CHARLES H. CUSTER ’04 (written in 2011)
Charlie Custer’s passion for China and its people, his knowledge of the language and culture of the country, and his enduring social conscience provide the foundation for his emerging career. He is an independent documentary filmmaker, professional writer, and translator living in China. He is the editor-in-chief of ChinaGeeks.org, and the web and multimedia director of The World of Chinese magazine. (www.theworldofchinese.com)
Charlie is the eldest of three sons of veteran Avon faculty members Art and Michelle Custer. He graduated with distinction from Avon and matriculated to Brown University, where he majored in East Asian studies. His first opportunity to visit China came in the summer of 2007 when he went there to study. After graduating, he moved to Harbin, China, where he taught English and met his fiancée, Leia. After a short return to the States to teach Chinese at New Hampton School, he moved to Beijing.
In 2008, Custer founded ChinaGeeks, a successful and popular blog that translates Chinese blog posts and offers analysis and commentary on current events and Chinese social issues. Content from ChinaGeeks has been republished by Forbes and mentioned or linked by media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Magazine, The Telegraph (UK), The Guardian (UK), and Le Monde (France).
Currently, Charlie, Leia, and their international team of China experts are creating a documentary film about children in China who are kidnapped and sold. He writes: “The kidnapping and selling of children has been a problem in China for decades. After the implementation of China's one-child policy, some parents began to worry that a single child might not be enough to care for them in their old age. After the Cultural Revolution ended and China began to transition to a capitalist economy, criminal gangs stepped in to fill this demand for additional children by luring children away from their parents, kidnapping them, and selling them. Some are sold to new families, others into a life on the street. Girls may be sold into marriage or prostitution. Of course, this practice is illegal and, in recent years, the government has attempted to crack down on the process. But prosecutions are difficult; the children are often funneled through a web of middle-men and they are generally too young to be particularly useful witnesses.
"Children are still being kidnapped today. Families search for them through official channels, and also through a network of websites and volunteer organizations dedicated to reuniting families with lost children. At the same time, adults who were kidnapped as children and are old enough to remember it are attempting to find their original families. Stolen by kidnappers and raised by strangers, these adult men and women are now trying to do something they haven't done in decades: find their way home."
The full length documentary will follow the struggles and successes of adult children looking for their original homes, stricken families searching for lost children, and the selfless volunteers who dedicate their lives to reuniting broken families. Working on a tight budget of only about $10,000, made up primarily of donated funds, their goal is not to make money, but to draw attention to the problem of kidnapping and to find solutions that will bring help to the thousands of families struggling to cope with the theft of their child.
Click here to view their latest documentary short, Kedong County.
