Who Is Somaly Mam?

Somaly with a child (from http://somaly.org)

When Somaly Mam was 12 years old, she was taken from her home in the forests of Cambodia and sold to a brothel. She doesn’t even know her real name or her age.

She has trouble sleeping because of the bad dreams she has about the raping.

Somehow, she managed to escape and since then, she has helped rescue over 4,000 girls as young as 4 or 5 from sexual slavery.

Somaly Mam founded the Somaly Mam Foundation which is committed to end modern sexual slavery. The foundation is devoted to empowering victims of human trafficking as part of the solution.

Educating young girls and women is the primary weapon. Teaching them how to say “No” is an important value.

The Foundation supports rescue operations, shelter services, and rehabilitation programs in Southeast Asia, where the trafficking of women and young girls is widespread.

Solmay is a practicing Buddhist. Actually, 90% of the people in Cambodia are Buddhists. In an interview in the Fall, 2013 issue of Tricycle magazine, she says,

I meditate a lot, and it makes me calm. Buddhism seems to say a lot about forgiveness, and that make me calm. It helps me not hurt myself anymore and when I don’t hurt myself, I don’t hurt the girls or the people around me or the people who love me.

In this video, the Somaly Mam Foundation is featured on The Faces of Freedom with Shay Mitchell.

Being the father of two young women who like to travel the world has made me extremely watchful of human trafficking. They have been to such countries as Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and most countries in Europe. Jessica even spent four months in the rainforest, bunking with bats, insects of all kinds, and many other creatures of the jungle.

I make it a point to let them know how much I love and care about them and give them the freedom to explore on their own. I keep in touch with them when they are far away.

How do you respond to human trafficking? Are you willing to do something about it? It is a multi-billion dollar business.

The moment I picked up the Tricycle magazine with the interview of Somaly and started reading the interview, I was moved to donate to her foundation.

Will you do the same? If so, I’ll send you a free guided meditation of your choice. Here is one of your choices:

Achieve Goals Guided Meditation