Dear Friends,

I’d like to extend my deepest thanks to all of you on behalf of the victims that your support has helped rescue, shelter, and heal. The support has been a gift of life and new dreams for so many young women and girls.

Srey Mai is one of these girls. She was sold to a brothel at the age of 5 and rescued when she was 6 years old. Having been diagnosed with HIV, we thought she only had 6 months to live. She received a flood of love and gifts from supporters and with this help we were able to provide her with all the necessary care for recovery. Her hair has grown back, her skin has healed, and she has been transformed into a young girl who can spend her time playing and learning. She is just one of the many girls whose life has been saved with your help and who can now become the successful young woman that she one day will be.

I am incredibly proud of the girls in our shelters who have survived the horrors of slavery, rape and torture, and found the strength to start new lives.

This December I witnessed thousands of Cambodians take part in anti-trafficking day. At the fundraising event we held, I saw many poor people participating and contributing because they wanted to help victims and are just sick of living with this inhuman crime. I am deeply moved to see my people slowly moving away from the culture of blame and shame that has haunted victims for so many years.

I am so proud of survivors like Sina Vann and Srey Pov who have decided to participate in our Voices for Change program to become advocates for change. The are helping in the shelters and are joining me to expose the horrors of human slavery.

This year at the Clinton Global Initiative we announced our new and innovative micro-enterprise program that in 2010 will start helping survivors establish sustainable small businesses.

These successes help me feel like we’re making a difference, but there is still so much to do. South East Asia has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and this has put many more girls at risk. Along with our partners, we are establishing preemptive programs that focus on keeping these girls out of the hands of traffickers. We need more help to reach all of the high-risk regions and to grow our life-saving programs.

Although this is the first year that we have not faced a food shortage, our shelters continue to run out of critical supplies that include vaccines and other medical necessities. Our doctors need better on-site lab equipment, our vocational and computer training programs are in need of up-to-date equipment, and we need to increase our capacity to rescue and shelter more victims.

I am committed to providing much more than nutritious meals and a safe environment to the girls in our programs, and there are many more that we currently don’t have the resources to help. I am determined to rescue and heal as many victims as possible and protect the vulnerable by taking pre-emptive actions to address the root causes that are forcing so many of my young Cambodian sisters into brothels.

Please help me sustain and grow our current programs so that we can save more young girls from the horrors of modern day slavery and end human trafficking.

Share the stories and spread the word about modern day slavery - the light that shines on these issues is the most powerful weapon we have. Only by building a strong network of champions for this cause can we hope to eradicate this horror in our lifetime.

Your ongoing financial support is critical to the survival and success of our current programs and will help us protect, rescue and heal the thousands of girls who still need our help.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Somaly Mam Foundation today by visiting:

Sincerely,
Somaly