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Cambodia has become one of the world\u2019s hubs for human trafficking -a hell on earth where one survivor stands tall.<\/p>\nCambodia has become one of the world\u2019s hubs for human trafficking -a hell on earth where one survivor stands tall.<\/p>\n
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The residents of a foster home in the Kampong Chan province hold a celebration in honour of Somaly Mam \u2013 a woman who has saved each and every one of them from the horrors of incestuous families and prostitution.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is one of the girls who was sold into brothels and she was raped every day because her mother prostituted her,\u201d she told euronews.<\/p>\n
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The girls are prey to local beliefs and sex tourism \u2013 and the prostitution victims are getting younger.<\/p>\n
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\u201cToday there are girls who are three years old, who are in brothels, three years old who were raped! In the Asian tradition, it\u2019s said that if you sleep with virgins, it gives youth, white skin, it gives luck. There is another belief that if you are\u00a0HIV\u00a0positive \u2013 if you have\u00a0AIDS\u00a0\u2013 and if you have sex with girls who are virgins, it cures\u00a0AIDS. The hardest part for me is seeing customers who are foreigners, who are white, who are educated with little girls,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
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For more than 20 years, Somaly Mam has fought to give a second life to these victims. As the head of her association\u00a0AFESIP, she is a leading figure in the fight against sex slavery in Southeast Asia. A hell from which she herself is a survivor.<\/p>\n
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Sold at the age of 12, she spent 10 years in Cambodian brothels. Rape, torture and humiliation are the painful experiences that drive her struggle forward.<\/p>\n
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She explained: \u201cIt takes five minutes to save a girl in the brothel. But after five minutes what do you do? You do everything so that they become, maybe not as normal as you, but to build their confidence and encourage them. It takes time, time, time. That\u2019s why I say that the scars on the outside, can be operated on. But for the scars on the inside, there\u2019s only love \u2013 there as patience, compassion. We are here to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sina Vann was rescued by Somaly from the sex industry that kept her prisoner for two years after she arrived from Vietnam at the age of 13. Heading the team of former victims who have joined\u00a0AFESIP, Sina now offers help and advice to prostitutes.<\/p>\n
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In a brothel in Phnom Penh, they have found no other way to survive than in the red light district of the capital. All of them have spent their adolescence in the hands of traffickers and Sina knows all too well what they have been through.<\/p>\n
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She described her ordeal: \u201cI\u2019ve been shocked, I have a lot of scars a lot, she says she has scars too. Because I cannot get a lot of clients. I was just twelve, thirteen years old, so what I do with the clients \u2013 a lot of clients \u2013 I\u2019m very hurt. If you cannot get 20 clients, you don\u2019t have food to eat. They come to hit you, shock you, fight you. They just make you scared. If you\u2019re scared, you do anything. I know all of them. I know how much they are hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It is in one of\u00a0AFESIP\u2019s rehabilitation and training centres that Sina found her zest for life. The work Somaly Mam does has helped thousands of girls like Sina escape the sex trade, which enslaves some 40,000 women and children in Cambodia.<\/p>\n
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Fighting against the industry is a dangerous game and in Somaly Mam\u2019s case, several attempts have been made to assassinate her.<\/p>\n
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But she remains resolute, asking the questions that need to be asked: \u201cWho traffics women and infants? These are people with a lot of money. Who has a lot of money? The money that provides power. This is what should be looked at. There are things I can say and things I can not say. It is said in Cambodia that if you want to survive, you must be silent. If you are raped, beaten, you can not talk. If you want to survive \u2013 silence. I want to survive. Just for my life? I do not care. But you know, behind me, how many lives are there? \u201c<\/p>\n
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Though Somaly admits there have been tough times, nothing could convince her to abandon those she calls her children.<\/p>\n
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She concluded: \u201cSome time ago, there was no more money. Funds were cut. There was no more money at all. I said, you know, if I have to return to the brothels because I know of nothing else, to save my children I would do it. I would do it. I don\u2019t want them back in brothels. I don\u2019t want that.\u201d She wept as she continued: \u201cIt\u2019s too difficult for a child who is saved to return to a brothel. Even if she still manages to smile. It\u2019s too much. If I have to suffer for them, I will and I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u00a0http:\/\/ru.euronews.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n