Stylist seeks to end human trafficking

Teav Mam mentors five girls who were rescued from Cambodia, teaching them how to cut hair as well as enjoying activities like hiking and creating hair adornments. (Kim Palaferri • The Telegraph)

7/13/11
By Laura Newell
Folsom Telegraph staff writer (California, USA)

More than 800,000 people are trafficked annually and 80 percent are women and girls with the average age of 13 years old.

Teav Mam, 33, of Folsom is working with other locals to help stop these statistics.

On July 17, through a one day cut-for-a-cause event, the hairdressing community will be raising money to teach women in developing countries how to cut hair as an alternative to prostitution and human trafficking.

Mam said her difficult life has made this cause a passion for her and helping save these girls is her goal. Mam was born in Cambodia during a genocide. Her parents escaped with her and eventually came to America when she was 7, she said.

“My parents were very traditional,” Mam said. “A lot of things went wrong in my life and I wondered why.”

She said she was abused by multiple people in her life and now finds strength to help other girls.

“I always focused on women’s rights because in my culture I never had a lot of rights,” she said. “So I decided that I needed to be strong for myself and my sisters.”

She said her passion for helping these girls started eight years ago after she read an article about a young girl who was sold by her grandfather to a brothel.

“I was shocked,” she said. “So I did more research and found out about sex trafficking in my own country, Cambodia.”

She said she wanted to find a way to use her skills to help these girls.

“I thought I’m a hairstylist, I could teach them my skills to better themselves and their lives” she said. “But I didn’t know where to start.”

She said through her research she learned that many times these girls were sold at young ages, and if they grew and were able to leave, they were shunned away by family. So many times, the young women will enter back into prostitution to make money because it is the only way they know.

She said she then took it upon herself to venture out and find people who shared her passion and wanted to work to help these girls.

She said a few months after meeting Clayton Butler, who works to rescue girls, he told her that a 17-year-old girl was rescued in Cambodia and was coming to America. The teenagerhad already been through a rehabilitation program in Cambodia and now needed a friend, an older sister figureto watch over her.

Mam jumped at the chance to help her because she was still fluent in Cambodian.

“When I went to visit her, she only asked for a green mango, and I a fellow Cambodian, knew how to get that for her,” Mam said. “I still visit her everyday. Now she is 18 and doing fabulous. She is so smart and strong.”

Mam is now working with multiple girls. She said a lot of the girls are expected to make money to send home to their families, so she has them make flower clips for her salon. Mam then sells the clips and gives all the proceeds back to the girls.

“Working with these girls and hearing their stories, it just makes me want to continue working for them,” she said with tears.

The Trade will raise money for the overall cause to teach these girls hairdressing skills. Mam said with the help of other locals working for the cause, they plan to open a beauty school in Cambodia and other developing countries.

“I want to use my skills to teach these girls an alternative skill to make money and work,” Mam said. “I need a lot more support. This is huge and needs to stop. They don’t have a lot of opportunities, so I want to give confidence and strength to these girls.”