In the distance I knew that the sex-trade was thoroughly
alive. But it wasn’t until I was in
Cambodia that I felt it…I actually felt it.
I’ve heard the stories. I’ve seen the presentations. I’ve read the articles. But man it’s a different story being in the
midst of it. All of those guest
speakers, presentations, and articles weren’t at arm’s length anymore. I knew it the morning I woke up in the lobby
of our hotel in Siem Reap seeing a couple of prostitutes walking out. I knew it from the feeling I would get riding
around Phnom Penh. It was an unsettling
feeling I wrestled with everytime we went out.
After reading the book The Road of Lost Innocence by
Somaly Mam, I looked at Cambodia and the sex-trade in general differently. It’s about a woman’s struggle as a victim of
the sex-trade, her fortunate exit from it, and her selfless efforts to help
other women and girl escape it. She
hopes that her voice stands for the voices/ victims that are not heard. Story after story will leave you with
heartache; heartache for what actually goes on in this world. She takes you into the heart of the struggle
that so many girls (not just in Cambodia, but throughout the world) go through. Her boldness to tell her story directly sheds
light on such a dark area of life. Her
story will leave you with a heartache that depicts the countless stories of
those whose story will probably never be heard.
But she is the representation of what is and the change that can happen
if the eyes and ears of the world can see and hear what truly goes on in the
cracks of this broken world.
