October 11 is International Day of The Girl. It's a day to celebrate the work being done on behalf of girls to promote equality and raise awareness about the various injustices young women face around the world. If you watched the Half the Sky Documentary, you learned about the work Somaly Mam is accomplishing in Cambodia, rescuing young girls from brothels.
Somaly Mam, once trafficked herself and sold to a brothel, has devoted her life to freeing modern day, female slaves from their abusers. Not only does she fight for their freedom, she also works to rehabilitate these young girls, educating and caring for them once they are rescued.
From The Somaly Mam Foundation's website:
The Somaly Mam Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to ending modern slavery and empowering its survivors as part of the solution. Human trafficking, a multi-billion dollar industry, is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. With an estimated two million women and children sold into sexual slavery each year, it is a global crisis that must be stopped.
Co-founded by sex slavery survivor Somaly Mam, the Foundation works to eradicate sex slavery, liberate its victims, and empower survivors to create and sustain lives of dignity and as agents of next-generation change. The Foundation supports rescue operations, shelter services, and rehabilitation programs in Southeast Asia, where the trafficking of women and girls, some as young as five, is widespread.
The Somaly Mam Foundation also runs awareness and advocacy campaigns that shed light on the crime of human trafficking, spotlight its brave survivors as living examples of change, and engage the public, business sectors, and governments in the fight to abolish modern slavery.
To continue our "31 Days of Shopping with Purpose" series and celebrate International Day of the Girl, I wanted to point out these lovely necklaces made by the girls Somaly Mam rescues and is working to rehabilitate. Each necklace is $25 and hand-made by a survivor of human trafficking. To order your necklace, visit Somaly Mam's website. What a beautiful way to celebrate the strength of women and young girls and the work bravely being accomplished on their behalf. How moving to wear one of these hand-made pieces around our necks.
If you're looking for a sobering, inspiring read, The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam comes highly recommended.
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