Tieng Viet lovers club - Page 892

jackbl · #**13366** 20-11-2013, 09:49 AM

Child street vendors are victims of sexual abuse in Vietnam
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Young girls working as street vendors are the most vulnerable to sexual abuse due to their innocence, lack of knowledge, and habit of talking to potentially dangerous male customers.

The risk increases at night, when men go out to eat and drink after work.

The long dark alleys characteristic of Saigon are considered “full of risks,” but contain the most potential clients for street vendors.

Cases of abuse

At 10:00pm on a weekend, Ngoc—a young girl aged 11—wandered the alleys of district 5, the epicenter of blue-collar workers in the city, to sell lottery tickets. The alleys are dimly lit with yellow electric lights.

A group of three men chatting in front of a house in the alley waved to call her over. While she held out a wad of lottery tickets to one of the men, another man gently rubbed Ngoc’s hand and pulled her close to him.

She struggled violently in fear and escaped him. However, Ngoc returned to the alley the following day simply because she knew there were many customers there.

Despite her youth, Ngoc is 1.5m tall and has the facial and body features of a beautiful woman.

Ngoc is one of thousands of female vendors on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City who face sexual abuse daily. A recent survey carried out by the Research Center for Management and Sustainable Development (MSD) and Denmark’s Vietnam-based NGO Fontana showed that 92.5 percent of 120 street children aged 8-18 said they had been sexually abused.

Ngoc said, embarrassed, “My grandmother told me to run away and shout for help if a man touches me. I think that man attempted to embrace me but did nothing, so I just ran away.”

The young girl recalled that a man once snatched the bag of money she was wearing around her neck when she was hawking in an alley in the city.

Older girls who work on the street occasionally interact with male customers to earn extra money.

Long, a 9-year-old boy who works on the streets of the Backpackers’ area in District 1, pointed at a girl while she was leaving a bar with a man. Long said the girl is Ty, 10. Infatuated with her natural beauty and rosy complexion, the man is Ty’s regular customer.

“Initially, she hawked gum and candy with me. She met him and he said he would buy her candy if she showed him her private parts. Later, he often gave her cakes, candy, and money and took her with him.

“He introduces her as his adopted daughter. They sleep together every night,” Long said.

However, Long believes, “That is not a violation because she voluntarily did it for money. Some other men asked her to go to their rooms to watch films and let them touch her. That’s all, it’s OK.”

It is a lack of knowledge that allows street vendors to be so susceptible to abuse. According to the above survey, 14 of 15 sexually-abused street vendors have never heard of sexual abuse. Many of them have no knowledge of contraception, safe sex, or sexually transmitted diseases.

Some street vendors who are homeless orphans fall in love with each other and often get together in a park or under a bridge to use drugs or have sex.

“No one loves me on the street. That boy cares for me and I certainly love him,” said Trang, a 16-year vendor who started hawking at the age of 13.

Other girls are raped after they are convinced to enter customers’ houses. Boys have also been victims of sexual abuse.

Last year’s report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs showed that Vietnam has over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse a year on average, and this number is increasing. 65 percent of the abuse cases were child rapes, with 28 percent raped multiple times.

Last year, Ho Chi Minh City had 1,500 homeless children, according to the report.

jackbl · #**13367** 20-11-2013, 09:51 AM

When children must work to support their families
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Having no parental support, abandoned children are forced onto the street to earn money for food to survive. They are easily susceptible to risks such as sexual abuse, drug addiction, and crime.

After being abused or committing a crime, children often believe they have nothing more to lose and do not seek help because they are weary or feel inferior. This causes them to plunge deeper into evil.

Long, 10, who hawks wares in the backpackers’ area in District 1, tells people, “I am gay.” However, the innocent boy may not understand what he is saying, as he believes any boy who has sex with a man for money is ‘gay’.

Support families

Street children in Ho Chi Minh City are not all orphans or homeless. A recent survey showed that the number of street children who have houses and families in this city is actually larger than those who are homeless.

But why do they choose life on the street?

Their families are not a source of support but a burden to them. The parents of these children don’t let them go to school, but rather force them to go to work as vendors to make them money.

Thanh, 12, a smart girl with a lovely face, is one such child who has to support her family despite her youth. By selling candy, cigarettes, and gum and begging for money at fuel stations downtown, Thanh said she can earn VND500,000 – 600,000 (US$24 – 29) a day.

She has to hand over all the money she earns to her parents, she admitted.

