My virginity, $300
Written by duckrabbitThis is the harrowing story of Srey Neth, a young Cambodian victim of human trafficking forced into prostitution. It’s part of a larger project by the photographer Tim Matsui to document the issue. Take some time out to watch the short film and read Tim’s words below:
Cambodia: Srey Neth from timmatsui.com on Vimeo.
Srey Neth is a young Cambodian victim of human trafficking. In this story she speaks of her experience transitioning from victim to survivor. At 14 she was sold by her mother to a pimp for $300; a week later he sold her virginity for the same price then he forced her to serve 10-20 men per night afterwards. Her refusal was met with beatings or electrocution. Srey Neth was later rescued by police and a non governmental organization. During her recovery, which unsurprisingly has taken more than five years, she was diagnosed with HIV.
This is not just a story about the darkness in humanity. Srey Neth is a victim who has found her voice and become a survivor; I see her as a figurative Cambodia, her home country. It is culturally permissive of human trafficking after struggling through thirty years of genocide, occupation, and civil war. From a trauma and victimization standpoint, Cambodian society is still finding the voice it needs to end the exploitation.
Srey Neth has been given guidance and the opportunity to find her own path. She has learned forgiveness, found self worth, received an education, worked hard to succeed, and been given life through anti-retroviral drugs. Many in Cambodia do not have this option; Srey Neth knows this and hopes that her story of pain and healing can help. It is why she is now working in the same slum where she was sold, to help the younger children find their voice and avoid the victimization she faced. Her story is one of hope and an example for those working in the field of anti-human trafficking. Her story is also a parallel to my incomplete project on the transition Cambodia, the country, is making from victim to survivor.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
This is obviously a very powerful story. I have, however, two issues with the audio that I can’t get past. I’ve been thinking about them all weekend, and I need to post, because I can’t shake them.
Firstly, the music. Why? It’s too dramatic. The story in itself is gripping, but adding the music detracts from this. It’s too much, too much directing one what he or she should feel. I don’t know the word I’m looking for to describe it, but the idea of camp keeps coming to mind.
The second is the voice over. Voice overs are fine, but generally, it is sufficient to have just the first few words of the phrase to let the viewer know it is a voice over, and then fade it out. You can see this well done in southofhere.org. Having the voice in Cambodian the whole time underneath the narrative is incredibly distracting.
Thanks Eileen,
great to see you on the blog!
I agree about the voiceover, although there are plenty of good examples in radio documentary where the voice remains.
Music always splits opinion. I think its a great dramatic device, but whatever you use someone will hate it, and if they feel its too manipulating it will color how they read the work. Its a tricky one though!
Thanks again for posting, its important that we debate this stuff.
duckrabbit,
Thanks for the coverage, this a story which definitely needs to some awareness-spreading light shone upon it. Not just sex trafficking, like Srey Neth’s story, but trafficking for labor, domestic servitude, conflict minerals…the list goes on. The solution is going to start with us, the consumer, and our willingness to stay informed and have a voice.
As for the technical comments, love them, because one can’t improve without exposure to the ideas of others. Today, I agree with you both on the narrative and how I chose to run the Khmer–Neth’s voice–under the translation. Ask me what I was thinking when I first produced the piece and I’d have a different opinion (obviously). I would also use ‘moves’ on the still images more sparingly. The music? I might blend it a little better with the voice, but I’d definitely keep it. For years I’ve worked with Andy Seaver (http://ndcv.basskamp.com) and I feel his work is an important component to the feel I want in my pieces on trauma and victimization.
I’m entirely self-taught, but these past couple months I’ve logged time at MediaStorm(.org) and had a chance to see how producers like Eric Maierson and Brian Storm do it. I’ve been trying it out on the work I’m doing here and, along with some keyboard short cuts and workstation envy, I’ll be taking some of their skills with me. You’ll see it in my upcoming work.
Tim,
thanks for this. Your work is great which is why I posted it here and at adevelopingstory.org.
Thanks for sharing this with us and I hope you inspire others to follow in your footsteps.
Benjamin