The bravery it took to jump from the window, then to put her trust in a stranger in the hospital after being betrayed so many times, then again and again every time she overcame an obstacle in her physiotherapy sessions, is born from the same grit that propels her toward a life of strength, purpose, and unrelenting hope.
