From prostitution to pepper

The former sex workers are taught skills such as sewing at the Daughters of Cambodia workwhop in Phnom Penh. (COURTESY DAUGHTERS OF CAMBODIA)

These small ornaments in the gift shop tell story in two words.

The Daughters of Cambodia now hosts about 55 girls and 15 boys.

Dec. 30, 2010
BY TOM GORDON
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (California, USA)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tom Gordon, an editor at The Register, is starting a nonprofit that will sell Cambodian pepper in the United States. The money raised will help a group that works to help retrain former sex workers in Cambodia This is the last of a three-part story.

I'm writing about pepper and Cambodia for several reasons, but to start off I'll share two:

TEE'S STORY: At 15, Tee left her province in rural Cambodia to find a job in Phnom Penh. For four years she worked as a waitress. When the restaurant closed, she went to work as a karaoke girl. She was sold to a brothel by a friend. The friend took the payment and Tee was forced to work it off.

If she complained, she was beaten. If she refused to have sex with the brothel owners, she was beaten. She was forced to stand on the street to attract customers. If she didn't lure enough customers, she was beaten. She finally ran away when the brothel owners were sleeping. But carrying the stigma of having been a sex worker made finding a new job all but impossible, and she ended up back in a karaoke bar.
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