Mya's Story

Human trafficking is making modern-day slaves out of millions of vulnerable children. Mya is a young girl from Myanmar who was sold by her mother and forced into child labor. This is her story.*

My name is Mya Islam and I am 11 years old. When I was 7, my mother asked me if I wanted to sell flowers. I said “yes” because I wanted to help earn money for our family. That’s when she sold me to a stranger for 3,000 Baht [about $96 US]. He promised my mother he would send her more money from my earnings every three months.

The man put me on the back of a crowded truck and drove me from my home in Myanmar all the way to Bangkok, Thailand. Of the 20 people on the truck with me, I soon realized I was the only child. Terrified, I crawled to the furthest corner to hide. Finally, too tired to keep my eyes open, I fell asleep.

When we arrived in Bangkok, I was taken from house to house until I finally met my employer—a woman who told me she had paid 10,000 Baht for me.

My job would be to sell roses in a popular bar in Bangkok. Night after night I would leave the house at 9, sell about 100 roses all through the night, and return home around 6 the next morning.

The nights were long and I would get very tired. I cried a lot. I missed my family. Sometimes when I would go to the bar, people would buy all of my flowers at once. They said that children shouldn’t have to work and that I should go home. The first time this happened I was shocked. I thought it was normal for children to work. But others told me I was lucky. While boys who were sold would be put to work in a job like mine, most girls who were sold were taken to brothels in Malaysia.

In spite of what they said, I didn’t feel lucky. I thought about trying to escape, but I didn’t dare...


Four years passed and I was still in Bangkok, worlds away from my home.

One day when I was on my way back to the house, I was arrested by the police for being an illegal immigrant. I was frightened about what would be done with me. But it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened!

I was brought to the World Vision Foundation of Thailand’s (WVFT) Mae Sot Anti-Human Trafficking office. The people there made me feel safe and promised to help find my family. Four months later I was finally able to visit my family again.

World Vision has worked with my parents to help them understand why it’s important for me to go to school. My mother says she doesn’t want me to work anymore. Now instead of selling roses, I go to a special school where I study Burmese, English, Thai, and other subjects. I’ll never forget my ordeal in Bangkok, but all of that is behind me now.

*This story is based on interviews with Mya Islam. Her name has been changed to protect her identity.

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