I want to ride my bicycle

Wanna see how cool my brothers are?

Red Skelton

Red Skelton was one of many great American comedians when my mom was growing up and she showed this to me today. I love what he says here about the pledge of allegiance. Take a look...



I wish this kind of eloquence was more common these days.

Just take a look at this

My dad showed me this article in the Deseret News today. It's extremely weird and very ironic that something we were working to prevent in Thailand has actually been happening in our own backyard for almost half of my life. Read.

A story of modern slavery in Utah

Thais tricked, trapped and imported here to be slaves

Published: Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010 1:01 a.m. MDT

By Lee Davidson, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Chan, a short man but strong from a lifetime of labor in rice fields, tells how he blundered into a trap when he left Thailand to work abroad. In fact, the U.S. government officially calls him, in diplomatic parlance, a victim of "human trafficking."

Chan is more blunt. "We were slaves," he says about himself and scores of fellow Thai workers.

He says their employer controlled their movement. If they failed to work long and hard, the employer could ensure that their families back home would lose everything. Housing lacked enough heat in freezing winters and air conditioning in scorching summers. They repeatedly went hungry and even trapped wild birds to subsist.

That did not occur in Sudan, Burma or some other infamous Third World slavery abyss.

It happened in Utah — from 2005 to 2007 for a group of workers from Thailand who eventually managed to get help, freedom and a new life in America.

With their experiences as a starting base, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating what could become the largest human trafficking case in U.S. history.

At the center of scrutiny is Global Horizons, a Los Angeles-based company that recruited people in Thailand for farm work in the United States. It eventually placed some of them with two Utah companies: Circle Four pig farms in Milford and at Delta Eggs chicken farms in Delta.

Chan, Bon, Tin and Rong — all pseudonyms because they and their lawyer fear extended families in Thailand could be targeted because they are talking to the press — look like Americans now.

The skinny men wear polo shirts or T-shirts, blue jeans and sneakers. Their haircuts are American-style. They grin as they talk about America and its opportunities, sounding like politicians on the Fourth of July. One of their T-shirts even says "American Tradition" and has an eagle on it. Tin just came from a job interview in the land of opportunity.

They share their stories while seated around a polished conference table at Utah Legal Services, a nonprofit that gives legal aid to the poor. They say that agency and attorney Alex McBean rescued them and won them "T visas" from the Department of Homeland Security as victims of human trafficking. Those visas allow them to stay in America and seek permanent residency.

The four tell how they were conned into what sounded like a good deal to work in America, only to land in modern slavery in Utah. They became victims of human trafficking even though each had worked abroad previously without problems on farms and in factories in such countries as Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Israel.

...

Read the rest of the article at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700057024/A-story-of-modern-slavery-in-Utah.html?pg=1.

ประเทศไทย

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by

demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry,

and die, it can introduce the idea that if we

try and understand each other, we

may even become friends."

Maya Angelou

One year older

It was Rose's birthday yesterday! The big 21. Congratulations Rosemary! You're the best cousin a girl could ever ask for.

Big news

We are sad to report that we're no longer in Thailand. We overstayed our welcome and got kicked out. Actually, no that's not what happened. The bubonic plague broke out in Thailand so we got pulled out. Actually, that's not what happened either. The bubonic plague only broke out in Burma, I think.

The reason we're home is because last Wednesday we stepped onto an airplane that brought us from Chiang Rai all the way to Salt Lake City with a few stops in between.

So here we are. Back to the boring old life again with no ostrich riding, bamboo carrying, watchtower building activities to report. For now.

Adios, Thailand. Thanks for being good to us.

Yi sip et....the big 21

I'm slightly embarrassed that I forgot to do this three weeks ago, but...I guess it's better late than never. Holly turned 21 years old on June 21. The golden birthday!

Most of you know how great Holly is, but I would just like to say that living here in Thailand with her for the past two and a half months has been pretty fun. Like living with your best friend all the time. We haven't had any huge arguments yet, just small squabbles that sometimes make our friends here feel uncomfortable until they realize we aren't really mad at each other, just making our usual banter. More like siblings than anything else.

Anyway, Holly is great.

Happy Birthday, Holly!