This book tells the stories of survivors of the sex
trafficking trade. BREAKING FREE may be desperately
difficult but some courageous women recount their
individual experiences.
Somaly Man lived in Cambodia. When she was about ten, a man
who claimed to be her grandfather took her away from home.
Somaly was made to be his servant in another village. A
family of school teachers gave her rice and persuaded her
grandfather to let her attend school for four hours each
morning. Then the grandfather sent her to a Chinese
merchant who beat and raped her in place of the money owed
to him. Next she was sold to a soldier who married her
which meant that he owned her in their culture. She worked
for him and in a medical clinic. However most of the staff
had no training and supplies were scant. Some of the staff
raped her too. After her husband didn't come home from a
battle, the grandfather sold her to a brothel. Somaly
fought the men and was beaten severely. She could see no
reason why she should be used to pay other people's debts.
After three years of brutality and degradation, Somaly was
bought by a Swiss aid worker. When he went home he gave her
money, which she spent to buy the freedom of other brothel
girls and to go to language classes. She worked in a French
man's cafe and eventually married him to escape Cambodia.
Living in France, Somaly worked hard before the couple got
work with Medecins Sans Frontieres, back in Cambodia.
Somaly spent her own money to bring soap to the brothel
girls. According to her, the representative of the European
Union said he didn't think there was a problem with forced
prostitution. Save The Children Fund and anti-poverty group
PADEK donated to her cause and she started a sewing
workshop, school and safe house for girls. Pimps threatened
to kill her for taking away their livelihood. She received
an award for humanitarian work from Spain and donations
from UNICEF and the EU. In 2008 she received the World
Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child, in Sweden.
UNICEF considers that 1.2 million children are trafficked
every year.
Minh Dang living in California was abused by her Vietnamese
parents from the time she was three years old. All through
school and university they took her to brothels every night
to earn for them. Finally through joining student protest
groups in support of other students, she found the strength
to tear herself away from her abusers. She spoke out at a
public meeting, because the policeman speaker was claiming
that hookers were all runaways and their pimps were
strangers. She told the truth about her own life. This
started a move to social studies and public speaking. In
2013 she received an award as Champion of Change at the
White House. She also blogs for a group called Don't Sell
Bodies.
Maria Suarez was one of fourteen children in Mexico, and
went with her family to work legally in America. She was
fifteen when a woman offered her work as a maid, unknown to
her family. The man whose house she was sent to locked her
in and said he was a male witch. He raped and beat her and
made her work in the house for six years, threatening her
family if she tried to get away. Another member of the
household killed the old man and Maria was left to take the
blame. Her lawyer, she later found, had drug charges
hanging over him and had been disbarred, so it's safe to
say he wasn't giving of his best. Jailed for twenty-five
years, Maria at first despaired, then decided to take
English classes, adding further education. Twenty years
passed before the parole board conceded that Maria had
been "one of the most egregious cases of battered woman
syndrome" and by that time the murderer, also a victim, had
admitted that Maria had nothing to do with the death. Of
course, having been jailed, she no longer had a green card,
so she was set to be deported. A storm of support was
generated by an anti-slavery organisation CAST and she was
allowed to rejoin her family. She now speaks against
slavery and trafficking.
A generational cycle of prostitution and abuse is common in
many countries such as India, says this frank but readable
book. In more civilised societies, the child protection
services see only a quiet, gloomy child and seemingly
respectable parents. Tourism for underage sex feeds money
into the trade and thus demand for ever-younger,
impoverished girls. And then there's the neighbour who
turns out to have young kidnapped girls in his cellar.
BREAKING FREE should be read by all women to show them not
only that girls are being tortured on a daily basis, but
that we can all help to fight this behaviour and support
the organisations which campaign for change. Abby Sher
repeatedly stresses that every penny earned by the girls
goes to their abusers and the girls have no choice in the
matter. Sweden makes the purchasers of sex the criminals
instead of the prostitutes, and Abby Sher says that more
governments need to consider this move instead of
legalising the black market, untaxed sex industry. Read
BREAKING FREE and the links offered, and see what you
think.
Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery, by award-winning author Abby Sher, explores the global issue of human sex trafficking from a survivor's point of view. It recounts the harrowing stories of three courageous women--Somaly Mam, Minh Dang, and Maria Suarez--who were all forced into sexual slavery as children. After escaping their captors, these three women could easily have become voiceless victims, lost to the horrors of their own histories; instead, they have each become leading advocates and activists in the anti-trafficking movement. With help from Somaly, Maria, Minh, and many other survivors and counselors, Sher tells the riveting story of what it means to be liberated from sexual trafficking and find the trust and conviction to help educate new survivors. Told with breath-taking honesty and simplicity, Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery sends the message that, even in the most tragic circumstances, the unwavering hope and compassion of the human spirit can and will shine through.
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