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Investigative reporters head to Suai for story on prostitution
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Location: Blogs Staff Blog for the Timor-Leste Media Program |
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| Posted by: ICFJ /East Timor Staff |
4/13/2008 |
One of the stories often heard around Dili is that many Timorese prostitutes come from the southwestern city of Suai, because the people down there say prostitution is part of their culture. Can it be true? Rosita Sonet and Ofelia Vilanova, two members of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Timor-Leste, took a trip to find out.
Suai, the capital of the district of Covalima, doesn't look far from Dili on the map, but the road from Dili twists up through the mountains in the heart of the island, then corkscrews down the other side.
It took us all day and we were green when we got there, despite the Dramamine. Once on the scene, however, the story proved far more complex than "prostitution is cultural." Suai, close to the border with Indonesia, was hit hard during the 1999 crisis and the 1975 invasion, and the scars linger.
Is it "culture" when girls with little education and no job prospects sell their bodies? Or is it raw economics, as in so many other places? The team did its best to get to the heart of the story in a weekend, and a sad story it is. |
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