Walk of Love
The ‘Walk of Love’ pieces are inspired by the courage, determination, and resilience of Thao Anh, a young woman from Vietnam.
Watch her film or read her story below:
When she was only eleven years old, Thao Anh was kidnapped at a local market and trafficked to China. Torn away from her loving family in Vietnam, Thao Anh was forced into slave labour. When she was twelve, Thao Anh was sold as a child bride to an older man. Although she wanted to go back home to her parents, Thao Anh was told she had ‘no choice’ but to stay with the man’s family and provide a son. After a while, Thao Anh became pregnant with his child and delivered a son; alone in the hospital without any visits from her ‘husband’ or his family.
Thao Anh returned to the family’s home to show them the baby, but was told by her mother-in-law to go back to her own country because they were no longer welcome. Thao Anh put the child on her back and started walking back to Vietnam. This journey took three months.
As a young mother, Thao Anh did not have any money to buy food for herself or for her child. Although people stopped on the road to offer help, Thao Anh did not accept for fear that they would trick her and sell her back into captivity. When she arrived back home, Thao Anh’s feet were so swollen she was hardly able to walk. Reunited with her family and community back home, Thao Anh stayed in Vietnam for years to raise her son.
But life was still far from easy. Salaries are low in Vietnam, and Thao Anh struggled to provide financially for her family. When her son was seven years old, Thao Anh found an offer on Facebook for a higher-paying job in Thailand. After accepting the offer and arriving in Thailand, Thao Anh found out that the job offer was a lie, and she was instead trafficked into Myanmar and sent to work inside a scam compound.
Refusing to work and aware now of the danger, Thao Anh told the other girls who were with her that they needed to escape. Together, they escaped by jumping from a 5th story window into a river. However, after contacting the police, the women were arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for immigration violation, since they did not have a visa to be in the country.
After being exploited for over a year in prison, the Vietnam embassy was able to help release Thao Anh and the other women. They were taken to an Eden safehouse, where Thao Anh finally felt safe and at peace. ‘For the first time’, Thao Anh says, ‘I have met people who actually want to help me’. She is now able to focus on raising her son and healing from the trauma she has experienced.
Our ‘Walk of Love’ pieces is a reminder of the bravery of women like Thao Anh and the strength to continue walking when the journey is rough.
‘Every day I’m getting a little happier, one day at a time’. -Thao Anh
