Born into Brothels

Wow.

I just got done watching this documentary: http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/bornintobrothels/

I'm speechless, maybe dumbstruck, or maybe I'm awestruck.

I'm speechless at the conditions these children exist in. The physical conditions, what they must have been seeing from their earliest ages in those brothels, how they see their mothers being treated, or their fathers acting. To see ten-year olds recount their parents deplorable behavior and end their sentence with...but I know I must love them anyways. To see their hearts on full display is beautiful and heartbreaking in the same instance.

Dumbstruck is my view of the woman in the film. She is devoting herself entirely to these children without any guarantee of success. I can't help but wonder how she got to this point, what motivates her, and what provides her this endurance.

Combine the two together and I'm awestruck. I know that I should never underestiate the resiliance of the human spirit, but these children have odds so frightening I can't believe they can continue to get up each day let alone have the advernturaous bold spirits that they do. At one point in the film they must all be tested for HIV and the feeling of fear that the woman possess for them brings the viewer starkingly close to the reality of these children's existence. They live in a brothel...they've always lived in a brothel...sometimes for generations of their family.

There is something about being ripped from your reality into the reality of our world that is hard to describe. I say ripped because I've been so caught in my own life that I have developed a warped reality. I've been consumed by the anxiety and stress of finding a job and graduating from college. I've failed to see the amazing opportunities that await me and the blessing that education has been. At one point in the film one of the children's mothers is burnt to death by her pimp. The son later states "there is no hope in my future". I don't know which is more frightening...the fact that he actually knows what that statement means or that he feels that way at such a young age.

This was an unbelievably powerful film and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested. I really can't describe it right now.