One of the characters in "The Walk," is Panadda, a petite 15-year-old Thai girl, who tells a john about her life as a sex slave. She is child-like and sweet, despite the daily indignity and horror she faces. Teri Loretto, who plays the neurotic writer in the play, told me she "still chokes up" at Panadda's story. I choke up too. I think of myself at 15 or 12, Panadda's age when she was sold by her parents to a brothel. Robbed of her childhood and hope for a future. "To have a daughter is like have toilet in your front yard," she tells her client.
That is the reality for many children around the world whose value is measured in monetary terms. Kids become peripheral victims to blind greed. One reporter in South America throws light on the child sex trade and its relation to gold mining in Peru. Here is the link to his blog:
http://settysoutham.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/perus-gold-is-font-of-child-sex-slavery-telegraph-says/
