Me

I usually start by stating basic facts, gradually adding details, explaining, until they can finally grasp the full picture and ultimately understand it. Although on the one hand I am quite graphic in describing and explaining the issue, I have to be careful, because I don’t want to intimidate potential supporters. On the contrary: What I want is for everyone to take a real interest in the subject. I am not going to paint a rose-colored picture of the situation just so people pay attention, but I will present it in the best way possible so that they understand it and aren’t frightened away. I know I can’t chase down politicians and citizens of the world and force them to listen to me, so it is crucial for me to know how I can reach them so that they do listen, and to convince them that if we all join forces, we can actually make a difference.
    I want the world to understand that exploitation exists, that there are men and women who sell sexual servitude, the sexual services of a child, and that there are also people willing to pay for such services. In Cambodia, I met a fourteen-year-old girl who had been sold and raped. She was a beautiful girl. Her abductors told her, “If you come with us, we’ll make you a model and the money you earn will be sent to your grandmother so that she will be able to get the medicine and therapies to treat her condition.” Given that option, it goes without saying that the girl didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. They were offering her an opportunity of a lifetime and, on top of that, a solution for her grandmother’s illness. How could she say no? But the reality was, of course, very different. They kidnapped her and put her in a brothel, where a disgusting man raped her, got her pregnant, and gave her HIV. Had she not been found and taken to an orphanage where she and her baby would receive care, what would have become of her?
    The worst part is that she is not the only one. There are millions of children with similar stories. I met a girl who had been sold to traffickers by her own father, to be able to feed the rest of his children; she was already infected with the AIDS virus and was the mother of a three-month-old baby. When I met her, she didn’t know if the baby was also infected, because back then it took a few months to be able to tell if a baby was born with HIV or not.
    I’ve heard hundreds of similar stories. The government tries to fight back, but it’s like trying to stop the waves of the ocean from breaking. The demand is just too great. There are too many men in the world who enjoy forcing children into sexual slavery.
    Once I went to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, on a fact-finding mission for my foundation. There is a promenade where tourists go, and there you can find dozens of perverts seducing young children. Many of the bars have second floors where beds are kept. There I saw men paying to sleep with eight-year-old girls or six-year-old boys, and my stomach turned. I see that this continues to happen and I say to myself: “What can I do? I’m working like crazy for this cause, and it’s as if I haven’t done a thing.”
    It infuriates me to no end. Rage blinds me when I see a man pay $300 to have sex with an eight-year-old girl. It’s something I just can’t comprehend and I simply cannot accept. Any man who is capable of doing this is a criminal and should be buried alive to be consumed by the worms. And why does it make me so angry? Not because I have lived through it, but simply because it is inhuman, and I’ve witnessed this inhumanity with my own eyes. I’ve also seen the degradation of these children caught on camera; I have seen a video of five-year-old girls, terror in their eyes, being asked, “Do you do pum pum? Or ñum ñum?”
    Horrified, they respond, “Ñum ñum, yes. No pum pum.”
    Ñum ñum refers to oral sex, and pum pum is everything else. On the video you can hear the criminal, who is showing the little girls as if they are merchandise. He says, “Here are the most expensive ones . . . the virgins.” And when he opens the door, you see five girls, holding hands and trembling. Then a grotesque man appears licking his lips, and says, “Maybe that one, the third one....”
    The girls generally come from very poor families. One day a trafficker shows up at their home and tells the parents that if they give their girls up, $1,000 will be sent to them monthly. How can they possibly say no? A thousand dollars is the