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In defense of Somaly Mam.

6/1/2014

37 Comments

 
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This week, startling allegations emerged that Cambodian anti-sex trafficking crusader Somaly Mam has been lying to us the whole time.  Her personal story – kidnapped as a ten-year old girl and sold into sexual slavery, forced to endure a decade of horrific abuse until she managed to escape – captured the hearts and attention of the international philanthropic community, funneling millions of dollars into Cambodia and her own Somaly Mam Foundation to help other victims.  She became the face of the anti-human trafficking cause, a media darling who appeared with Oprah, Anderson Cooper, on PBS, with NY Times columnist Nikolas Kristof of, Half the Sky fame, and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood celebs Susan Sarandon, Meg Ryan, Angelina Jolie, and many others as they toured Cambodian slums and brothels.  

The high-water mark of her accolades is well documented, but it all came crashing down so suddenly this week.  Allegations of falsehood in her narrative led her own foundation to hire an independent law firm to conduct an investigation.  The results weren’t pretty – an elephant so big it couldn’t be swept under the rug - including concrete evidence from multiple Khmer (Cambodian) sources that confirmed Somaly Mam has been flat-out lying to us the whole time.  She was not kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery at age 10, or at all, instead grew up as a normal village girl like so many others.  The tale of 10-years of rape, beatings and slavery she told us, which endeared us with their authenticity and brought a tear to more than one blue eye, didn’t happen at all.  Furthermore, Somaly lied about her own daughter being kidnapped by sex traffickers as retaliation for her work (she actually ran off with a boyfriend to escape the attention of her mother’s foundation,) and even worse, coached Cambodian girls into telling their own fabricated stories of sexual exploitation to elicit more donations. 

Basically, Somaly Mam told us the story we wanted to hear – no, that we needed to hear in order to justify writing big checks.  In response, her foundation announced her resignation and is hoping the media maelstrom blows over.  Somaly has remained mum on over these allegations but let’s be clear – she lied, and it is wrong.  But why?  And is there at least some shred of salvation we can locate in all this rubble, considering she’s spent most of her life doing more to combat sex trafficking than anyone on earth?  Does she warrant our forgiveness based on the purity of her actions, even if they were wrapped in a banana leaf of lies?  I think so, and I’ll tell you why.





First, a quick note about my perspective on this issue; I’ve lived in Southeast Asia over the last year and spent about 4 months of that time in Cambodia, an enchanting black rose of a country that I truly love.  I’ve traveled corner to corner, from Kampong Som to Siem Reap, befriending locals, immersing myself in the culture and writing about it.  I’ve volunteered at orphanages, visited the slums where people live in and on garbage, slept under the stars in the hot jungle provinces with no electricity, and even lived in a rat-infested abode next door to sisters who work in the sex industry, earning a living in Phnom Penh’s tourist bars.  I became like a big brother to them and also became friends with many others and heard their personal stories.  I have friends who run charitable foundations here, Khmer friends who work at the Phnom Penh Post, and sipped more than one beer with ex-CIA agents and former royal national guards who’d seen it all.  In the meantime, I also wrote a collaborative book, Cambodia’s School of Hope, to help educate and empower youth here.  None of that make me an expert on Cambodia but the reality is, I hear more about the true nature of these events on the streets every day than the international media has documented so far, combined.

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I see things on a routine basis that would be hard to even wrap your mind around for folks in the Western world.  I know that because I wouldn’t have believed the magnitude and majesty of Cambodia’s oddity myself, only a year ago.  So let me tell you 10 reasons why I think Somaly Mam, despite her obvious wrongdoing, is still worth defending.

1.Context.
To start, it’s important to understand that you are looking at this situation through a western or United States paradigm.  Of course you are – that’s where you’re from and where you live, so how could you not?  It’s a world of black and white, right and wrong, and moral absolutes.  But please realize, other people live in a world without the luxury of that same paradigm.  I don’t expect you to grasp that right away, but try to keep an open mind as you read what follows. 

