Phil@Stop the Traffik

A few years ago I was on a plane, flying to Kiev. I'm not a very good flyer, so I tend to try to keep my eyes on everything that happens, just in case I spot something that might go wrong. I'm not sure what I would do if I saw something, but I keep watch anyway. The flight to Ukraine was interesting, largely due to the copious amounts of vodka that was being knocked back right from the start, but that wasn't what caught my eye. What I noticed was that on the immigration form, right next to where I had to fill in my passport number, was an advert for Ukrainian women. Apparently the government at that time thought this was a good opportunity to advertise women who would be delighted to pay money to an agency, just to marry me. Well, being happily married I ignored this kind offer.
Then I turned to the man in the seat next to me and made some comment about this wierd advert for women. He didn't think it was strange at all, though. In fact, that was the very reason he was on the plane. He was due to meet his new bride. He'd paid his money in advance and his 22 year old blonde was waiting to be whisked off to Kentucky. She loved him, he said, despite the fact that he was 75.
It took me a little while to take this all in. Some of these "mail order bride services" are legitimate, making connections that lead to happy marriages, but in many cases there is a hidden agenda of human trafficking. Once a woman reaches a country like the US, or western Europe, she is totally at the mercy of the husband. She may not speak the language and is dependent on him for her visa. She can become his slave and in some cases is forced into prostitution. The point is that she becomes dependent and vulnerable. I explained all this to my American friend, but he was adamant that there was nothing unusual in his case.
Next time I went to Kiev it was after the Orange Revolution and the adverts were gone. Still, next time an advert or spam gets onto your computer screen offering you Russian beauties or Thai women, behind it all could be yet another trafficking ring. In fact, as I write this, an advert on blogger is offering me a Ukrainiann woman. I don't know if an advert like this will appear on the blog as you read it, I hope not. Time for a different kind of postal strike I think, where we stop men ordering their brides online.