Reawakening

Recently I have been thinking again, pondering about the first cause Women Make A Difference fought: child abuse and child sex trafficking, and along with it the trafficking of women into sexual slavery.

This morning I read this story

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=540138

A UK detective who spent his life cracking down on pedophiles became one himself. Weirdly, I do not judge him. Even though I think he should receive due punishment according to the law, the way the men he had caught before have been punished.

When a crusader goes into this world to fight such evils, there are forces coming against him or her in seen and unseen ways. One cannot undermine the lure of falling into the very act one is fighting against - being exposed to the perceived "allure" of sex with a very young girl on a constant basis. In the same way narcotics officers sometimes succumb to drugs - "What is it I am fighting against, exactly?" being the fatal question - sex trafficking fighters are not immune.

So how does one insulate against such temptation? Staying fully accountable is key - always have someone to report back to about all your activities. Have your vision and mission written down and placed in a prominent place - it will remind you why you are in this job. Recognise when one is feeling temptation - and flee, as the Good Book says. It takes discipline, but it will serve the cause one has been fighting for all along. It is a personal battle that one has to win in order to continue one's life work.

So I have been thinking, musing, pondering. 1. What can WMD do? 2. Who needs help that we can help quickly?
3. What is our goal and our map to getting there?

Serendipitously I have read about Karen Tse this week (www.ibj.org) and today a friend sent me this report about little girls 7, 8 years old forced to be brides to 20something men in Hamas (http://thelastcrusade.org/2009/08/07/hamas-plays-host-to-pedophilia/), which made my heart bleed, but did not shock me - it is not dissimilar from the child brides in India.

Suffer the little children. We have much work to do.

My Blog Hymen Grew Back

Hmm, and I thought, since I had not posted for nearly a year, that this blog might actually have disappeared.

Pleasantly surprised.

If you're wondering why I suddenly so "eng" to blog, it's because my poor sweet baboo has the worst lung infection ever, caught from our adorable and very infectious five year old. Symptoms include 40 degree fever, spiking every 4 hours, body chills, vomiting and severe body aches. Duration: 7 days.

So I am home although I had originally intended to attend the Festival of Praise at the Indoor Stadium because one of my favourite heroes is speaking: Dr Ed Silvoso, author of the book Women: God's Secret Weapon, utterly brilliant and anointed man.

So I'll just have to get the CD.

I really should be starting on Christmas play because I will have two women (one also pregnant) after me in a matter of days for the first draft. It will be great - if only I could get it to write itself or Bill Gates could come up with something like a mind translator where I just need to put on a pair of headphones and think all the brilliant scripts in my brain and the manuscript is done in an hour, voila!

But first, a shower. It's promising to rain - but there are still obscene wet patches from under my pregnant boobies and I'm not even breastfeeding yet...

YOU MUST SIGN THIS!

the bright future of Indonesia, originally uploaded by thebigdurian.

Children are such beautiful creatures of God. Anyone who has a son or daughter will tell you that their laughter rings in the corners of your heart even days after you've heard it.

That anyone would take one of these bright, innocent children and sell them into a brothel, and that a Singaporean man would come in, pay money, take off his pants and enter this little child, tearing her tender flesh, if that doesn't make you feel like throwing up, I don't know what will.

WE CANNOT STAND HERE AND PRETEND IT IS NOT HAPPENING. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING BECAUSE THIS NEEDS TO STOP.

I urge you to sign this very important petition to urge our moral and good government to live up to its reputation and pass the law that will prosecute the beasts that commit such an act against humanity.

Then get 500 of your friends to do it!

We want to hit thousands of signatures -- we know our country is filled with people who want to make a difference and who want to do right.

Our deadline is 12 Oct to hit 5000 signatures.

Help us make it happen.

POSTSCRIPT: An excellent argument for/against/for/against legislation can be found here

shorebreak

shorebreak, originally uploaded by astrocruzan.

wowwwwww ... this is the kind of break I like to take.

These Women (and men) Made A Real Difference!

It's taken me a coupla days to recover from Women Expo (last Thurs through Sun) -- mainly because I had ignored so many things last week while at the Expo that they all avalanched on me these 3 days!

The Expo was great! Even though we did not hit our target of 250 t-shirts sold we did nearly half that and it was good! 120 T-shirts sold in 4 days was pretty darn good work, but the real satisfaction came from meeting and working with the passionate volunteers (who were multiple-time customers too! They were calling friends to take orders, it was just great!) and meeting and talking to women who heard about the cause and were so moved they gave donations (all of which will go direct to UNIFEM). This auntie with her daughter said, "I don't have much money, but I want to give." Her $10 was the biggest gift of the day -- I was moved to near tears.

