Oregon family aids Cambodian sex slaves

Sunday, March 16, 2008
BY WAYNE HAVRELLY for Kgw.com

As the Pond family sits around the dining room table playing trivial pursuit, they appear to be the typical American family. They’re not. Anything that was typical changed forever after watching a Dateline NBC investigation 4 years ago. The story about Cambodian children being sold to sex peddlers touched the family so deeply, this father of three quit his six figure sales job and traveled to Cambodia to see what could be done to help.
“We were seeing pedophiles walking up and down the riverfront purchasing kids, said James Pond. Pond knew he could make a difference, but only if his family wanted the same thing. His wife Athena said, “We were trying to teach our kids you can do more in life and we should all be helping others, but we really didn’t have an outlet for that before this.” It was a unanimous vote so the Ponds sold nearly everything they owned and moved to Cambodia to open a transitional housing center for girls rescued from brothels. 14 year old Srey Neth was sold by her mother for 300 dollars.
“Her virginity was sold a week later for the same 300 dollars she was sold for after that she was forced into a brothel where she saw 10 to 20 men a day, said James Pond. Neth was rescued. After 2 years with the pond family, she's now working for their Oregon based charity called Transitions Cambodia.
“She's not just our voice she's the voice of every girl that’s ever been through something like this,” said Pond.
Transitions Cambodia now provides shelter, support and vocational training to about 20 rescued girls each year.
The Ponds run the charity from their Hillsboro home. They have a staff of ten running the program in Cambodia. They recently moved back to the US to raise awareness about the child sex issue. They hope that will lead to more financial support which will enable them to open even more shelters in Cambodia and other countries around the world.
They said what started out as an idea after watching Dateline NBC has turned into a lifetime commitment. They hope to create awareness on a large scale starting in Portland and spreading all across America.
For more information go to the charities website at Transitionscambodia.org