Urban lights
Upon arriving back to Washington, DC I quit my job, informed my husband and family that I was going back to Thailand and quickly made arrangements to pawn my engagement and wedding rings. On my fifth and last day in Chiang Mai the desperation of knowing that there would be no one to play Connect Four with Oi, and no one to talk soccer stats with him other than the male customers in the boy bars left me frantic. The friendship and trust between myself and Oi-two complete strangers from two completely different worlds, would only intensify over the next 5 days. I had unexpectedly befriended this young, kind and protective Hilltribe Boy-his name, “Oi”. Through broken English, a love of soccer and the ability for me to lose gracefully at Connect Four ( over 18 times!), a friendship was quickly formed. That night, unwilling to walk by, I instead chose to walk deeper into the alley of boy bars.įinding refuge at a table, I immediately befriended one working boy.
yes, Boys! While walking through the Red Light District of Chiang Mai, I observed a thriving and booming sex-trade that was taking hold of vulnerable Boys as young as 11 years old. While visiting Thailand in 2009, I witnessed firsthand the horrors of trafficking, exploitation and the violence committed against an overlooked and unimaginable population of Boys.