Similarly with two young women who were helping out at a spa booth, who were so shocked by what they read and heard about child sex tourism, that they scrimped and pinched and gave up lunch money to buy the Kids' T-shirt (because it was cheaper than the grownup t's and these ladies were so small they fit into them!) I took a picture of their sacrificial giving:


Our celebrity friends helped a lot! Karen moved many. Eunice was inundated with women and children wanting to take pictures with MP but it was good because she engaged them in a conversation about the cause.


Nanz Chong, my sweet dear friend, did a spot-on job, picking on the audience as she spoke (particularly 2 men hanging at the back in shorts looking like they were waiting for us to screen photos of little children being abused -- SICKOS). Nanz sold quite a number of T-shirts indeed, and many women came looking for her to find out what she had been up to.



On Sunday afternoon WMD had a lovely surprise:

GLENDA CHONG

came to help! She wasn't there as officially "newscaster" or the station would not be happy, but she was a WMD volunteer. What an amazing show of personal conviction to the cause!!! I was very touched. Glenda and my buddy Judith stood at the front of the hall giving out flyers -- many people came to the booth, and one said "Hey, was that Glenda Chong who just gave me a flyer?!!!!"

Yes, now buy a T-shirt!


Glenda sold to one great guy, whom we call Mr Anonymous, who bought a T-shirt but didn't want to leave his name. He pledged he would never ever indulge in sex with underaged girls in any country. Now, to get another 2 million pledges...

To my volunteers -- what amazing girls -- thank you for your hard work and most of all your heart. Every bit counts. We WILL make a difference because we choose to.

And for Tomorrow.Sg and all who read this post and supported us -- thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Next up for WMD: a live discussion of the horrors of child sex tourism, 22 September, NEWSRADIO 938, 10am.

Star-Studded Sexpose!

Today was a HIT! Praise Omnipresence!!!

The pure presence of celebrity was the draw to our humble booth, manned by my mannequin without panties. (Come back here tomorrow for a photo). It is wearing our pink T-shirt and my sweater to keep it from being too distracting. (By the way it's a grown mannequin)

When actress Karen Tan (my oldest bestest friend through 4 kids between us ...) showed up, there weren't many people in the audience. But as she spoke, more ladies (and some men) came to hang around and watch and listen. The Expo turned off the sound so all anyone could hear was the clanging bell of "DON'T HAVE SEX WITH YOUNG GIRLS!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO THEM, YOU SICK PERVERT?!"


Well, not so dramatic but from the ashen faces of not a few men we knew the point hit home. A few came to sign up as volunteers after that, which was very touching. Many said they were moved by what she said -- moved enough, I hope to do something about it and not just say "So poor thing hor?". That's Karen's "WOW this is a bigger audience than some of the performances I've done!" face. How can you not love a face like that?!


Eunice Olsen, formerly Miss Singapore and also the Vanna White of Singapore, now powderful Nominated Member of Parliament (she is SUCH a cool girl) walked into the hall and suddenly I feel as royalty has entered the room and I am the official cupbearer. She's saying hi and waving to everyone because they are just GAWKING. Helps that she is awesomely beautiful and very funny. I'm going to write her a part in my next play. That's fat old me sitting next to Girl Wonder.

Anyway there were many hiccups because I am a technosaur and donno how to expand the video screen! But Eunice did a great job and was inundated with people who wanted to take pictures with her and women who said "HOW CAN I VOLUNTEER?" Which was music to my ears.

Tomorrow Nanz Chong will speak. She is going to be great -- I cannot wait! She's fun and loud and she is going to be selling T-shirts!

But the REAL stars of the day were all the people who put their names down to volunteer, everyone who bought a T-shirt, and MOST OF ALL MY FANTASTIC VOLUNTEERS!!! Janice, Pam, Cherlynn, Rain, Vera, Melissa, Pei San, Meixuan, Sook Wei, Chantal — you guys are the real deal.

COME SUPPORT WMD AT WOMEN EXPO!!

Finally WMD's getting some action going and I wish I had 5 clones of myself so I could have done some publicity before today!

WMD is at Women Expo today through Sunday (9-11 Sept) at Singapore Expo Hall 5B! We are selling our pink T-shirts (first 10 customers gets a free Shape water bottle) for $38 (women's and men's) and $25 (kids).

But the REAL attraction (apart from our beautiful booth display which I spent all afternoon yesterday putting together and which was inspired by Pam Ho, writer and cheerleader extraordinaire) is our CELEBRITY GUESTS!!

