I have my sources..

I just got a really interesting email from my Mum. We share a love of documentaries but she is more into the gritty stuff. She is a big fan of medical shows such as RPA and Medical Emergency whereas you wont get me watching those. I dont like gore. I stay away from horror movies and roller coasters.

I thought the message she sent was very important and I do try to be on the frontline with my issues. So, here is her email in its raw form... edited only slightly by me.

Dear Reader,

I watched this documentary on tv the other night about China's one child policy, which left me feeling very sad and frustrated.

While I can understand that years ago something had to be done about China's exploding population the 'one child policy' has caused problems.
The situation today is that in the rural areas alot of male children around four or five years old are being kidnapped by child traffickers and taken hundreds of miles away and sold to families who have either been unable to have a male child or who do not want the inconvenience of rearing a baby so opt to have a ready made child.

The Government representatives in those outlying areas have told the parents of kidnapped children not to speak to foreigners or make a fuss about losing a child but a couple of families desperate to find their children came forward to meet in secret and talk.

Some parents after looking everywhere for two years for their child end up having another baby but because of the one child policy you cannot get a birth permit and if found out the fine is so huge that the parents often have to sell the child to the traffickers to pay off the fine. You see, if a child has no birth permit then that child does not exist and cannot register for anything in life.


One couple had to go to hospital because of birth problems and so the authorities realised they had no birth permit and they had to sell their baby.
Abortion is legal and encouraged in China and so now many parents wait for the first ultrasound and if it is not a boy then they abort as in Chinese society only a male child is treasured. As a result of this there are millions more males than females and hence another problem has occured. Many men will never find a wife.
In the rural areas young girls from 14 - 18 are being kidnapped by the traffickers and sold to wealthy city families and kept as upcoming wives for the male sons. Again families are devastated to lose their daughters.

This program followed a private investigator who tried to help families recover their children - as he said finding the small children is impossible because they are too young and too traumatised to speak up but with the teenage girls some of them when they get a touch of freedom do call their parents or write letters giving information and we were able to see one girl snatched back for her family.

It seems to me that these parents whose hearts were breaking spoke with such gentleness, whilst tears ran down their faces and it is obvious they have been brought up with such submissiveness. Alot of them who had lost boy children cried most of all when they talked about letting down their parents who no longer had a male child to carry on their name.

One mother said "I worry when it is raining that my child may get wet and I worry when it is hot that he may need a cool drink. I worry when it is cold if he is warm but most of all I worry because one day when he was being noisy I said to him 'you must behave or I will have to give you away' and my heart breaks because he will think that I have done that."

-Mum