Her parents are quite healthy but don’t work. Even worse, when Thanh was admitted into free classes at charity centers in the city, her parents came and forced her to leave the classes because ‘learning doesn’t earn money’.

Other parents from immigrant families in the city do realize the importance of education but have to make their children work because they can’t afford to support their family on their own, with the meager wages of a brick layer or street vendor.

Binh, 13, left his family in the central province of Binh Thuan to move to Saigon, hoping to find a job to support his family at home. After getting off a bus in Mien Dong (Eastern) bus station, he was approached by a male motorbike taxi driver who offered to help him find a job.

The following day, Binh was sexually abused by the motorbike taxi driver.

Some try to escape, but others accept abuse as a temporary job.

A 9-year-old lottery ticket vendor named Bao admitted he has to let a man touch his private parts on the days he can’t sell tickets.

“I’m afraid of being beaten and owing money for being unable to sell tickets, so I do it for money in return,” Bao said honestly.

Often, it is foreign tourists who approach child vendors for sex.

Unexpected children

A small number of street vendors are abandoned by their families after they admit that they are gay. They are forced out of their homes because of their parents’ prejudices and lack of knowledge.

Other street children are the product of unwanted pregnancies of street girls aged 14-16 who must have their babies because they realize they are pregnant when they are already five months or more along.

Having no capacity to raise their children safely, these “little mothers,” whose children are often the product of sexual abuse, often work as prostitutes or delve into drug use.

Many young mothers even sell their infants for a sum of money to satisfy their drug addictions.

A report of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs showed that almost 2,000 cases of sexually abused children were brought to light each year, meaning more than five children are abused a day.

jackbl · #**13368** 21-11-2013, 10:19 AM

HCM City to relicense discotheques after years
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VietNamNet Bridge – The Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City is drafting a discos and karaoke parlor planning, under which new discotheques and karaoke bars may be licensed based on the demands and proposals of each district.

After years of halting the licenses of new discotheques and karaoke bars, HCM City Vice Chairman – Mr. Hua Ngoc Thuan has assigned the HCMC Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism to draft the planning for this kind of entertainment services in the city from now to 2020.

Under this plan, the city government will license discotheques and karaoke bars in districts at the demands and proposals of the local authorities. However, management over these businesses will be tightened to control social evils. The license of new discotheques and karaoke bars must have the consent of relevant bodies, not only the local authorities.

HCM City currently has about 750 karaoke bars, studios, 25 bars and discotheques. Since 2005, under the government’s instruction on tightening the operation of sensitive services, the city has not licensed any new discotheques and karaoke bars.

In relation to the operation of sensitive services, earlier this year HCM City proposed the central government to zone an area for “sensitive businesses” to prevent and reduce prostitution, which tends to become more complex and widespread in the city.

If the government approves the idea, the city will select an area which is relatively isolated from the central area to host all bars, discos, restaurants, motels and spa centers.

In addition, all female workers in this area must have a labor contract and have periodic health checks to ensure no spread of the diseases to others.

Le Ha

jackbl · #**13369** 25-11-2013, 12:35 AM

Sleeping with call girls earns $24-$237 fines: decree
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The Vietnamese government has just passed a decree under which clients of prostitutes will be punished more severely than the call girls. In particular, sex buyers will be fined VND500,000-VND1 million (US$23.7-$47.4).

However, those who pay to have sex with several prostitutes at the same time will be fined from VND2 million ($94.8) to VND5 million ($237), according to decree 167/2013/ND-CP to take effect from December 28 this year.

Those who lure or force others to buy sex with them will be fined VND5 milion-VND10 million (up to $474.3).

For prostitutes, the punishment is much softer. In particular, they will be issued a warning (non-pecuniary) in less severe cases or a monetary fine of VND100,000-VND300,000 (up to $14). If they are found to have sex with many clients at the same time, they will be fined from VND300,000 to VND500,000 ($23.7).

If the prostitutes are foreigners, they can be deported from Vietnam.

The decree also details monetary punishment for a variety of offenses including providing real estate to others to be used as a brothel (VND1 million-VND2 million); hiding, protecting prostitution activities (VND2 million-VND5 million)…

Also, heads of businesses that, through their ignorance and irresponsibility, harbor prostitution will be fined VND15 million-VND20 million.

Violating businesses will have their licenses suspended for 6-12 months.

Besides prostitution, the decree also regulates punishment in the field of security, fire fighting and prevention and family violence.