2. Poverty.
It’s hard for you to even understand the level of poverty in Cambodia.  I could throw out plenty of statistics, like the average person makes about $2 a day at a decent job, or there are 90% illiteracy rates in its expansive rural areas, or that it’s so poor, children are frequently sold off for $20 because there’s just not enough food to go around.  But all the stats and figures won’t prepare you for the siege of poverty that barrages you when you here.  After you see the thousandth barefoot child begging in the street, or whole families picking through the trash, dirtier than the garbage they’re shuffling through, or people with no legs dragging themselves through the streets by their hands, the only reflection they’ll ever see in the shined hubcaps of a politician’s Range Rover, words fall short. 

The best way I can describe Cambodia’s poverty is, fittingly, with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God can not appear to them except in the form of bread.”

2. The modern history of Cambodia.
Somaly was reportedly born in 1970 or 1971, her formidable years as a child during the hell-on-earth era of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia between 1975-1979, when the Khmer Rouge systematically murdered, starved, or worked to death at least 25% of the population.  At least 1.5 million people died in this genocide of “purification,” sometimes for no greater offense than they wore eyeglasses or spoke a little French.  The horror was absolute – cruelty unsurpassed in human history.  Millions of people spoke only in whispers, made soup from grass and tree bark to survive, ate roaches, rats or earthworms as their only protein source.  Mothers watched their babies swung by their legs against trees because soldiers didn’t want to waste the bullet to kill them.  High schools and hospitals were turned into carnivals of torture.  Mothers, sisters, brothers, and children were raped, mutilated, and killed right in front of you and there was nothing you could say or do about it.  After years of that, you didn’t even have tears left to shed.  This is the reality Somaly grew up in, and the subsequent decades of hunger, shock, and hopelessness that blanketed the country.  

Now, tell me Somaly hasn’t suffered enough - at least to earn our attempt at understanding - without your voice wavering.      

3. People act in proportion to their desperation.
It’s important to clarify Somaly’s indiscretion if we are going to pass judgment.  Her organization wasn’t a sham, she didn’t cheat people, and funds were not misappropriated.  Instead, Somaly’s heinous crime was that she lied – seemingly manufacturing a backstory that was consistent with the victims she was trying to save - to garner funds to help innocent children from being kidnapped, raped, and sexually exploited. 

People act in proportion to their desperation, and faced with insurmountable suffering all around her - that the world had forgotten - perhaps she did what was necessary to help quiet the screams.  Sit with that for a moment. 

4. Culture.
There are acute cultural differences between the United States or the western world and Cambodia that muddy the clear waters of our condemnation.  For instance, in Cambodia it’s very rude to directly say, “no” to someone.  This often leads to hilarious encounters for the traveller or expatriate as we navigate hundreds of gently deflected mistruths in the name of politeness, like taking 3 left turns instead of a right.  I’m not saying that’s the case in Somaly’s situation but I do know there are a lot of cultural differences at play as we translate her narrative into our western consciousness. 

5. Corruption.
The mechanics of Cambodia are corrupt to their core – there’s no other way of saying it - as is the case in most poor developing countries.  In the modern history of Khmer society, the only absolute most people have known is the daily scramble for survival while a tiny circle of ultra-rich fatten themselves on the sacred cow of their birthright.  The deck is stacked and the commoner will always lose.  As far as these people know, that’s the way it always has been and how it will always be.  You want truth?  Power is the only truth in Cambodia, a belly full of rice, the only honesty.  No one bothered showing up to work at the Ministry of Justice today, and the Department of Corruption is the nicest building in town.  I’ve heard of a general’s wife accepting an award for humanitarian work from the foreign community in the past, while at the same time she was one of the biggest human sex traffickers in Cambodia.  Now that we’ve recalibrated the moral spectrum, where does Somaly’s well-intentioned lie rank?



