(Editor's note: In September of 2005, Karoline Kemp travelled to Cambodia with Outer Voices, a California-based independent media group, to make a radio documentary program about sex trafficking in Cambodia. The story she told on her return is here.

Thyda looks like any other young girl — only she's lived through trauma most of us could never imagine. At the age of 12, Thyda's mother sold her into prostitution. She was told that her relatives were sick and needed medicine, and because she was very beautiful, she would be able to earn money for the family. Thyda was sold several times, and was moved around the country before she managed to escape. She was then brought to the Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre, where we met her.