[wagglebee]

At least Kristof was willing to do something about the human tragedy he witnessed, most of his leftist ilk would just blame Bush and America in general.

[Just Lori]

Wow.

[Tax-chick]

Wow, that's terrific. One girl with a *legitimate* marketable skill and a reasonable future may not seem like much, but God values every person immeasurably, and will reward Mr. Kristof for his kindness.

[angkor]

At least Kristof was willing to do something about the human tragedy he witnessed

Good for Kristof. This is the way that the truly good things are done in Cambodia.

And good luck to Srey Neth. It's very easy for these girls to get sucked back into the abyss.

[cripplecreek]

It seems to me that there are some cultural issues at play that lead girls into that situation.

[injin]

now if only all (or most) male western tourists to SEA would
cultivate this attitude and behavior . we owe it to these long suffering people to help them and not try to take advantage of them.

[zahal724]

When Americans give to charity, this is the type of person we should be helping. Someone willing to work and earn money to support herself (though I must add, it is entirely Srey Neth's choice if she wants to support her family, after they ruined her chance of supporting them - at least there was a happy ending.)

[appeal2]

Looks like Kristoff took Sam Kinneson's advice about poor people being filmed for the Sallie Struthers special, "Why doesn't the cameraman feed them?" It was a very noble effort, but it shows what do gooders are up against trying to solve these horrible situations. The law of unintended consequences set in when they staked her in a business and it was a failure. Then they retrained her and seem to have succeeded. What this really shows is that the only way to eraidicate this barbarism is through implementing capitalism. When investment is freed up and the market is allowed to function, things like this stop happening. Thailand had many similar forms of white slavery, but since it became more developed these practices stopped. Now they import these people from Cambodia.

[Old Professer]

Has outrage been banished from the handbook?

What supercilious driveling, hubristic back-patting, sort of senseless jerk would write this for pay?

[MarkL]

I remember hearing about children in Christian schools helping to raise money for a human rights group to buy slaves in Sudan (I think) and then set them free.

I also remember hearing about a bunch of sanctimonious human rights groups accusing them of "supporting the slave trade."

Those scumbags are typical leftists... Recognizing a problem, and then sitting around, talking amongst themselves about what a terrible thing it is... But condemning those trying to do something about it!

Mark

[John Lenin]

The author fails to mention the tragedy that communism is on country.

[JackelopeBreeder]

The white slavery trade isn't limited to Southeast Asia. Young girls are also smuggled into this country for the same purpose. Most are Korean, Eastern European, and Latin American.

[ricks_place]

Kristof actual praises President Bush in a prior article

"...President Bush has done more than his predecessors in making sex trafficking an issue, and his State Department has done a first-rate job exerting pressure - but there's so much more that we could do. The Bush administration could put a real dent in sex trafficking if we were to treat it as firmly as we do, say, pirated movies, and this brazen incident in Cambodia would be a fine place to start...."

( Prior NYT Article)

[satchmodog9]

You got that right.

[hobbes1]

Ms. Rendall added that there was only one problem with Srey Neth: "She doesn't want to do massage. ...

What?!?!?!? No Happy Ending?

[Ditter]

Ping me if you hear about Strey Mom. I hope it is good news as well.

[af_vet_1981]

She is a happy, giggly, self-confident reminder that we should never give up on the slaves of the 21st century.

Bump for Truth

[EvaClement]

Thank you for posting this thread. I look forward to reading the sequel.

E.C.

[livius]

That's wonderful! Congratulations to him.

One of the problems with getting girls out of this is that their families usually put them there in the first place, and even if the girl eventually gets a chance to try something else, the entire family is still hanging on to her.

This is called the "crab effect" by people who work with low-income people: when somebody gets out of jail and starts to go straight, or gets a job and starts to earn money, the whole family appears right away to take advantage of him. It's like crabs in a bucket: pick one up and all the rest grab onto it. And if frequently ends up pulling people right back down.

But this story looks like it might have a happy ending someday, at least.

[DainBramage]

Pretty cheap. In America women prostitute themselves in marriage then some man pays

the cost of a house and half the his savings so she can go away and start over. (/womens lib impression)

[Diverdogz]

Nice story. Kind of reminds me of the movie "Pay It Forward".