On our last two ministry days we had the awesome privilege to meet and hang out with Somaly Mam, the icon of human trafficking. She is one of the few women with the courage to do it, even with a gun to her head. Right now she has a small organization that supports four different care centers outside of Phnom Penh. We got to visit two of them over the coarse of two days. One of the small gifts we were able to bring were around 40 pairs of shoes to girls ages 5 to 12. Even though Somaly is a figure in the world of human trafficking, and has supporters like Susan Sarandon and Barbara Walters, they still go without some basic necessities

A couple of the girls were immediately pointed out to us. One had AIDS at age 6, and the other was raped by three men in her own family, and then put into a cage for 2 years … she was only 5. But for the most part, you’d never have guessed these girls had gone through something pretty dramatic. Maybe it’s their culture and the normality of rape and sex exploitation? Maybe it’s the rehab center … hopefully God can be the one to take their wounds.

There were some signs, for example Greg tried making one little girl laugh like he would with our daughter but she did not know how to respond to him. It was as though she went numb and didn’t acknowledge he was there. That broke my heart. One little girl with HIV never talked but just stared, her eyes so hurt and lost. She didn’t let us come too close but I was able to sit next to her while we had a time of coloring and making cards.

Hanging out with her that day it is obvious she has a lot of thick walls and is guarded. But she sure does laugh and smile a lot. I could see she’s just trying to enjoy every moment and make it fun, especially for the little girls.