Last year, authorities nationwide inspected over 30,000 sensitive venues, found nearly 11,000 violating parlors, handled over 1,100 cases and criminally treated 800 cases involving over 1,000 people. Police managed to rescue many child victims.

During the first 6 months of this year, police nationwide handled 172 prostitution cases. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there were 109 establishments found with violations during the period.

jackbl · #**13370** 25-11-2013, 02:03 PM

What is sex if not obscene?
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After taking a nap, I stumbled upon this odd story on Tuoitrenews and am compelled to write out. The article is about proposed fines on prostitutes and clients but one thing weird is the phrase “sex of an obscene nature”.

To cut to the chase, “sex of an obscene nature” with a prostitute will incur a fine of $476, ten times more than the fine for normal paid sex.

Well, I can agree to the logic that the dirtier the sex is, the more money you have to pay (sounds acceptable). Also, the proposal has threesome or foursome pay heavier fines, which is fine since at least we have specific parameters.

But when it comes to “sex of an obscene nature”, I am at a loss. Worse, the security ministry, which drafted the legal proposal, fails to offer any definition or explanation.

According to an online dictionary, “obscene” means “offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency” or “offensive to moral principles; repugnant”. So what is socially or culturally accepted norms when it comes to sex? And who sets out the norms?

While it is relatively easy to say what is obscene and what is not in the US as the country has obscenity laws, many other parts of the world including Vietnam do not have them.

If there is no legal definition, it is open to interpretation and a fertile land for corruption. Need I talk about corruption in Vietnam?

As far as I understand, the Ministry of Public Security could have meant S&M, bestiality or other socially unaccepted sexual acts (I bet bestiality is out of the question since this only involves paid sex and no one pays to have sex with an animal).

So what do they mean by “sex of an obscene nature”?

Guesswork leads me to the American legal phrase “deviate sexual intercourse". According to the US law, "deviate sexual intercourse" means any contact between the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another person.

But even If my speculation is correct, the Vietnam’s draft decree is still confusing as it does not explain anything. This is a legal guide and supposed to be unambiguous.

However, even when the definition is given, who is to say for sure if their sex at a closed hotel room is “deviate” or not. It’s not like they have a camera recording their sexual activities to be submitted to a panel of judges who would analyze and decide whether the client is “obscene” towards their girl or not.

More often than not, the prostitute and her customer are caught in the act by surprise and inspectors really have no idea what activities couple has engaged in, except when they catch them red-handed with S&M tools or toys. But do S&M and sex toys constitute “obscenity”? The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security is mute on that.

If the ministry really wants to use the phrase, it must give a definition and list out some banned acts. I bet they won’t due to Vietnam’s culturally conservative nature especially when it comes to the birds and the bees.

According to Tuoitrenews, the original Vietnamese words for “obscene” is “doi truy”. As I asked my Vietnamese friends what “doi truy” meant, I heard definitions like “sexy” “nude” “pornographic”, “lustful”… Wow. If that is true, ALL (100%) sexual acts are of a “doi truy” nature.

When I pry deeper, my local friends googled and gave me the following Wiktionary definition: “doi truy” means “Đi ra ngoài khuôn khổ những gì được cho là đúng, ngoan, tốt, không được xã hội chấp nhập. Khác thường, không được truyền thống” or going beyond what is considered right, wise; not accepted by society; abnormal, not traditional. But exactly what it entails and what are examples of a “doi truy" act, none can tell (including the security ministry, I guess).

Personally for me, all sex is of an obscene or deviate nature, to some degree, be it with prostitutes or with one’s spouse. (you can check this next time before criticizing me).

And what happens between consensual adults in a closed room should stay in the closed room. I always disagree with sodomy laws criminalizing “unnatural or immoral” sex (to use Wikipedia words) like oral, anal sex. But at least, they have some definitions there.

Next time you go to bed, remember to be nice culturally and be refined, moral and non-deviate in doing it with your mate.

jackbl · #**13371** 26-11-2013, 09:17 AM

Learn Vietnamese with Video - What Will Your Vietnamese Skills Bring to the Table??

jackbl · #**13372** 27-11-2013, 10:53 AM

If you are diligent and hardworking, you can earn quite a substantial amount of money

Catching locusts, earning million dong a day
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VietNamNet Bridge – Catching locusts has become a lucrative job of many farmers in Quynh Luu district in Nghe An province.

At dawn, when the sun did not rise up yet, a group of four men and one woman were present on the field of Quynh Thach commune, Quynh Luu district to catch grasshoppers. Their tools are a net of 50-60m long, small bamboo slats and a coil of rope of hundreds of meters long binding small bags containing chopped rice leaves.