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6. Marketing is about telling stories.
A good story promotes your cause far better than all of the hard work and good intentions in the world.  As much as we despise this reality, we equally respond to it.  If Somaly were just another poor Cambodian woman crying for the world’s help, would we have listened?  Would the international community have picked her up and passed her to the front?  Probably not.  I know this because I meet people here in Cambodia all the time who do incredible, selfless work to help the disenfranchised but have to close their community centers and suspend operations because of a lack of international attention and funding.  A good story is the core, and then you circle your good deeds around that.

This situation reminds me intimately of Greg Mortensen’s dilemma last year, when he fell from grace amid allegations that he fabricated parts of his remarkable story.  Author of, Three Cups of Tea, about his near-death experiences in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan that led him to build schools for poor and isolated kids there, he went from best-selling author, media darling, and humanitarian of the year to scorned pariah in the blink of an eye once 60 Minutes and others poked holes in his story. 

The world of spin and attention-grabbing headlines is not the same as the real world, yet we continue to canonize our heroes and drag our villains through the streets of public opinion, quickly forgetting why we loved them in the first place.  How quickly we abandon the pure causes they championed in order to join the rabid mob.

To put the ultra-competitive, cutthroat world of NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) in context, probably the biggest and most popular charitable org here is the Cambodian Children’s Fund, founded by Australian Hollywood movie mogul, Scott Neesun.  Here is his story: 

Scott was one of the most successful people Hollywood, President of 20th Century Fox International, and had the wealth and privilege to prove it.  But in 2003, on a trip to Cambodia, he came across the garbage dumps of Steung Meanchey.  There he witnessed a little 9-year old girl, barefoot and dressed in rags, picking through broken glass and syringes looking for food or something of value to sell.  Through an interpreter he found out that she lived there among the trash with her sister and mother, and that’s how they survived.

Despite all of Scott’s money and accomplishments, he just couldn’t turn his back on that little girl, and all the kids born into those same circumstances in Cambodia.  So he walked away from his star-lit Hollywood life and instead dedicated himself to helping those children.  Since 2004, Neeson's charity has helped house, educate and provide health care for more than 1,450 children in the country's most desperate slums.  

Great story, huh?  I’m sure Scott is a great man and does great work, but there’s no coincidence that his ultra-marketable riches-to-rags story helped propel his organization a lot faster than if he was just another caring tourist. 

There’s a corollary to this story that will conclude my point.  I do some charity work with a wonderful school here in Cambodia, the Spitler School in a poor village outside Siem Reap.  American businessman, Danny Spitler, and his wife founded it about 8 years ago after they visited Cambodia and had a similar epiphany as Scott Neeson.  They started funding a humble school in the village along with a caring local man, which has grown into two large school compounds that help educate and empower over 800 children a year, every year.  But Danny doesn’t have a slick PR campaign and a Rolodex filled with Hollywood insiders so the marketing has lagged behind the angel’s work they do.  We just released a collaborative book, Cambodia’s School of Hope, to remedy that problem, but you get my point – marketing is storytelling, and there’s no playing field where it’s more important than non-profits and fundraising.    

7. Great people have great flaws.
Some of the greatest people in history are megalomaniacs, passionate to a fault, hurtful to those around them, and have egos the size of beach balls.  Think of Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso, and the archetype of just about any other eccentric genius throughout history.  The same personality traits that lead people to greatness manifest as great flaws.  I think it’s important to tolerate the flaws if we celebrate the greatness.  Perhaps, Somaly is one of those people.  

8. Who are we to criticize?
What have we done to help the little girls being raped and sold into sexual slavery in Cambodia, or anywhere?  What do we do for charity?  What have we sacrificed?  Are we quick to criticize but slow to act?  Let me put this as delicately as possible…if you’re licking your chops to criticize Somaly but not doing a whole lot to make this world a better place, then shut the hell up and go away.

