Thursday, April 29, 2010

Chapter 2 - Kingdom of Cambodia

Hello, dear readers!

Kevin and I arrived in Cambodia this week for our second workshop. We have been looking forward so long to this workshop, mostly because of the incredibly heroic women we are working with. Our non-profit partner here is the Somaly Mam Foundation, a program fighting sex-trafficking that was founded by Somaly Mam, a modern-day Harriet Tubman and survivor herself.

The writers of this project are 11 girls in Somaly Mam’s Voices For Change program, a group of girls who have joined the foundation staff and will help other girls being rescued from brothels and integrated into rescue and rehabilitation centers. To read more about the sex trafficking, see this article by Nicholas Kristof about one of the girls in our class - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/opinion/01kristof.html

In this blog, I don’t want to write anymore about the girls’ tragic, terrible, beyond-sad pasts. I will write about how they are now, about their growth and laughter and creativity, and about the way they engage with this workshop. The dark side of this story is much better described in Somaly’s book, which EVERYONE should read. It is called “The Lost Road to Innocence”, available everywhere. Spend an evening and read it, and I promise you won’t regret it.

1 comment:

  1. I'm ordering that book from the library right now! It sounds like you've got a great vision for this workshop. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it!

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