Dear Journal:
I am Lamai. My name means gentle although I am not gentle anymore. I live in Chiang Mai, Thailand close to the border of Myanmar that you may know as Burma. Living on the border of Thailand is very dangerous. There are many rebels, bandits and smugglers.
Until recently, I worked in a sweatshop sewing blue jeans from sunup to sundown. I worked with 40 other girls and women. I worked for a white man from America who visited our sweatshop often so he could have his pick of Thai girls. I called him Mr. American to his face. This made him smile real big. Sometimes he would give me chocolate candy. I always ate it but it made me very sick. It tastes very good though.
I write this now because a friend of Mr. American's fancied me. He liked me so much that he wanted me for himself. I call him Mr. Hero. He likes this. I am happy to be out of the sweatshop. I am sorry for my sisters I left behind but sometimes I get to see them. Mr. Hero will bring one of them from the sweatshop to join in our sex. Afterwards, he will let us catch up on gossip and give each other hugs and kisses.
Sometimes he likes to watch us do sex together. We do it because we must keep him happy. We say things to each other in Thai like Mr. Hero; his wank is ugly and shriveled. We say it like we are talking sexy. He does not know and thinks we are very sexy as we lick and suck each other. We moan so loud and thrash about on the bed like we are coming with fireworks. He pants and groans and jerks his wank watching us. It is very funny.
Mr. Hero, he teaches me reading and writing for fun. He wants me to record my life for him. He likes to hear how I grew up and what happened to me. He tells me not to leave anything out. He said he would pay me for my stories and help me get out of here for good. I do not believe him but just in case, I will tell him everything. I think he just likes to hear about how I have been used for sex. This excites him and makes him stand up at attention like a toy soldier.
Now I lay around and pamper myself and wait for Mr. Hero. I have my own small room that Mr. Hero rents for me. He let me decorate it with many nice things. The bed is the biggest thing in the room. I spend a lot of time there with Mr. Hero. I don't mind, it is better than the sweatshop.
I am very beautiful for Thai girl. I have very long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I am 5' 2" with small breasts and no hair on my body other than my head. My nipples are very big which Mr. American and Mr. Hero seems to enjoy. I am 21 now but Mr. Hero says I don't look older than 18. I think that is why he likes me. I worked in the sweatshop since I was nine. Maybe you wear my blue jeans? I know that Mr. Hero will get tired of me and I will go back to the sweatshop. But for now, he fancies his little Thai girl Lamai.
Mr. Hero, he is interested in my childhood. What is there to tell? I had a very happy home. My parents had a small grocery store in the Chiang Mai. Until I was nine, I would play and laugh and sing outside the store. Many people commented on how bright and happy I was all the time.
When I turned nine, my mom took me to Mr. American and said that I was very smart. I could work very hard and earn money to help the family. She left me with Mr. American and I never saw her again. This hurt me very bad.
I knew that this happened. I had friends that would leave and not come back. It is the way it is in Thailand. It is very hard to make a living. I had 6 brothers and 3 sisters. I was number 10 child. I know that the money I earned helped my family. So I worked hard and learned. I soon became one of the number one girls. This caused problems though. The other, older girls hated me because I was so fast and good.
All the girls slept in a room off of the sweatshop. There were double bunk beds, 10 to each side of the room. We each had a basket for our things. I did not have a lot of things. None of us did. This is what I had: a comb, a bar of soup, a toothbrush, 2 skirts, 2 shirts, 1 shawl, 4 pair of panties, and my treasured doll from my momma. On my bed, which was on the top because I was young, I had 1 blanket. This is what most of the girls had also.
It was hard to get clothes and soaps because I had to ask the supervisor to get it for me. I would have to pay him the money from my earnings, which were in a logbook I never saw, and also pay him for getting them. If I was in the mood, I would smile and flirt with him and sometimes he would be nice to me. Other times he would not. I never knew how he would be with me. I knew, and the other girls knew, that the supervisor was not allowed to have sex with us. But that came later.
With my sewing, I soon learned to be fast but not too fast, good but not too good. The other girls then saw that I was not trying to be better than they were and take their place, so they were happy with me. I was able to show how good I was eventually because as the older girls left, I could move up in the room.
Still I learned not to be in the top space. Staying the number six girl seemed safest. The top girls were always being in trouble with the other girls. But number six girl did not seem so bad. It kept the supervisor happy and my sisters happy. I was smart even when I was young. I learned to keep everyone happy.
When I turned 18, I had the monthly bleed for the first time. I was very late with my monthly bleed This caused a big occasion for all of us. I was now a woman and could have babies. The older girls took me away from the younger ones and told me all about how to fold fabric into a pad. They said I had my bleeding and now I could make babies. They teased me a lot and we all giggled. Sex was very open and talked about in the big room. Now I felt like one of the older girls. The older girls teased me and said that my chest was still like a little girl. They pinched at my nipples. It was a very big day for me.
At night, the supervisor would come into the big room and inspect all the girls. We would all have to stand by our beds and let him look at us. This was to check for lice and bugs, but I think he just wanted to paw us. Almost every night, he would take one of the older girls with him to his bed. This is when I learned all about sex and what men do. The supervisor, he could not have sex with the girls, but he could do almost anything else.