9. Are we innocent?
If we want to start stacking stones of right and wrong on the scales, let’s make sure they’re all up there.  The United States has done plenty of terrible things in this part of the world and hurt countless innocent people for the sake of money, power, or ideology, many of which I never realized until I came here and saw with my own eyes.  We’ve also done a lot of good things that genuinely help people.  But Asia is a maddeningly complex theater of the world where everyone is guilty during some act.  So before we point fingers at Somaly, one poor Cambodian woman who’s guilty of being overzealous to rally the world’s attention around the pure cause of defending children - let’s make sure our own hands aren’t dirty, too.  

10. Would you do the same?  
If you were faced with these same conditions and circumstances, and you honestly thought that to make a real difference in these girl’s lives you had to exaggerate a backstory, would you lie to help them?  Would you perpetrate a small wrong to achieve a whole lot of right?  Would you do the same as Somaly? 

Based on that paradox, would it have been unlawful for her not to lie, if it meant she wouldn’t be empowered to help all of those women and girls?    

I don’t know what the right answer is.  Or, I guess the whole point is that there's not one right answer, but I do know this; Somaly, in all of her flaws and faults, indiscretions and imperfections, has done more to spread light than most of us, myself included, will do in 100 lifetimes.  Yet, we find ourselves in this unfortunate place because she did violate our trust, and trust is perhaps the one thing worth more than money - something so precious and fragile, it’s rarely recoverable.  

But if you could look into the eyes of the Cambodian girls she’s rescued, hear there joyful voices say, “arkoun, ohn,"– “thank you, sister,” to Somaly, you’d realize it’s not the only thing. 

-Norm   :-)

37 Comments
kandice jiwon sul
6/1/2014 07:40:23 am

Thanks for writing Norm.
You are right. All the good that she's done over weights the lie she told to spark donations. I hope people will realize this and celebrate her clever business mind and enormous heart.

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Teeda
6/7/2014 04:36:26 am

Thank you Norm for writing this article. Peoples who have not lived in poverty, genocide, desperate, stavation don't understand. Somaly operate in the Dog Eat Dog world. She does not have the luxery to be "perfect" or "righteous". It is very easy to wake up in a warm bed and have too much to eat and scream "righteous" and do "NOTHING". Talk, typing on you latest technology device and sitting on their asses and screem "lie" "righteous" "perfect". Meanwhile Somaly save thousands of women from terrible fate...

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teeda
6/7/2014 04:39:26 am

Oh.. and I am a genocide survivor who live with the KR and know how poor Cambodians are because I was one of them before come to my warm bed and type on this latest luxury device, Mac2.

so... I know both world...

teeda
6/7/2014 04:39:36 am

Oh.. and I am a genocide survivor who live with the KR and know how poor Cambodians are because I was one of them before come to my warm bed and type on this latest luxury device, Mac2.

so... I know both world...

teeda
6/7/2014 04:39:43 am

Oh.. and I am a genocide survivor who live with the KR and know how poor Cambodians are because I was one of them before come to my warm bed and type on this latest luxury device, Mac2.

so... I know both world...

E.O.B.
6/1/2014 02:04:07 pm

How are you trying to convince here? Yourself?
You’ve missed a crucial point in this: Somaly Mam herself didn't just lie, she coerced vulnerable young children to lie.

Interviews with these young women show that performing in this charade has deeply scarred them, and impacted their lives in ways they couldn't have anticipated. If we're talking context, then the context of Khmer attitudes to sex work, rape, prostitution and the like should also be raised. In Cambodia, a boy is a diamond and a girl is a white cloth. Throw a diamond in mud and it'll wash clean, but a white cloth will be stained forever. These girls are now branded for life, whether they have or haven’t ever stepped foot in a brothel. The benefits of these lies served Somaly Mam far more than it ever served those who she forced to lie, or those she claims to be ‘saving’ in her centres for ‘capacity development in sweatshop employment skills’, and it is only fitting that Somaly Mam is facing the repercussions of her actions.

