RD REFLECTION-searching for Marita

I find that this article reflects strong motherly love. After reading this article, I take my hats of Susana, the courageous mother who was willing to brave all dangers to find her lost daughter, and even to the extent of speaking to a stout man armed with a pistol in a dim bar, endangering her own life. It seemed as though she was already prepared to lose her life in return for the safety of her daughter. Many people think that all mothers are noble as they are pregnant with their child for about nine to ten months and they suffer a lot for that long period of time before bringing them to this world. These mothers may be great, but I find Susana nobler because not only did she also go through that enduring nine months, she also put her daughter, Marita’s well-being before everything else, including her own safety and also the relationship with her husband, which unfortunately ended due to her obsession in searching for her daughter. These were not the only sacrifices she made.

Besides these, she also left her job and lost everything she had which could be sold for money- her house and her cars. I feel that she is also a determined and strong woman. She depended on herself when the police did not open an investigation immediately when she filed a police report. Despite hearing disheartening news and imagining the worst, Susana did not break down or even once cried. Being strong-willed, she continued the search despite the police stopping her and even ranting at her. In the process of searching for her daughter, she also rescued many innocent girls who were forced into prostitution and treated inhumanely, some for as long as eight years! After suffering for such a long period of time, they should be very grateful to her and I, as a reader of her story, am also very glad that she managed to highlight this problem of forced prostitution and relieve them of the immense suffering they went though those years.

I find her really daring because when those aggressive bar owners and traffickers tried to harm her, she exclaimed that she was not afraid of them, and these attempts to harm her, like running her down, were what I think to be life-threatening and frightening if it were to happen to me. Being a woman, not only was she not daunted at all, she even took them on, which I think is very brave of her to do so, even though it may cause her more danger or even cost her her life.

Although she has already rescued countless girls from forced prostitution, she knew there were many more out there waiting to be released from “hell”, and lobbied politicians to enact a law that would make trafficking a federal crime and also pressured the government officials to establish a federal office to help these victims which have clearly depicted her strong sense of justice. She had already helped many but she did not stop just to concentrate on the search for her daughter and carried out many acts to help the victims of forced prostitution and human trafficking and their families, which I think is a wonderful spirit that everyone should learn.

The problem of forced prostitution and human trafficking is also very serious in Argentina but it is obvious from this article that the police force there is corrupted because there are girls who have been victims for as long as eight years. Only under pressure from the media did they carry out actions. I find that it is inhumane of those sex traffickers to just grab any girl on the streets and force them into prostitution, ruining their future. What is worse is that some of them are also sent to other countries, distancing them from their loved ones. By making countless girls victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, the sex traffickers’ ultimate goal is just to make money, which I think is not worth at all. Additionally, they do not only hurt these girls physically and mentally, they also make their worried families miserable, keeping them in suspense because they do not know the well-being of their children. Even if they do know that their children are one of the victims, they are unable to do much due to the fact that the police are not doing their jobs well. I think that the victims are the ones who suffer most because they are treated cruelly and suffer physical abuses often from the sex traffickers. If they try to escape and it turns out to be failed attempt, it is not surprising that they will be killed or tortured terribly. They did not do anything to deserve this treatment and thus I think that those sex traffickers have gone too far to earn the money for themselves. I find that it is very unfair to these victims and the police there should seriously do what they are supposed to do and carry out the necessary actions and put an end to the victims’ sufferings.

The police are corrupted and I feel that they should not choose this occupation if they are not willing to carry out their jobs and bring justice. They have shown that they are mercenary and not only did they not prevent crimes from happening, they have caused the people harm. Therefore I think that it is very important to have a good police force to serve the country and maintain peace and order.





Audrey Tang Jia Qi(3)