Meet Pheap: A Strong Survivor and Voice for Change

Each year, more than two million women and children are sold into sex slavery. Pheap was one of them, until she was rescued in Cambodia.

Pheap now lives in an AFESIP shelter, where she part of Voices for Change. She uses her experience to raise awareness and create change. Pheaplikes that she can help the other victims because she was once in their position. She knows about the problems that exist and wants to help solve them.

Pheap's favorite foods are dried food and barbecue. She loves romantic music especially songs that involve children and mothers. Pheap loves to read and enjoys studying every subject. She is currently studying Khmer and English and is getting much better at the two. In addition to her work with Voices for Change, Pheap is interning with the AFESIP Outreach/HIV Prevention team.

"When I'm here, I feel warm inside," Pheap said of living in the Voices for Change house.

There are many other women and children like Pheap who need our help. Some are in the shelters, lucky enough to have been rescued but needing a proper education, job skills training and rehabilitation. Others have yet to be rescued and remain enslaved.

To learn how you can help Pheap and others in similar situations, please visit www.somaly.org today.

“I strongly believe that love is the answer and that it can mend even the deepest unseen wounds. Love can heal, love can console, love can strengthen, and yes, love can make change.”- Somaly Mam from her autobiography The Road of Lost Innocence. Purchase it here and read her entire heroic journey and support SMF.

Two blokes cycle against slavery

Inspired by the work of Somaly Mam and the Somaly Mam Foundation to eradicate modern-day slavery, two young men named Adam and Ben have embarked on a journey to raise awareness and funds to fight this great evil. They first about sexual slavery during a two month visit to South East Asia. They were horrified by the soaring number of victims and decided to take action and do something about it.

Adam and Ben are cycling 1600 kilometers through Vietnam — from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Along they way they will be documenting the ride through blogging, taking photos, and shooting video. You can follow them on their blog, or contribute to their journey here.

Voices for Change and Shay Mitchell: Slavery is Real, I Know It

Actress Shay Mitchell introduces Voices For Change, strong and empowered survivors of sexual slavery from Cambodia. These women have seen firsthand the horrors of human trafficking, and now they work every day to eradicate this evil.

Voices For Change is a platform for survivors to use their voice, tell their story, and raise awareness of sex slavery. Their voices are heard in courts of law, public service announcements, and events. These women are survivors - they are not weak, nor are they helpless. They are helping themselves by helping others and bringing awareness to this horrific truth. Slavery is real.

Taking Pimps Off the Street to Reduce Sex Trafficking

Prostitution is illegal in 49 of the 50 states in the U.S. When law enforcement officials find individuals selling sex, they often see that as the primary crime, arrest those people, and carry on. However, not every situation is as it seems. Women in prostitution are not all willing  participants - some may be victims of human trafficking, working at the orders of pimps and unscrupulous criminals. Due in part to increased awareness of human trafficking and the roles of pimps in commercial sex, police officers are now focusing on those who aid and abet the crime of prostitution.

The Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force in California was featured in a recent CNN article for changing their focus when targeting crimes of this nature. According to Seargent Craig Friesen, head of the Anaheim Vice unit, the old procedures involved arresting the girls and johns to the outcome of minimal charges and quick release. But this did not get to the root of the problem. The team determined that by focusing on arresting and eventually jailing the pimps, victims would have a better chance of escaping and seeking help. In California, pimping carries a mandatory 3-year sentence, which would keep these individuals off the streets for extended periods of time, widening the window of opportunity for survivors to seek help.

Pimps prey on vulnerable young women, promising a better life and love and affection. Through coercion, deception, force, and abusive treatment, pimps are able to gain control of their victims and eventually enslave them, selling their bodies for sex and drugs. With these kinds of people off the streets, more women will be safe from this manipulation.

To target pimps, the OCHTT has been going undercover, finding suspects by answering online adult services ads to catch pimps. While the original goal was to make one pimping arrest in the first year, thirteen have been made in the last nine months.

Read the CNN article here. Become aware, take action.