Yes, come and meet live the following lovely ladies:

• KAREN TAN, stage actress and Theatre Awards Winner last year for Best Actress in Iron. She's also my best friend! She will be educating the public on the horrors of child sex tourism and trafficking, and also sharing her views as a mother and media personality. KAREN SPEAKS AT 4.15PM TODAY (FRIDAY)


• EUNICE OLSEN, NMP and pianist extraordinaire! She will speak on the need for law to be passed to prosecute Singaporean men who go to Batam and other places (VIetnam, Cambodia, south Thailand) for sex with underaged girls (and boys). EUNICE SPEAKS AT 7.15PM TONIGHT (FRIDAY)


• NANZ CHONG, entrepreneur, trainer and former founder of ONE.99shop, will talk about what businesses can do to help women and children in poverty. Nanz is a superbly dynamic and really funny speaker who can get a crowd going! NANZ SPEAKS AT 12.30PM TOMORROW (SATURDAY)

And we have a "SECRET" celebrity news anchor coming to sell T-shirts on Sunday afternoon. She is VERY BEAUTIFUL, VERY TALENTED, and VERY BRAINY, and is currently on the cover of a respected women's magazine, and is recognised through Asia.

All these women will be happy to talk to the public about the cause and also autograph any T-shirts bought.

PLEASE PASS ON THIS MESSAGE AND COME SUPPORT US! (And there are lots of other great deals, free facials and many laughs in the Expo hall, so bring lots of friends)

WMD AT WOMEN EXPO
SINGAPORE EXPO HALL 5B
BOOTH D58
11AM TO 9PM DAILY, FRIDAY 9 SEPT THROUGH SUNDAY 11 SEPT

The Day My iPod Died

It has been one of those days.

1.15PM: ELDERLY MAN REFUSES MY SEAT
I got on the train at Tanah Merah and sat down. Usually I do this so that by the time we get to Bedok or Eunos there is usually one old person or one mother with kids to give up the seat to. One of these days I will mount a campaign to photograph people who do not give up the seats with the sign "PLEASE GIVE UP THIS SEAT FOR SOMEONE WHO NEEDS IT MORE" — pretending to sleep doesn't cut it. I have woken up many many many people before.

Anyway, today, there were a bunch of people who got on at Bedok and stood in front of me. Then on climbed this dude who must be like, 80, more wrinkles than a bulldog. But I should have suspected he is in denial because his hair was coloured CARROT.

Anyway, I was sitting 4 seats away from the door, and Mr Carrot came in and hung round the door. There were 2 slouchers standing in front of me and the minute I took my bag one of them actually positioned his bum in front of me so that as I pulled away he can reverse into the parking lot. Incredible.

So I half-hung my bag on the seat, got up, climbed over the extended legs of this teen girl next to me and reached the object of my kindness.

Who looked at me and shook his head like "What? Do I look like I'm pregnant?"

"不要“　he said.

I looked at him incredulously and nearly said something that hasn't exited my lips since 2003.

I wish he got on at BUGIS, one stop before I had to get off so at least my humiliation would be only one stop long. An old angmo saw all that transpired and snickered at me. And Mr Parking Ass got the seat.

4.00PM: WMD T-SHIRTS INFESTED WITH TERMITES
UNIFEM calls up and says that some of our fundraiser T-shirts were in boxes and that the boxes, together with a lot of other boxes, were infested with termites.

So many thoughts flashed through my mind I thought I might explode.

Anyway, I went to check out the damage and they had rescued two boxes (thank God). But there was one remaining box that was beset with the nasty buggers. As my able helper commented, "I thought termites had gone out with the '50s."

There was police tape around the area that had been visited by the pestbuster company, and I was not allowed to touch the boxes for fear that the termites might still be alive and would spread.

All this just before Women Expo which opens on Thursday — we were hoping to sell all the extra T-s there. Now there are no M's and L's to be sold.

Very very bad mood. Former cusswords appear in the window of my mind, but I resisted uttering them.

9.00PM: MY IPOD CALLS IT A DAY
Just when I thought I would just come home from a terrible day, drink some diet root beer and watch CSI, I take out my iPod to charge and notice that it had gone deathly still. "Just needs to be charged," I told myself. But it had passed away, quietly as this horrible day drew to a close.

I just realised it's been 3 years to this day that I first bought it: 6 Sept 2002.

Farewell my sweet friend, you who have been with me on countless flights, through the streets of Chicago and Salt Lake City, you who have accompanied me on countless days when I rode the train to see my mom in hospital and in the hospice ...

I'm going to sleep, and when I wake up, I pray it will be a termite-less day, and I might find the funds to get a new iPod somehow ... (yeah I know the grave ain't even cold yet, but I can't live without my white knight).