ROCK PEOPLE. . . MAKING DOLLS by Patrick R. Anderson

Essays by Pat

The Hill Tribe people in the northern regions of Thailand, near the borders with Laos and Burma, are among the poorest and most disadvantaged people I have encountered. The children are easy targets for kidnappers who sell them into prostitution and slavery. The parents are susceptible to loan sharks and opium addiction.

To say that the hill tribe people are poor does not adequately state their plight. I have never seen such dispossessed, disenfranchised people. Often they hold no citizenship, so they have no government help. The trade in young girls is so prevalent, it seems almost normal.

As young girls grow to age 8 or so, the loan sharks who hover around the villages watch for opportunities to "help" a family. Perhaps the crops in the field fail, or perhaps the father's opium habit has taken the last bit of food or money from the family. Then, the loan shark comes to the rescue, offering food or money…with the young daughter held as collateral. Of course, usually the debt cannot be paid, so the girl is sold to the pimps. Usually she will never be seen or heard from again, either dying from AIDS or being killed by her owners.

Sometimes fathers actually sell their daughters, and sometimes they are stolen as they walk alone in rural areas, or sleep in their villages. Sometimes girls will even sell themselves in an act of desperate family loyalty in very hard times.

I have seen first-hand the plight of the poor villagers, but when CBF missionaries in that region began to live among those poorest of the poor, they began to develop ways to help prevent more exploitation. Robert Mills, Enoch Booth and I were privileged to be on the ground floor of the "Doll-Making" strategy.

Yanira Peguero had noticed the sewing skills of the women in the nine villages she and her husband, Ascanio, work in along with Rick and Ellen Burnette. The people had not yet developed any art or cultural crafts to sell to the tourists, but their unique style of dress made Yanira think a possible trade opportunity existed for making dolls. She spent many hours talking with the women, learning about how they weave the material for their clothing from thread, and how each part has meaning.

While the three of us were visiting in one of the villages, Yanira explained how she had at last trained a few of the women to make the dolls and had helped them understand how this work could provide a more dependable source of income. She said that if she could purchase nine foot-pedaled Singer sewing machines, she could set up a shop in each village. And the good part is that if the family had this source of income, THE GIRLS COULD BE SAVED FROM PROSTITUTION! What a deal! Robert, Enoch and I immediately shelled out money for the sewing machines, CBF-Florida sent money to buy enough raw materials to get the project started.

Now, at last, the women have produced enough dolls for us to make them available to you. The money you give will go directly to produce more dolls and provide a source of income for villagers who have never had anyone show love and concern for them.

If you want a doll, with information to help explain the meaning of the articles of clothing, let us know. These dolls can be used well as a mission education tool.

Yanira provides thread and a doll forms, all the rest is hand crafted. All of the clothing and adornments are exact replicas of the actual dress of the people, made from the same materials and in the same way.

The cost to produce a doll is $25. Shipping and handling from Thailand to the U.S. adds another $5. What is it worth to save a young girl's life?