The Joy of What Lies Ahead: A Survivor of Child Trafficking Reunites with IJM Decades After Her Rescue

Nary was six years old when she was sold into a brothel by a neighbor. She was forced to live in a tiny room with bars on the windows, enduring exploitation and brutality that no young girl should ever experience. After more than two years of abuse, Nary and several other young girls were rescued through an IJM operation in 2003. Two decades later she is thriving as a mother, a master cake designer and survivor leader.

Watch Nary’s extraordinary story of her rescue, journey of restoration and visit to IJM in Free to Be Me, produced by IJM aftercare partner Bloom Asia.

What do you remember about the rescue operation involving Nary and what led up to it?

SCW: This was one of the most extraordinary cases in all of my experience with IJM. We had received information that there were very small children being offered for sexual exploitation, so we sent a team to confirm the information. When you watch the documentary, you’ll see the children, and hear the perpetrators negotiating the price for their abuse.

Over a period of three weeks, the team documented 45 children under the age of 15 in those brothels. The smallest one shared with our undercover investigators that she was 5 years old.

Although there were many and significant challenges with partnering with the government, the alternative for the children was an ongoing disaster. And so, we determined to do what we could.

This rescue was not typical, and you ended up spending a significant amount of time with the children. What was that like for you?

SCW: It was difficult, perhaps the most challenging case I have worked on to date. As you say, this was not the common way of doing things, and we certainly haven’t done it again.

There was no place to immediately send the children because of the need to keep confidential the date of the government’s operation. Thirty-seven children were ultimately removed from sexual exploitation by the police, and the aftercare partners were not able to accept the children until a few days later.

As a result, we operated a temporary, emergency shelter for a couple of days until the aftercare homes could assess the needs of the children and accept placement. We brought in local experts, including in-country social workers and medical personnel who could provide immediate care. The police permitted the children to be released to the temporary shelter and IJM staff and security along with police kept watch as some of the brothel keepers attempted to locate the children and return them to exploitation.

Do you ever look back and wonder what happens to specific survivors you’ve met?

SCW: Absolutely. This is particularly true with this group, as we spent so much time with them compared with other survivors we have rescued in partnership with local law enforcement. One of the challenges of this work is that our teams and government partners tend to intersect with survivors in a crisis moment of their life. We don’t know who these children will become. So, it was a truly an unquantifiable privilege to see this young woman 20 years later.

How did Nary find IJM?

SCW: Nary saw an obscured picture of children in a video about a sex trafficking rescue in her country. She started putting the pieces together when she noticed that one child had a poorly healed broken wrist, just like hers. This was almost 20 years later.

It took Nary a long period of restoration work with an aftercare partner, Bloom Asia, to understand that she had been trafficked. Looking back, she says she thought “playing games” with men was normal for children her age. She knew nothing else. And yet she lived with the pain of that abuse each and every day.

The video helped Nary recall IJM’s role in her rescue, she wanted to understand her full story and meet the people who had helped remove her from that terrible situation. Bloom reached out to us and arranged the trip, including accompanying Nary to visit IJM’s offices in Washington, D.C.

How did you experience that moment of first seeing Nary?

SCW: It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment meeting Nary. It is hard to put it into words. I was so shocked by how grown up and full of life and joy she is. I just love the incredible poise and confidence she exhibits as a woman.

That’s what I value so much about the Free to Be Me film. It is her life, her story, told by her. She says, “Yes, this is a piece of my story, but people should know that this is not the whole story, and it is not the end of the story. No one gets to define the ending of my story but me.”

Her courage is beyond my comprehension. The idea that you would choose to look back on something as horrific as what she experienced—and not only look back but invite others to look back with you so they can see the way forward—that’s a courage and a selflessness and a leadership that’s uncommon and extraordinary.

How has reconnecting with Nary shaped the way you look at your work?

SCW: As a person of faith, reconnecting with Nary affirmed why I want to be part of the work of justice. I can’t say I needed any confirmation that we ought to run headlong into this work and keep at it. It wasn’t so much that. It was more of an incredible kindness of God to reaffirm the hope in my heart of what’s possible and what He can do.

Moreover, it’s such an important reminder for me how much moments in time can change the trajectory for all of us, in all the different ways we interact with each other. By entering into the pain of others, we share not only in the sorrows, but also taste the joy of what lies ahead. It’s about people being taken out of a place of slavery and violence and brought to a place of freedom and flourishing.