How an abused youngster won back her life and dignity 
The Universe
(July 03, 2005)
Dressed in a black gown, the young lady walked proudly up the steps to the college stage and received her diploma of graduation. After many long years of struggle, hardship she had made it. She was a qualified social worker, a dream come true for her and me. Marlyn, the former street child who was once shamefully exploited in the sex trade, had made it to the top.
Marlyn ran away from an impoverished family in Mindoro, an Island south of Manila. She was only 12 and her stepfather repeatedly raped her and threatened to kill her and her mother if she told anybody, a rapist's typical tactic.
After months of abuse, Marlyn told her mother, who refused to believe her. Marlyn felt abandoned and unwanted. She left home and found a job selling cosmetics on the island resort of Boracay. Thousands of foreigners flock to this paradise in the Philippines - including the sex tourists and pedophiles that prey on children.
This is her story: "On the island there are many clubs and bars I met Bernard, a French bar operator. He gave me a job in his restaurant but a few days later he raped me. I felt dirty and worthless after what he did. I was told that this was an everyday thing and he expected young girls to co-operate if they wanted to get ahead in life. Bernard invited his friends, other foreigners on the beach, to take me. I just was helpless and had no resistance left.
"I was like a slave to them. Outside I just showed submission but in my heart and feeling I was angry and planned escape. I could see no other life for myself. I had lost my dignity and self respect and felt I was worthless and had nothing to lose. That is the life of an abused child.
"One day a sex tourist from Holland paid a lot of money to Bernard and bought me for himself for a week as a sexual plaything. I was just a toy. He took me to Manila and stayed in a big rich hotel.
"He met a German friend of his there and he had an even younger child than me. He made videos of Patricia, who was only 13. Then together we went back to Boracay. There, the mayor's wife was shocked that Patricia was so young going with the sex tourists and demanded they be arrested, so we were saved."
Because of police and judicial corruption, the abusers escaped back to Europe.
Marlyn and Patricia were later brought to the Preda Center and with care and education came to realise that had been led astray and exploited. They began to discover their dignity and self-worth and became close to the other children in the home, many of whom are victims of sexual abuse in the home or on the streets.
It is a happy family and all feel they are now safe at last from their abusers and can find a new life and education. Marlyn studied hard and caught up with all the missed years of school. She and Patricia learned about their rights and understood the wrong that had been done to them and wanted the abusers brought to justice.
The Preda legal action team traced the abusers to Germany and Holland and both were put on trial. The young girls went to Germany and testified in court. Both pedophiles were sent to prison.
Marlyn and Patricia began a new life. Marlyn says: "I want to help other children that are abused like I was, I understand exactly as they do, I have suffered that too and I can help." Today she is a social worker doing just that. [End]
