![Sapa, Vietnam [4 Sept 2010]
Mia. She was a pretty cool chick. She was 15 but looked about 10 years old. She had all the attention of the boys at our Bia Hoi table, especially since she was critiquing the craftsmanship of the giant knives one of them bought. She was a vibrant girl with a superb grasp of english. She was clearly a leader among her other tribal tour guide-girls.
We saw her later that night at the bar where she was floating around like a butterfly (as was our guide, Mimi) commanding attention from the locals and the tourists alike. She was a bit younger than Mimi and her floating had a sweet innocence to it where Mimi’s seemed a bit too contrived and desperate. It was tough to watch these girls work the room knowing that they were doing it as part of their only dream….their dream to leave Sapa and live somewhere bigger and better. They saw white men as their tickets outta town. When I asked Mia what she wanted to do when she grew up, her only answer was to “move to Australia”. She had no dreams. She did not even understand all of the things she could do or was capable of. I’m sure there are many girls just like her around the world, who have never been shown a possible pathway to something other than village life, something they could achieve. What kind of world would we have if they could harness even a little of that energy?? It also made me feel very lucky for where and when I was born.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8lcv0yyqt1qzuy32o1_500.jpg)
Sapa, Vietnam [4 Sept 2010]
Mia. She was a pretty cool chick. She was 15 but looked about 10 years old. She had all the attention of the boys at our Bia Hoi table, especially since she was critiquing the craftsmanship of the giant knives one of them bought. She was a vibrant girl with a superb grasp of english. She was clearly a leader among her other tribal tour guide-girls.
We saw her later that night at the bar where she was floating around like a butterfly (as was our guide, Mimi) commanding attention from the locals and the tourists alike. She was a bit younger than Mimi and her floating had a sweet innocence to it where Mimi’s seemed a bit too contrived and desperate. It was tough to watch these girls work the room knowing that they were doing it as part of their only dream….their dream to leave Sapa and live somewhere bigger and better. They saw white men as their tickets outta town. When I asked Mia what she wanted to do when she grew up, her only answer was to “move to Australia”. She had no dreams. She did not even understand all of the things she could do or was capable of. I’m sure there are many girls just like her around the world, who have never been shown a possible pathway to something other than village life, something they could achieve. What kind of world would we have if they could harness even a little of that energy?? It also made me feel very lucky for where and when I was born.
