Somaly Mam was sold as a child into sexual slavery and forced to work in a brothel along with other children. She was tortured and raped on a daily basis. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
I first read about Mam in the New York Times; in columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s account of a raid on a brothel in northern Cambodia. Inside, he and Mam found five girls and one young woman, the youngest girl was about 12 years old.
Not long after reading that article, I stumbled upon an article on GQ about the asian sex trade. It starts with the story of a 13-year old girl, who’s trying to dance on stage in a small bar off Manila. If one of the customers buys her for the night, she’d get paid 500 pesos – about 9 US dollars.
Did you know that there are more slaves in the world today than there have ever been in human history – as many as 12 to 27 million?
Did you know that slaves today are cheaper than they’ve ever been in the last 4000 years?
Did you know that slaves are mostly women and children who are forced into sex industries?
After escaping her captors, Mam dedicated her life to fighting against sexual slavery. She established a non-government organization to help victims build a new life, she launched the Somaly Mam Foundation in 2007 as a funding vehicle to support anti-trafficking organizations and to provide survivors.