Your argument is that because those in Cambodia's ruling kleptocracy lie, it's OK for Somaly Mam to lie? That because she did great things she should be excused from her deceit? Oh, Somaly Mam's lies were well intentioned, so the psychological damage she has caused these women and personal profit she's made from these lies is OK… The damage she caused is less than the damage caused by the traffickers, the brothel owners, so it’s OK.

If you gave a damn about Cambodia, you'd know it deserves bloody well more than well intentioned lies.

Bending the truth, little white lies, these are the things that destroys trust in not only the NGOs that get caught out, but the whole aid and development sector. Somaly Mam’s lies once again tar Cambodia and all the decent, truthful, and transparent NGO’s with the same brush of deceit. Once again Cambodia is shown to be nothing but inherently corrupt and those trying to raise funds for truthful, transparent organisations on such unglamorous tasks as improving livelihoods, health and education, and removing the root causes of selling children, will be damaged by Somaly Mam's deceit.

I work in Cambodia for 3 years with NGOs that operate with perhaps 1/10th of the budget of SMF or CCF, and the work they do for some 7,000+ families in north east Cambodia, along with countless other grass roots NGO’s, will today be harder because of Somaly Mam’s lies.

"No one bothered showing up to work at the Ministry of Justice today." Given this is posted on Sunday June 1, I'm assuming ‘today’ means Sunday June 1, which aside from being a Sunday, also happens to be a public holiday in Cambodia. Public servants in Cambodia don’t work on a Sunday? I'm shocked and appalled.

Given your penchant for volunteering in orphanages, I wonder whether you have any common sense at all. http://www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/

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Norm
6/1/2014 03:31:37 pm

Thank you for your dissenting opinion, EOB, and you make some good points, as well. Though I assure you, there is no need for personal attacks. By the way, the line about the Ministry of Justice being open was a metaphor. Sorry if you didn't pick up on that. Keep up the good work you're doing in Cambodia and I'm sorry Somaly made your work more difficult.

Norm

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Jack link
6/2/2014 12:54:41 pm

Nice attempt at justifying the enormous, parasitical presence of thousands of useless, belly-gazing NGOs in Cambodia.

I have been in Cambodia for 11 years (4 years spent working as badly-paid volunteer in a leading international NGO).

I finally woke up to the scam after witness innumerable corrupt practices (from both foreign and Khmer) in the NGO sector, and got out.

There is a very good reason why the government protects at all costs the extremely profitable influx of NGO dollars and people that flow into the country each year, whilst neglecting (some would say negating) the rules and practices that would be best for Cambodia, in order to stop it's beggar-like independence on NGO money, and get the country on the track of a real economy (over 50% of the country's GDP is donor money - look it up).

It's no wonder the country is imploding with the spasms of revolution - what a profoundly corrupt and disgusting system of deluded career NGO people ("my next post will be Africa - woohoo!") and leech-like "government" officials who care absolutely nothing about their own, or their "proud" country's honor.

It will change, but only after it totally collapses, by that time, hopefully I will be out of Cambodia!

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Jack link
6/2/2014 12:57:22 pm

Norm, I see your point, but I cannot see anything that says you lived in Cambodia for any meaningful amount of time.

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Sharon
6/2/2014 08:30:36 pm

One question? Has Somaly actually told you she lied - did you hear it from her mouth? Or perhaps you saw the independent report and it's contents? I just want some clarification of where you get your facts that are absolute in your article?

Thanks

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Sharon
6/2/2014 08:31:18 pm

Sorry - that was more than one question...before the critics attack ;)

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Sharon
6/2/2014 08:31:32 pm

Sorry - that was more than one question...before the critics attack ;)

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EOB
6/3/2014 08:45:25 am

Resigning at the conclusion of the Procter and Goodwin investigation is a strong sign of her guilt.

