…is as individual and personal as the children themselves. It’s the story of sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, their families, their parents. It’s the story of the girl next door, and the one on the other side of the world. It’s about people just like us. Their story is our story.

As most stories do, the beginnings have a hundred different roots. How a child becomes a commodity on the sex market is a complicated tale. It has many settings, diverse characters, varied locations and lasting repercussions.

Sometimes it begins with the making of an orphan. Left alone without the protection of a family, a 4 year old Ugandan boy can easily be exploited by pimps and pedophiles, brothel owners and con men.

Another story begins with the rape of a girl by a stranger, friend, or family member. In many cultures, there is considered to be no restoration from this tragic injustice. A Cambodian girl at age 6 would then be considered stained, only deemed useful as a sex object in the local karaoke bar.

A 15 year old Russian girl can be sold by her parents to a pimp unknowingly, thinking she is going to receive an education, training, a better life. They find out they’ve been deceived and she’s been trafficked, but it’s too late.

A boy from El Salvador can be given over to a life of prostitution at 10 years of age by an uncle. The reasoning: a life of emotional and mental pain is better than starvation and homelessness.

An American teenager, with lonely days and empty pockets, takes a stranger at the mall up on his offer…and the cycle of slavery begins.

Whatever the reason, wherever the path, the end is the same. A childhood is destroyed. A child is destroyed. Dreams for a bright future are taken away and pain becomes their companion. With no one to speak for them…they become silent.