I am a juvenile investigator, and over the years I have been an advocate for Internet safety for teens and families. It has lead me to speak at conferences all over the country and eventually to writing a book on the subject. I speak quite a bit about online predators and how these relationships with children on social media can lead to child sex trafficking in our own communities. I was invited to speak at a anti-human trafficking ministry at NewSong Church in San Dimas. After I was done talking about cyber safety, a member of their church spoke about what is happening everyday in Cambodia. She showed a three-minute clip of "The Pink Room," a documentary about child sex trafficking in Cambodia. My heart was broken open. I went home and watched the entire documentary (available on Hulu plus). Six months later I was joining NewSong's Missions Team to Cambodia, and volunteered for two weeks with Agape International Missions, the organization that was the subject of The Pink Room.
So, why Cambodia? To understand Cambodia, you need to understand their recent history. The Vietnam war left Cambodia stuck in the middle between the US and Communist North Vietnam. After the war, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, in a coup d'état came into power and systematically enaged in one of the greatest genocides of the modern era. One out of every four Cambodians was murdeded by the Khmer Rouge, between 1975 and 1979. They began their genocide with all the intellectuals (doctors, teachers, engineers, etc), then they moved on to the religious community, and finally anyone who seemed not committed to their cause. In total, about 2 million Cambodians died by the hands of Khmer Rouge.
Today, Cambodia is still suffering from the scars caused by the Khmer Rouge. The only people in this region economically worse off, or more poor than the Cambodians are the people of Burma. The Cambodian government is incredibly corrupt. Justice is not a fact of life here. There is no moral compass. The parents of today, were the child survivors of the genocide.
Cambodian families are very poor. The average monthly income is $30 per month. One life circumstance, like an illness, can put them in a desperate place. These families have no savings or medical insurance. So what do they do? They take out a loan from their local loan shark. Before too long, the few hundred dollars they borrowed will balloon to a crushing debt they could never payback in two lifetimes. Next enters the human trafficker. Who tells the parents that their ten-year-old virgin daughter could get them more than a thousand dollars for one night with a foreigner. The parents acquiesce, and their daughter is given to a man to be raped over and over again for several days.
The family doesn't see the amout of money promised, they get a fraction, and not enough to pay their debts. What happens to the little girl? The parents don't want her back. She has been soiled and dishonored. She can still earn the family a little every month in the brothel.
What hope does she have? The corrupt police and government will not rescue her. Her parents sold her into slavery. She will be raped 10 to 12 times a day with no hope of being set free until Agape International Missions finds her. They will rescue her, give her a safe place to live, give her free medical and counseling, and put her through school. When she is old enough, she will have the opportunity to learn a vocation that will support her and her family; giving her honor back (in the eyes of her people) so she can re-enter her village. It is an amazing process of redeption, restoration, and love.
That's why Cambodia.
- Clay Cranford
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