Blog Post #7

In the last portion of the book, the mood changes. The majority of the book is about all the hardships Solmay has encountered. Speaking for my self, during the duration of most of the book I found myself wanting nothing more than to personally help Solmay in any way she needed. In the last section, she gives you the opportunity to do just that. She explains how she founded Acting for Women in Distressing Situations, a charity to help get young women and girls out of brothels. At first, the charity does not go well. She does not have much funding, and has a hard time getting her story and the story of others like her out. When she is interviewed by journalists, they never site her organization, so it receives very little press. Finally, she is approached by an American journalists who gives her the publicity she needs. Funding remains considerably scarce, but increases nonetheless. She is able to purchase a small amount of land out side of Phem Phong and builds a house of it for girls who have been rescued from brothels. Her mother and sister work as caretakers for the girls. The house becomes full of girls quickly, and soon cannot fit everybody. As the center grows, so does word of her worth. Brothel owners and pimps hear about it, and threaten her life on multiple occasions. They stalk her, her husband, and her children. Solmay then wins the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in the presence of Queen Sofia of Spain. She wins a lot of prize money, and her cause becomes even more well known. With this money, she is able to buy property in her home town, and build another refugee center. At this center, the girls are able to go to school and learn how to sew so they can begin respectable careers. After she raids a brothel full of extremely powerful men, they kidnap her child in retaliation. Thankfully she recovers her daughter before she could be trafficked. Despite all of the obstacles she faces, she continues to run the organization, and to this day it is growing and expanding.

Although I have said it in previous posts, it is worth repeating; Solmay is an amazing woman. You would think after all she has encountered that she would run from Cambodia the second she could, but instead, she chooses to endanger her life for the aid of others. Every penny she gets she puts towards helping girls rescued from brothels. She does not turn down any girl, no matter how sick or damaged they may be. She has a huge, huge heart. Her well being is the least of her concerns. She has helped countless girls all over the world, and I'm saved an equal amount of lives. I wish there was somehting I could do to help, past just donating money. I looked into it and all of the hands on work is done on location in the various countries her rescue centers are. I wish there was an office in Boston or somewhere near by in which I could contribute.