She was abandoned as a small child.
Living around the homes of her village,
she ate what she could find
and slept where she dropped.
She was called all sorts of names –
not all of them were kind.
One day, a man she thought of as an uncle called her Somaly (The necklace of flowers lost in the virgin forest). This is the name she uses today.
At a young age, Somaly met a man
who claimed to be her grandfather.
He took her away from the village she was born in.
He forced her to work for him.
He beat her.
Aged 14, he arranged a marriage
for her to a violent man.
He was a soldier in his twenties.
Aged 15, her husband sold her to a brothel.
Somaly’s fighting spirit caused her to spend a lot of time in the punishment room. The room was a dark and underground. It was home to snakes and scorpions. The stench of sewerage was overwhelming.
After one attempt at escape, live maggots were dropped on her head.
This terrified her. The terror was such that she has nightmares about it still.
Somaly watched as girls were murdered –
shot and bundled away in rice sacks
to be dumped.
For two years, Somaly lived in conditions I cannot imagine.
For two years, Somaly was forced to sell herself to men.
It took her two years to get away.
She credits this to two men.
One, a Swiss client. The second, a Frenchman.
Somaly and the Frenchman (who she married), opened a bistro bar. She was 20 years old and delighted to be earning honest wages as a waiter.
Somaly had found freedom – but wasn’t free.
She had seen too much.
She couldn’t forget.
She was free – but she knew many girls were not.
Somaly started buying soap, toiletries and condoms. Delivering them to the hostel madams, she hoped to encourage the madams to keep the girls healthy.
She began arranging hospital visits for sick and hurt girls. This was when she realised that she had suffered less brutality than many other girls.
Nails had been driven into girl’s heads.
Young bodies were cut open with knives
because they were too small to be entered.
Girls were being stolen and sold at younger and younger ages.
(This was the best way to ensure that the girls were virgins.)
Somaly knew that she had to do more to help.
Turning to established Western aid agencies in Cambodia,
her pleas for help were repeatedly ignored.
They turned her down.
They denied that child prostitution existed in Cambodia.
Luckily, she found Save the Children – a British charity. Save the Children gave Somaly a home and a pocket of land.
They gave her support and hope.
A year later, twenty young women were living in that home. They were taught to sew and weave. They were taught to live again.
Today, Somaly has five hostels in Cambodia.
Around 200 rescued prostitutes live in these hostels at any one time.
Today, Somaly is spat at...
...abused
...threatened.
Prostitution in Cambodia is a billion dollar a year
business and Somaly threatens that.
Six years ago, Somaly’s daughter was abducted.
She was 13.
She was drugged, kidnapped and raped.
It is believed to have been a retaliation attack on Somaly.
Through her contacts, Somaly was able to track her daughter down, rescuing her before she could be sold across the border, into Thailand.
Somlay’s marriage ended.
She admits that she has trouble loving her own children. She never knew love. She never learned to love. Loving the child victims of prostitution is easier for her, as she knows their pain.
It would be simpler for Somaly to move somewhere quiet... to avoid the threats and abuse.
But she doesn’t.
She fights back and tolerates everything they do to her.
She knows how much the girls need her.
In my opinion – Cambodia needs Somaly.
We all need Somaly.
