The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam

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A few weeks ago, I received this email:

"I know this is last minute, and very different from our other Blog Tours. However, we at WaterBrook believe that Somaly’s message needs to be shared, so we are teaming with Spiegel & Grau (a sister division of Random House) to promote the book."

They were right. They were so very right.

Born in Cambodia and orphaned at an early age, Somaly Mam, a Buddhist sex trade survivor, grew up never knowing her real name or birthday.

As a teenager, Somaly Mam was sold into prostitution and spent years in the brothels of Cambodia where she witnessed and experienced the full-blown horrors of the human sex trade – rape, torture, and nearly unfathomable abuse. After her eventual escape, she could not forget the young girls (some as young as 5) left behind in the brothels, and so she returned to serve them. Her new book, "The Road of Lost Innocence," is her newest means of advocacy. It tells her personal story, ultimately inviting people of conscious, such as our Christian community, to become involved (or to continue involvement) in this war against an epic evil, a modern battle for "the least of these." Truly, not only is this book worth reading, it's worth sharing.

I'm not quite finished with this book yet -- but it has me by heart. As a mom, I'm terrified of Somaly's world. As a woman, I'm grateful never to have experienced the things so many little girls have to endure every day. As a human being, I can't be silent about this world.

Unfortunately, there are no giveaway copies of this book. But I'm going to beg and plead with you right here to head over to Amazon and order it RIGHT NOW, or at least demand that I hand it over to you next time we see one another.

Besides rescue and rehabilitation, the Somaly Mam foundation, with the help of microfinanciers like you and I, help create sustainable employment for these girls.  Want to know more about microfinancing from the uber-cool John Green (and about another awesome organization, called Kiva)?  Watch the video at the end of this post.

The Internet is a big and awesome place, and I was able to to find all of Somaly's appearance on the Tyra Banks Show, via the Somaly Mam Foundation Web site.

The full show is available on YouTube, but here's the visit to Cambodia with the Somaly Mam Foundation founders.