Posts Tagged Brothel

Women Break Free From the Status Quo & Abuse in More Than Rice

May 16, 2011 - No Comments by - Blog / Updates

POWER OF WOMEN
5/15/11

Pamala Kennedy Chestnut’s More Than Rice is a moving testament to the power of women to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and the conditions of abusively patriarchal societies and practices.

oppression-of-women-human-trafficking

Women Oppressed

When Gabriela Mendoza is abducted in the Philippines and forced to work in a brothel in Manila, she feels helpless, sobbing at the wretched fate that has befallen her and pleading with God.  Over time, she transforms from helpless to strong, and inspires the other women in the brothel to unlock their potentials and summon their courage.
Gabriela restores the confidence, dignity, and courage that the sex trade has taken from them, empowering the other women to look to the future and learn skills that will help them succeed outside of the brothel, teaching them cooking, defense, needlework, reading, and writing.  By enlisting the help of other girls to help teach their individual skills and shine, she restores confidence and pride to the women who have been systematically denied their confidence and pride by the abusive practices of human trafficking. The other women are given hope by the girls, as they prepare them for the day that they are freed, confident that that day will come, and giving them something to look forward to and prepare for in their otherwise miserable lives.
As the plot unfolds, the true power of women is revealed, and the formerly powerless women of the brothel change the course of their own lives and many others who are suffering.  More Than Rice shows the undefeatable nature of the human spirit, and how the courage, confidence, and strength of women give them the potential to overcome great tragedy and abuse.  Chestnut’s work simultaneously calls the attention of readers to a horrific practice that claims the freedom of 3 million new women each year, while instilling an uplifting underlying message, deftly interweaving compelling themes, page-turning plot, artfully rendered characters, and social issues.

Finally from Pamala: I’m going to a large and influential country by invitation of their President to talk about the problem of human trafficking.  Thank you for your prayers for me as I undertake this awesome endeavor.

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Role of Women in Other Cultures & Human Trafficking

May 8, 2011 - No Comments by - Blog / Updates

Trafficking In Persons Report Map 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Pamala Kennedy Chestnut’s More Than Rice exposes the shocking treatment of women in many Asian cultures through the evocative fictional portrayal of three women in a Malaysian brothel.
5/8/11

Each of her central characters was kidnapped for human trafficking from a different country, exposing the unique cultural injustices towards women of each of the cultures from which they come.

Gabriela Mendoza is only seventeen years old when she is captured in the Philippines and taken to Malaysia, where she is forced to work in a brothel.  It is not only through the story of Gabriela and the other girls while they are in the brothel that is shocking to readers, but also the narratives of each of the girls who Gabriela meets, whose treatment and conditions before coming to the brothel represent lives of tragedy, all based in real cultural norms of other societies.
Perhaps the most heart-rending of all of the tales is that of Maylin, a Chinese girl whose arranged marriage results in disastrous consequences.  Her sad tale begins before her birth, when her mother refused to have a sonogram, as many Chinese women of her era did—In hopes that the one child they were permitted would be a male.  Although her mother accepts her as a daughter, her father remains bitter that she is female and Maylin is a great disappointment.  Maylin’s family arranges a “very appropriate” marriage for her just before her seventeenth birthday, which will ostensibly restore honor to the family, as her parents hope for a grandson from an honorable family.

After losing her first baby after three months, she loses three more babies, which her husband and family view as a sign of weakness and shame.  Her mother-in-law beats her and when she returns to live with her family, she is locked out of her father’s home, turned away as a “disgrace.”  Maylin is left on the streets, shunned for her “bad luck” and is forced to sleep under a bridge; the homeless and starving girl is promised food and shelter by the brothel owner, and, in order to survive, she must become a part of the sex trade, living a life of which she is ashamed.

More Than Rice is a shocking expose’ both of human trafficking and the low regard in which women are held in many cultures.  Through the abuses and injustices that her fictional characters endure, Chestnut raises awareness for the many women who are relegated to similar lives throughout the world, victims of their culture, providing readers with a thought-provoking social commentary.

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Taken & Trafficked- A Journey Through the Underworld of Human Trafficking

October 28, 2010 - 1 Comment by - Blog / Updates

More Than Rice is a journey through the underworld of human trafficking

Gabriela Mendoza puts a face to the gut-wrenching tragedy of the 3 million women and children that are abducted every year and sold into human trafficking. MORE THAN RICE gives the reader an up close and personal look into this dark world of girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen, stolen and forced to work in brothels.

After being kidnapped from her home in Manila, Gabriela is sent via cargo ship to Malaysia and joins a group of thirty girls in the Tent Room Barracks. It is there that Gabriela learns her destiny is not the brothel, but a much greater one lies ahead.

While in the tent room barracks Gabriela morphs from a naïve, self-centered teenager into a compassionate and often fearless leader of the group. Once strangers from many cities, the girls decide to regain their true self-worth and Gabriela leads them in forming the Circle School to teach them skills to survive in the outside world should they ever escape the brothel and be free. In the barracks Gabriel meets three soul mates and they form a lasting bond. Soon after arriving Gabriela discovers her real mission – she has been chosen to give love, freedom and hope; more than rice, to the girls.  After arriving in Hong Kong Gabriela discovers her real mission – she has been chosen to give freedom and hope, more than rice to the girls.

MORE THAN RICE is more than just a good read – it is an invitation to join the author in making a difference in the world.

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