A few days ago I finished reading the book, The Road of Lost Innocence, by Somaly Mam. Through this powerful book, Mam recounts her life story, being sold into prostitution when she was 16 by her "grandfather" in order to pay his debts. Mam gives a voice to the thousands of girls who share a similar story.
" I had been a prostitute in Phnom Penh for four years, and I didn't know how to get out of the whole system. I wanted to, but in my mind I was trapped. I wasn't worth anything. I was srey kouc, broken and unmendable. I was dirty and I could never hope to become clean again" (p. 75).
Eventually, through the help of a French humanitarian worker, Pierre, Mam was able to get out of prostitution. She was left with physical and emotional scars of a demoralizing life. Mam found hope and new purpose for her life, but it would be these scars that would lead Mam to return to the very Hell she had come from, not as a prostitute, but as an angel desperate to help other women and children who were trapped in the brothels.
" I felt I didn't have a choice: I needed to help them get out of the life they were imprisoned in, just streets away from me. This was something I could do that few other people could. I knew where the girls would be because I knew my way around their world, and I knew how to communicate with them. The words themselves weren't as important as the bond between us… I was connected to these girls and they trusted me. I had to help them."
Beyond Mam's resilience and tenacity, I was really impressed by the way that she embraced each girl she helped with authentic love and care. No one was too dirty or diseased for Mam to embrace with open arms. She understood. Mam describes a girl she found in the road one afternoon, " she was dirty, with her hair clumped with mud, and frighteningly thin… she had sarcomas on her skin from AIDS-she looked half dead… I asked the driver to stop and I put my arms around her." My heart stirred when I read this, it still does. I am reminded of Jesus who would put his arms around the lepers- they were considered "untouchable". What a simple, yet deeply profound way of showing people acceptance and worth.
Lord, help me to not be too scared or intimidated to show love in a felt and authentic way. May I not try to love from a distance, but instead embrace your daughters into my arms the way you do.