I personally know a translator that worked with the investigators, and while she is bound by confidentiality agreement, she confirmed to me that after translating the stories of people from Somaly Mam's village, and the family of Long Pros, she was absolutely convinced that Somaly Mam lied about her upbringing (a story which made her very wealthy from book sales), and about the events that led to Long Pros' eye surgery.

I haven't seen the independent report, but I believe SMF should publish it. Don't you?

The Newsweek article (http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/30/somaly-mam-holy-saint-and-sinner-sex-trafficking-251642.html), and a number of Cambodia Daily articles (http://www.cambodiadaily.com/?s=somaly+mam) spell out the allegations and the admissions from the Khmer girls and their families, and Somaly's own prior admissions of lies:

"Somaly Mam, the well-known anti-trafficking campaigner, has admitted that a comment she made at the U.N. General Assembly this month was inaccurate and that the Cambodian army had not killed eight girls following a raid on her organization’s Phnom Penh center in 2004."
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/somaly-mam-admits-to-inaccuracies-in-speech-to-un-1590/

The only person missing from this discussion is Somaly Mam herself, who to my knowledge hasn't made a statement. An innocent person would surely protest and seek to disprove allegations of lies and deceit?

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Sharon
6/3/2014 07:27:40 pm

Just by you admitting that someone within the investigation team has breached confidentiality makes me not trust the investigation. Get you head out of the clouds - this is journalistic bullshit. You have not proof only allegations and until there is proof you should research your own facts not take the word of someone who has put their integrity into question by breaching confidentiality. And let me tell you - the fact that she even told you what she did breaches confidentiality. The fact that Somaly has resigned only proves to me that she has the foresight to see that this guy is never going to let up and she has stepped away so that the foundation wont be affected and the amazing work that has been done can keep being done. I met 200+ of these girls late last year and I can absolutely guarantee none of them have been 'coerced' and all you people are doing is making them victims when they want to be survivors.

Bunna
6/2/2014 11:13:25 pm

I heard not all girls there were trafficked or rapped, but the report made to donor different. What is about then?

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Sopheap
6/4/2014 03:19:25 am

Sharon, Having lived among Cambodians for (20) years, many Khmer have known all along the stories were not true- and periodically over the many years there has been much whisper. Don't you think they would know first-hand,having lived amongst her? Periodically on their blogs/discussion boards/ social media, etc...there would be a lot of exposing discussions first-hand. Go live in Cambodia for a long while, and after some years you will understand-a little. Having visited some 200+ girls there doesn't hold a lot of water-means very little to justify the lies of the past. If you are trying to justify or convince yourself that you did the right thing in $GIVING$, that's ok. You have a right to believe what you want, as anyone else does. Please, there's no need to attack E.O.B. when you yourself have not asked Somaly. Ask her straightforwardly yourself; I'm sure you've talked with her before. E.O.B.'s perspective makes much sense and is quite enlightening. Furthermore, you bring another facet to the diamond to consider. How do the celebrity, grant, etc.. donors feel having given emotionally from the pain in their heart after hearing the stories (lies)? My heart would be as painfully excrutiating, knowing I gave on that basis-- betrayal is a good word for that. Would make me think twice about giving to another--

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Do you know anything about her organisation?
6/4/2014 11:01:12 am

Just so you know, every single ex-staff member that has previously worked at Afesip or her Foundation can talk about the mass misappropriation of funds that goes on there. Hardly any money gets to people who need help, or even to pay the salary of the staff trying to help them. On the flip side, it is alleged that in 2012 alone Somaly spent $750,000 on travel. That's enough to help hundreds of trafficking victims for 10 years!

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Norm Schriever
6/4/2014 11:09:16 am

Great information and points made by everyone. And I know the discussion gets heated but that's only because we all care about the children and what's right. I was in no way saying I was an expert in Cambodia or I had been here for a long time - I actually say that clearly in my blog. And I don't know if Somaly is guilty or innocent, or to what degree. All I was doing was trying to propose a counter-opinion for someone to consider if they had never been to Cambodia or developing countries or knew the cultural differences. Just having a balanced discussion here and I raised some points a lot if people may not have thought of, that's all. Thanks again for all your input and caring.

