At first glance, one might mistake Somaly Mam for a model. Her beauty may be arresting, but her resilience is what draws girls and young women to seek safety and solace by her side at AFESIP (Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire), a non-governmental organization in Cambodia, which provides shelter and healing for victims of sex trafficking. Mam, a former sex slave who was sold by a man posing as her grandfather when she was a girl, endured life in a brothel for more than a decade until she escaped her captors. Now she runs her eponymous Somaly Mam Foundation and receives accolades such as being a CNN Hero and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women. Yet, her work to instill a sense of self-worth and hope in the lives of young women is her greatest reward.
Paste: You understand the pain of the girls and women you help, because you were once in their shoes. In your own personal struggles to escape slavery, was there one moment of fear or desperation that you overcame and that gives you strength to help others today?
Somaly Mam: I cannot think of one moment, but a combination of all moments together that give me this strength.
To see every day the girls who are raped, beaten, tortured—nobody can understand how hard a victim’s life is. I know exactly what it is, and I can feel it. What I can do is to stand by them, give them love, fight for them, and rescue, empower, and rehabilitate them. I can give them a voice and a choice in their own life.
Paste: In your view, what are the primary factors that make Cambodia (and other countries) a dangerous place for girls and women?
Somaly Mam: It’s not easy to explain. It is a combination of 30 years of war, poverty, poor education, gender discrimination, people sacrificing their lives for the well-being of the family, and so many other factors that I can’t describe. All of these things together have led to trauma, and to alcoholism, drug abuse, and domestic violence. In Cambodia, gender equality is not yet the reality. Women and girls are devalued, and for this reason, women become the victims—they are sold, they are abused, they are exploited.
Poverty is also a key factor. Families are so poor, they have nothing, they can give nothing to their children, and the little girls are the ones who are sold. If there is no hope for the future, then there is no reason to invest in the girls.
And finally, the corruption makes it very difficult to protect the women and children who are victims of this profitable industry. We advocate for rule of law: to be sure that the right laws to protect victims and prosecute traffickers are in place, and that they are followed. We work closely with the government and the anti-trafficking police, and our survivors train them to recognize and address trafficking cases. With this, we have started to see real change for the better.