Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
through the border like dirty water through a colander, and hence
needle-borne illnesses passed back and forth between the two coun­
tries with similar ease. Anyone could see that addicts were plentiful
among all those young women of the pink-lit “beauty parlors.” I say
“women,” but perhaps it’s best to describe them as girls. Many had
been abducted from small villages at the age of twelve or thirteen
and drugged into compliance. The lighting gave them a healthier
glow, but one needed only to look at their meatless legs and arms to
see that some were being eaten away by AIDS. A few sported short
hairdos, having sold their locks to wig buyers. Quick kwai were al­
ways necessary when business was slow and the habit too strong. But
you could cut your long hair only once.
When it came to vices, China could not stem the tide; it had to
stanch it the way one daubs a bleeding artery. Prostitution was ille­
gal, but in plain sight on nearly every block. In Ruili, there was more
supply than demand. At most of the shops, two or three teenaged
girls with bored faces sat on sectional sofas. They watched soap op­
eras and game shows on television. The busier girls served drinks to
their customers. The men, full of bluster, preferred to go in groups as
if it were a competitive sport, each one having a go at the same girl.
And in some shops there was only an empty storefront. The work
took place behind the curtains, where there was a cot, a chair, a
basin, and a single towel for washing up. Clothes-off was extra.
The bus turned a corner. “Over there,” Lulu called out, and
pointed to a shop where a man and a woman were seated at comput­
ers. “Internet café. Twelve kwai for forty-five minutes. Last chance.
Once you go into Myanmar, no more Internet. Is not allow.” Rupert
made a mental note to return here.
The bus left town and went down darkened roads for several miles
until it reached a restaurant consisting of two open-air pavilions, il­
luminated only by blue Christmas lights. Feast now, slim down later,
127