The teams both walked and stretched the long rope on the field to drive away grasshoppers to the area where they set the net. Being driven away, the locusts flew at the "instruction" of the hunters. In minutes, locusts covered the net and these people only needed to collect the net and pour the locusts into a sack. Each catch, they gained 30-40 kg of grasshoppers.

Grasshopper hunting has become a job of many people in Quynh Luu district for 4-5 years. Quynh Thanh commune is the location of origin of this job. Initially, locust catchers ran motorcycles along the fields and used rackets to catch grasshoppers. But this measure could not help them catch locusts in large amounts. When locust prices increased rapidly, local people “invented” the above method.

Having worked for five years in the profession, Mr. Ho Van Tao from Quynh Thanh commune, considered catching grasshoppers as a profession to earn a living. Getting married so late at the age of 40, his first child is only 9 years old. Tao and his wife left their four children to Tao’s parents to earn their living.

The harvest time is the golden time for locusts hunters. No matter rain or sun, they are present on the field. These days, Tao and other people in his hamlet drive motorbikes to all fields in the district.

During the peak period in July, the price for one kilo of fresh grasshopper was VND50,000 ($2.5), Tao and his teammates went to other provinces like Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa to catch locusts.

They usually work from dawn to late afternoon. Some days, a team of 4-5 people can catch several hundreds of kilos of locusts in a morning. They sell locusts to traders, who will then transport the pests to Hanoi. Tao said he can earn million dong (at least $50) a day.

Seeing high revenue from this job, hundreds of people in Quynh Thanh commune have pursued it.

Because so many people are hunting grasshoppers, the price for this pest is declining. "The price for grasshoppers has fallen to VND17,000-20,000 ($0.7-1) per kilo. But if you are diligent and hardworking, you can earn money more easily than other job trades," said Mr. Le Van Phuong, 32, from Quynh Thanh commune, a teammate of Tao.

At restaurant in Hanoi, a dish of roasted grasshoppers (about 100 g) is priced from VND60,000 to VND80,000 ($3-4).

VNE

jackbl · #**13373** 28-11-2013, 01:01 AM

More lesbians show their faces at school
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VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of female students in Can Tho City have joined teenagers’ forums just to fight over the same-sex marriage right. They acknowledge themselves as lesbians, though they are actually not lesbians.

Two female students, one with short hair and the other with long hair, were seen sitting in the middle of the school yard cuddling each other in front of their friends. They did not care about the people around them and ignored the teachers as well.

The scene was seen at a high school in Can Tho City. When asked about this, the school’s Communist Youth Union’s Secretary said there are six couples of lesbians in the school.

The two students looked like a couple of husband and wife who were sulky with each other. The student with long hair asked: “Why did you keep me waiting for such a long time” – “I had to wait until the lesson finished,” the student with short hair answered – “I will not forgive you if you keep me waiting long once more.”

In the conversation, the student – wife expressed her jealousy when hearing that her partner went out with a boy named T the day before. The student – husband affirmed that this would never happen. The dialogue of the couple only finished when the student with short hair promised to bring the student with long hair to a riddle cake after the school hours.

The noteworthy thing was that the conversation and the gestures of the couple did not surprise the students around. They continued playing during the break time.

“There are six couples of lesbians at our school,” the school’s Communist Youth Union’s Secretary said. “But they are not lesbians actually. It is a trend of becoming lesbians,” she said.

“The love sounds very romantic, but they would separate just after one year. However, this is really a big headache to the teachers and students,” she continued.

The students always hold each other’s hands lovingly at school and everywhere. Some of them even kiss each other in front of friends and teachers. Most of them have been found as being from the families with intricate circumstances and their learning capability is weak.

“We met the couples a lot of times and tried to persuade them to rethink their behaviors. The psychology teacher has also given advices to them. But we still cannot do anything to separate them,” she said.

The owner of a tea shop near the school also said that a lot of lesbian couples come to the shop regularly in school uniforms. “I don’t know what to do with them. I am afraid that I would acquire bad reputation as the person who has antipathy for lesbians and gays,” he said.

“I think they are not lesbians actually. Some of them have boyfriends after saying goodbye to each other,” he noted.

A lot of female students in Can Tho City have become the active members of the teenagers’ forums which fight for the same-sex marriage right. A student showed her photo on the forum and is recognized as a lesbian.

Mai Chi