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Jeff
6/4/2014 12:52:02 pm

There are real stories to be told. Plenty of them, enough with great drama. Somaly Mam no doubt helped some girls but given her penchant for lying we'll never comprehend the nature of that help or whether it was worth the psychological damage she caused to other girls or whether donor funds could have been spent more wisely. I suspect they could have been.

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May
6/4/2014 03:07:49 pm

She is a lieing two faced bitch. Most poor people in Cambiodia rather eat water spinach every day then to be a liar. Making kids lie, she should pay a fine and be put into a mental institute

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Mike S
6/4/2014 06:15:40 pm

Several obvious grammar mistakes. E-mail if you'd like me to proofread your next story.

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Norm
6/4/2014 09:22:34 pm

hahahaha Mike S thank you but I never claimed my grammar was perfect and I'm not a paid journalist!

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Hun Sen's Eye link
6/4/2014 07:13:36 pm

Totally. Finally, someone who "gets it."

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Kong Sidaroth
6/4/2014 08:28:24 pm

Despite all the allegations against Somaly, I still respect and recognize her contributions to the work of fighting against sexual violence and child trafficking in Cambodia. I hope to hear from her with regards to all these allegations. It is of course not good that she lies but she should be given a chance to explain and to continue her work. Anyone can laugh at her now but they may not be able to do what she did with regard to child trafficking!

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maxime guerin link
6/4/2014 08:31:13 pm

The honest way to help children in Cambodia:
french priest François Ponchaud,
avenircambodge@gmail.com

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Norm
6/4/2014 09:25:17 pm

Thanks again that everyone is commenting and contributing to this polite discussion. I think as more information and revelations come out (not many of them in favor of Somaly,) we'll readjust our stance. By the way this blog was mostly aimed at the average person in the West, let's say the U.S., who has no idea about the different cultural paradigm in Cambodia that frames this story. Of course people who live or work in Cambodia would know 10x more than me and have totally broader perspective.

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x
6/5/2014 01:50:04 pm

One of the women working with Somaly once told me, "We don't need to study. People come, we cry and they give us money." In my opinion, the services offered by AFESIP and the Somaly Mam Foundation are a disservice to women. Look beyond this story for hard evidence that programs are "successful" and I don't think you'll find it.

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Dara
6/5/2014 04:24:25 pm

We cannot change the past, so why we have to point a finger at her. In stead, she really helps a lot of victims from sex trafficking. Why not keep the good work and help people? If we put the blame on her, and finish her NGO, then who will save people? U?

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peter halfpenny
6/5/2014 09:43:42 pm

what a crock of shit

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Norm Schriever
6/5/2014 09:47:19 pm

Peter thank you for your eloquent opinion. I respect that you disagree. But I wonder if you've ever been to Cambodia? Either way, I'm sure you're doing so much to help the children and not just cursing at people on blogs.

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ken svay
6/6/2014 12:31:23 am

Sorry Norm, but you are defending a lying,cheating parasite. Somaly has enriched herself off the back of exploited women.But this is how cunning Cambodians behave, its all about me.
Her villa has a lovely pool, do the victims ever get to swim- I think not.

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sopheap
6/6/2014 02:31:10 am

Thanks Ken Svay. So true. I had heard she was building (or had built) a luxurious abode in California. I'm curious to know how many more "luxurious abodes" she has around the world and other magnificient luxuries she's been able to accumulate over 20 years off these girls. She's made a whopping figure off these girls! And their payback in return? ABUSE... And for the donors= ABUSE too!
Definition of ABUSE
1: a corrupt practice or custom
2: improper or excessive use or treatment : misuse <drug abuse>
3: obsolete : a deceitful act : deception

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Scott Neeson
6/6/2014 03:00:15 am

Norm,

I accept your point under "Marketing is about telling stories".

