Searching for MARITA

Title : Searching for Marita

Reader Digest May 2008, pg 91 to 96

Done by : Raymond Pek (40) 3E


Susana Trimarco of Argentina set out to find her missing daughter ( Marita ). But she discovered a shadowy world of human trafficking and forced prostitution.

The nightmare began on April 3, 2002, Marita did not return home after going for a morning doctor's appointment and none of the calls were answered. As the time goes by, Susana and her husband, Daniel Veron, became more anxious as normally Marita would call them if she was running late. After a search at the hospital where Marita had her appointment and asking around, they decided to go to the police station to file a missing person report, but was told that the police can only conduct the investigation after 72 hours. Susana and Daniel decided to form a serach party which consist of Marita's friends and her relatives. They combed the neighbourhood and paste hand made posters all around the neighbourhood. 3 days later, Susana's neighbour told her that she recieved a call from a person that claimed that he had saw two men grabbing marita from the back and put her into a car. The news get worse when a prostitute told Susana that she had saw Marita in a brothel in La Rioja. The police rounded up some brothels and managed to free a girl which is force into prostitution. The girl told them that Marita had been whisked before they came. Clearly, there is someone that had tipped off the owner. Since then, Susana has been disguising as a prostitute and went in bars to ask the girls about her daughter, she quit her job and began crisscrossing the country to find news about her daughter and to pay for all the investigation, she used up all her savings and sold her house, Marita's house and two cars. Her persistent to look for her daughter also led to the separation of her and Daniel. Her search efforts are also stopped by the police but soon she began recieving media coverage. Posters are all around the city and feeling the pressure of publicity, police conduct raids on bars and brothels.

Sometimes she is also threatened by bar owners and traffickers, a campaign of intimidation started against her, but that did not manage to stop her from rescuing the girls from them. The growing media coverage pressure the government to faced the long-ignored sex trfficking and do something about it. Mothers from around Argentina whose daughters had been kidnapped turned to Susana instead of the police for help. More than 200 girls were free from prostitution thanks to Susana. Susana recieved a phone call from the US Embassy in Buenos : she was one of the ten women that receive an international Women of courage award. " My misson is no longer searching just for Marita," Susana declares,"but for all the girls who have disappeared in this country and to help and protect those who have been freed."

Reflection

I think that Susana is a great mother. Her love for her daughter is geniune, i am touched by the facts that she persisted in the investigation for only a slim chance of finding her daughter. She sold her houses and cars, used up most of her savings to continue with the investigation. She even break up with her husband ,Daniel, due to her single-minded obsession. Although faced by many opposition, like the local police, she still did not give up. Besides being a great mother, i feel that she is a kind and wonderful person, during the search for her daughter, she discovered a shadowy world of human trafficking and forced prostitution and is determined to save as many girls as she can from prostitution. She not only cared for her daughter, she even wanted to save all the girls that are forced into this dirty trades. She did not back off when she received the warnings and threatenings of the bar owners and traffickers, she risked her life to save the girls! I applauded her courage which is indeed admirable, I believe that every single mother on Earth wouold have the same kind of devotion and love for their own children.