Wednesday Readup: The Road of Lost Innocence

The Road of Lost Innocence, an excerpt...

I know the people who paid money to hurt their children. I know the clients. Some of them are tourists, but most are Cambodians. They are tuk-tuk drivers, cops, shopkeepers--ordinary men. The only difference in social class is the order in which they use the girls. The richest, the governnment officials and big businessmen, go first. In the end, when a girl costs only five thousand riel--just over one US dollar--it's the poor's turn. It's hard to say which is worse.

Yesterday, while watching Inside Edition I saw a story about some young women selling her virginity to the wealthiest bidder at the infamous Bunny Ranch to give her mom and her a better spot in life. And I cringed. This girl didn't have a clue that she was adding to the devaluing of women in this world.

On Oprah yesterday she discussed pedophilia and internet porn in this country. When I googled the Bunny Ranch Auction I lost count of the number of bloggers tied into the Auction Bid Watch, some were women bloggers. (I didn't add any links, because I don't want to add to that crap.)

Somehow this cycle has to stop. But where and with whom?

Somaly Mam has worked tirelessly to be a part of the whom to my answer.

While reading her book I didn't realize that there were Cambodian dark-skinned people and their culture was very prejudiced against them as mine. I was immediately connected to her. And as I continued to read her story and witnessed through her eyes what she had seen...oh my, Good Lord I cried for a long time. Not because her young life was so hard, but that many young girls are living worse than this now. Today we are upset and concerned about the stock market. I'm concerned about my daughter's college fund. After reading this book my whole frame of mind has changed. I'm in debt. I'm sick, but my daughter will never have to pay for my debts or my poverty with her body. God is a good God to me.

More about The Road of Lost Innocence:
As a teenager, Somaly Mam was sold into prostitution and spent years in the brothels of Cambodia where she witnessed and experienced the full-blown horrors of the human sex trade – rape, torture, and nearly unfathomable abuse. After her eventual escape, she could not forget the young girls (some as young as 5) left behind in the brothels, and so she returned to serve them. Her new book, "The Road of Lost Innocence," is her newest means of advocacy. It tells her personal story, ultimately inviting people of conscious, such as our Christian community, to become involved (or to continue involvement) in this war against an epic evil, a modern battle for "the least of these." Truly, not only is this book worth reading, it's worth sharing.

Advisory: This title is not a Christian fiction title. The simple prose is beautiful and soulful. However, it is graphic(violent,) but is a must read.