Cambodia is a country of stark contrasts. Ancient kingdoms of antediluvian beauty and age-old religious customs draw the traveler into a world rich in history, mysticism and unassailable splendour. Yet beyond their laterite stone walls, these ancient empires are shadowed by the devastations of a war that is not so long gone and the prevailing poverty that lingers still on the face of orphans, refugees, landmine victims, child prostitutes, and the many thousands infected by TB and other life-threatening illnesses.
Like many unsuspecting travelers, my trip to Cambodia in January of this year confronted me with many poignant truths and heart-rending realities, but the most painful and unforgettable of all was the evident exploitation of young girls in child prostitution. One hour north of Siem Riep at the ancient ruins of Banteay Srei, I was compelled to take a photo of this young Cambodian girl. Her eyes were filled with a deep sorrow that I did not understand and they looked beyond me, as though they were searching for an unconscious reality whose promise was ever elusive and out of reach. As I stood with my camera poised, silently struggling to reconcile the image of the beautiful girl before me with the impressionable shadow of fast-tracked maturity that rested upon her shoulders, God spoke to me these words that I shall never forget. ‘She is a child prostitute.’
Never in my life have I felt such a feeling of insuppressible brokenness as I experienced in that moment. The fragranced illusions of innocence were stripped bare and the image of the child that stood only a few feet away tying a yellow ribbon around the neck of a well-worn stuffed rabbit splintered my heart forever.
Silhouetted in the hollowed pink sandstone ruins of Banteay Srei, this child plays with her silent furry companion in a world unimagined by passersby. Behind her sits an unsmiling hard-faced woman with a weathered novel in her hand, glancing up every now and then to detect any commercial interest from the influx of western tourists. It is a lucrative business; it is a livelihood, it is a childhood that has been stolen, an innocence that has been exploited, and a foreboding reality that knows neither mercy nor hope. I will forever be broken and inspired by the memory of this unnamed Cambodian girl whose bravery and courage gave newfound meaning to my life.
