Somaly Mam House

Justin read a book called "The Road Of Lost Innocence". Ever since then he's been talking about the horrors that go on in human trafficking and trying to get me to read the book. I started the book a while back but ended up getting side tracked. As we were riding for hours and hours via bus to Cambodia I decided to give it a woo.

I'll say this, it is disturbing... but written in a readable way that is quite matter of fact. It is powerful. It is so incredibly sad but leaves you with some hope that just maybe, things could change. It changed how I looked at Cambodia as we rolled in. It changed how I saw the houses, the shops, the men, the women and the girls. And it made me really want to do something. Justin had been wanting to do something for the foundation for months. So he came up with the idea of collecting school supplies for them as well as for some of the poorest schools in Vietnam. Many, many people were quite generous.

You know, people ask all the time how we can do the projects that we do... how we can travel the way we can. It is very simple... we love to go places and meet people, and we live in an incredibly generous country. We simply could not do what we do without the incredible kindnesses of friends, family, ward members, neighbors and even a few strangers. So, we may be the deliverers, but in the U.S., we are surrounded by great movers of the world. The words are simple, but so deeply felt- thank you.

We really wanted to be able to deliver the supplies to one of the refuges for the victims. We tried many times going through the website and sending emails before we ever left for the trip. Finally we just packed up our bags, overflowing with as many school supplies as they could possibly hold and showed up in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Once in country, there were many hoops, websites, phone numbers and meetings to get the clearance to visit their place (as there should be!).

This center is a place for rescued sex slave victims to come and be safe. They are educated, taught skills so that they can earn money, given health care, psychological care and are given a real chance to live.

It was a peaceful and beautiful place. We were greeted with warm smiles. There was so much love there. It ripped at me, knowing why these girls were here... and some were so young- not more than seven. But they all seemed like they were working on being okay. I took some pics, but in order to preserve the safety of the girls, none of the residents could be in the pics. They were oh so happy for the great school supplies and said they would get put to really good use.