Back in Cambodia my team had a literal divine appointment, which lead to us getting a tour of the International Justice Mission (IJM) office in Phnom Penh. Ever since finding out about IJM I have felt called to work there and advocate for human rights through social work. Once I get back to the States I am considering going back to get a double Masters in Social Work and International Human Rights.
On our visit we discussed the modern day slave trade, but more specifically sexual slavery and its’ origins. There is a proverb in Southeast Asia that says, “Men are like gold, women are like white cloth.” With gold if you drop it in the mud it is very easy to rinse it off and it will be as good as new. With white cloth, once it is dropped in the mud it is forever tarnished. It loses its’ purity and can never get it back. That is the picture that is given of women in these societies.
Once a woman loses her virginity, even though many times it is against her will, she is considered used goods. Many sex traffickers will have a girl raped with the intention of repeating these very ideas in order to get her to continue in prostitution. They will tell her, “ Well, now that you’re used goods, you can’t go back. Your family won’t accept you, and no one will want to marry you so you might as well continue working for me to make money.” These people, both men and women, who traffick people make me sick. But it is a more complex problem than I can currently handle by myself, save for learning more about the issue.
I began reading Not For Sale this month in an effort to learn about modern day slavery and trafficking. Much of what I have learned in this book, I have also seen with my own eyes. It is not uncommon to see a young girl, perhaps 16 years old on the arm of a man well over 40 walking down the street of any major city in Asia. The tragedy of it is that this is not just a problem in South East Asia, but it is a GLOBAL problem. And it is one that I plan on championing and fighting to put to an end. In the book, it talks about modern day abolitionists and I guess that’s what I aim to be.
Will you fight to help end the modern day slave trade and change the lives of countless children, women, and men? I will be starting to blog regarding these issues on a more frequent basis so stay tuned!