However a few points that need clarification. The story may be marketable but it is also true; there is no fabrication or exaggeration. I know you didn't infer that it was false but when the "great story, huh" is used in the same context of Greg Mortensen and now Somaly Mam's situation, that needs to be said.

Also, there is no Rolodex of Hollywood-insider names. A few continued their support, including Roland Emmerich and Sumner Redstone, but the majority of funding is unrelated to Hollywood.

Most of all, there is no "slick PR campaign". There is no PR campaign, no publicist, and never has been. I have lived in Phnom Penh for 10 years and my days are at Steung Meanchey, not on the phone to GQ or Tom Hanks peddling the story. Have a closer look at the print media: it's re-prints of old stories, without my participation. For example, the most recent hype was a Reddit piece that went viral - that was based on a 2009 story, which was from a 2007 interview. I had no idea until our server crashed, with 600,000 hits - and under $1,000 in donations. Media doesn't equate to donations and there is no controlling the timing, context or content of media. TV stories are opportunistic and I pass on those that centre on Hollywood.

To your initial point, a US media icon once explained clearly to me that "there are 2 million charities in the world - no-one really cares to here about their work, or yours. You are the story".
It may sound like a free ticket to prosperity but after 10 of the hardest years of my life, I would give a limb for people's attention be drawn to CCF's results, our programs, what is being achieved here, the remarkable staff at CCF team, the model of family and community etc.

The statement that I have a PR campaign to perpetuate the Hollywood-to-here story, and a Rolodex of Hollywood names to call upon ... it rings of easy money and style-over-sustance but it's simply untrue.

All that said, your story is about as balanced as any I have read. The heated comments are more to do with the disillusionment of another fallen hero. If you put yourself up as a hero, then you had better walk the talk. Whether it is saving children or winning the Tour De France, you had better be sure the pedestal is rock solid.

Best

Scott Neeson

Reply
Norm Schriever
6/6/2014 01:40:52 pm

Scott!

Thank you so much for the clarification - very helpful. I do apologize if it seems I cast any shadow on you or your organization by discussing your marketing "story" in the same context as Somalay and Greg Mortenson, and for having my facts wrong about your Hollywood connections, public relations efforts, etc. I should have worded it a little bit more carefully, but I'm glad you understood what I was trying to say - all good stuff. I actually hear wonderful things - from the people here in Cambodia and the NGO community- about your organization and the work you do. I even offered to volunteer once, and the offer still stands. Thanks again for your commitment and caring about the kids here, and that's the only thing that REALLY counts!

I's an honor just to have read my little blog and comment. Please stay in touch!

Norm
hi@NormSchriever.com

Reply
Peter Schafer
6/8/2014 12:28:48 am

I would like your take on the points raised in these articles, that Somaly Mam's "good work" hurts sex workers and their children; and actually helps to keep Cambodian women in dire poverty.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/123301/somaly-mam-resignation-supporting-children-of-sex-workers-vs-donor-bait/

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/28/heres_why_it_matters_when_a_human_rights_crusader_builds_her_advocacy_on_lies/

Reply
Fred
6/13/2014 04:10:11 pm

It's heartening to hear of little Cambodian girls being sold at $20 each.

I've got $400 in cash and I'd like to buy 20 of them, unsorted.

Where and when is the market open?

Is this market in SR, PP or Snooky? Or elsewhere? With your full 4 months of residence in Cambodia, I'm sure you can tell us.

C'mon, buyers! he market is open!

NOTE: Weeping Wendy & Sobbing Susan: You can follow us to Cambodia and set up a profitable NGO complete with a big villa and a few big 4x4 SUVs!

Hurry!

Reply
Norm Schriever
6/13/2014 04:59:50 pm

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say.

Reply



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