Stay calm. Agape International Missions has sent Heidi Garrett, a hairstylist/former athlete, to Siem Reap, Cambodia to put an end to human trafficking and prostitution. This article is about her, but if you read it carefully you'll see that Cambodia gets a mention or 2.

The bad news is that there's still some prostitution going on in Cambodia. The good news is that she'll be back next year to pick up where she left off.



"When you go there you don’t see it."

Really? Surely her 5-star hotel had windows?



"Garrett describes Siem Reap as Las Vegas on steroids."

Clearly, someone hasn't been to Las Vegas, LoL.



"...paid the usual $5 for one of the hostesses..."

Wait, did she just pay money to one of the pimps of the girls she's supposed to be rescuing?



"The students earn a stipend for apprenticeships...Not all women want to leave their situation, Garrett noted. Some come from rampant poverty, so any money is welcome."

So, she knows that some of the impoverished girls don't want to leave, and she knows that ANY money is welcome, so she offers them money to come with her? Foolproof plan!



At least her heart is in the right place.







Former athlete takes aim at Cambodian sex trade

Heidi Garrett didn’t know quite what she was getting into when she arrived in Cambodia. She’d always had an adventurous spirit, whether it was becoming a kicker on the King High football team or pursuing her own business while still in school at UC Riverside.

But this was different.

“When you go there you don’t see it,” Garrett said, referring to the sex trade that’s prevalent in Siem Reap, a popular resort town in northwestern Cambodia. “It goes on behind closed doors. You know that it’s going on, you see the clubs all lit up at night. … But the people there are so kind, you kind of forget it’s even happening.”

But it is happening. Prostitution and human trafficking is a thriving underground industry in Cambodia, and while accounts of the numbers involved vary, there’s no doubting its impact on local women and girls.

Last year, Garrett, 26, spent a month in Cambodia as part of the Trade Foundation, a nonprofit organization made up of hairstylists, makeup artists, and counselors who offer women rescued from the sex trade an opportunity at a new life. It’s also been a life-changing opportunity for Garrett, whose deep passion for hair and makeup has turned into something bigger.

On its website, the Trade Foundation states that its goal is to stem what has become a worldwide issue. “The Trade Foundation exists to fight global sexual slavery and exploitation by teaching women how to cut and style hair. This training establishes micro-economies, which allow women to leave behind lives of prostitution, abuse and extreme poverty. The social and economic impact is absolutely life-changing as they develop a new set of skills as well as the sense of dignity and self respect that comes with them. In addition to hair and makeup instruction, we train our students how to run a small business and add value to their surrounding communities.”

For Garrett, who as a youngster would forsake TV and video games to spend hours in front of the mirror trying new hair styles, it seemed like a noble cause and one that fit perfectly with her life’s passion.

Although she was already a professional hair stylist and had, in her short career, become much sought after for weddings and even as a teacher in the industry, the chance to volunteer with the foundation helping women in Cambodia was almost irresistible.

“She’s always expressed that she thought God was going to use her gift in a way,” said Heidi’s mother Kathi Garrett. “She would say, ‘I don’t know what it’s going to be, or what it’s going to entail, I just know he’s going to use me somehow.’”

After meeting some friends and learning of the program, so it was that Garrett flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia last August. Keep an open mind, she thought, remembering all the times she faced challenges head-on as an athlete. Competing with the boys on the football field and overcoming injuries as a star soccer player seemed like distant memories, but Garrett knew those experiences made her strong.

CAMBODIA

As a student at UC Riverside, Garret had taken a course on human trafficking and the sex trade. At the time, it was just another class, another step to her eventual graduation. But she received an introduction to the real world through the Trade Project.

Garrett describes Siem Reap as Las Vegas on steroids. The resort city is the capital of Siem Reap province, which has a population of 190,000 buoyed by a thriving tourist industry, with the temples of Angkor a favorite stop. But there’s also the poverty-stricken area, were karaoke bars and beer gardens serve as nightly reminders of the sex trade.

There are also plenty of hair salons. And that’s where Garrett and her colleagues come in. Partnering with Agape International Missions, the Trade offers women in the sex trade or those who have been abused the chance to work in a salon and learn the hair and makeup profession. Training takes place at a safehouse (there are two in Siem Reap), where the women follow a curriculum designed to teach them the skills that could lead to jobs in the upscale tourist part of town or, maybe more importantly, build the confidence and skill to run a business. The students earn a stipend for apprenticeships and can live in the safehouse if they choose.

There are also the intangibles.

“Seeing our students smile and show emotion … is the biggest reward as a teacher,” Garrett said. “It’s that you changed somebody’s life and inspired them somehow; at least planted a seed of something. For me the most rewarding thing is building relationships with these women and letting them know their future is in their hands.”

AIM primarily focuses on rescuing the women who want to leave the sex trade, Garrett said, but she also got a firsthand experience of the culture when she and colleagues visited a club.

The group took up a booth, paid the usual $5 for one of the hostesses, and after some discussion about hopes and dreams and the art of hairstyling, they had landed a new student for the program.

Not all women want to leave their situation, Garrett noted. Some come from rampant poverty, so any money is welcome. Some find it hard to leave a bad situation or don’t have the confidence to try something else. Good jobs typically require the women to speak English.

“You really try to focus on the positive,” Garrett said. “If you do focus on the negative, and yes we know that all of that garbage is going on, but we also have these girls who are willing and wanting to change their lives and working hard.”

THE START

The young girl who was always playing soccer or doing something with her hair found her first client when she was barely a teenager. An older neighbor asked Garrett to do her hair for prom and the passion was stoked. Garrett worked her first wedding at age 16.

While pursuing her bachelor’s in business administration at UCR, and also playing soccer for the Highlanders, Garrett continued to hone her craft, working on friends, family, teammates and even doing hair and makeup for an occasional wedding. She currently runs her own business, focusing on the wedding industry, and does work for photo shoots, businesses and modeling agencies. Marketing for her work is primarily done via social media – she has 78,000 followers on Instagram – or by word of mouth.

The long-range goal is to transition from weddings to teaching cosmetology.

THE FUTURE

Garrett heads back to Cambodia in January for another month of training. The program, which runs on donations and sponsors, will expand from three months to a year-round full-service hair salon and beauty school.

“Our goal is to ultimately leave the salon in the hands of the women, Cambodian staffed and operated and then to plant more salons/schools in other areas of need,” said Melissa Lingo, director of the Trade.

Garrett said she gets chills remembering.....

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The Trade Foundation

The group has worked in Brazil (2011, 2013), Nicaragua (2011, 2012, 2013), Mexico (2012-current), Kenya (2012), Uganda (2012), Costa Rica (2012, 2013), and Cambodia in 2013, 2014.

The work in Cambodia in 2013 included a Trade Team of 15 volunteer educators and stylists to carry out the first program in Cambodia. All eight students graduated and have salon careers lined up beginning in November. Upon graduating they received cosmetology certificates and beauty kits with all of the tools needed to start their careers.

In 2014, the group continued to partner with Agape International Missions to bring education and training to the women of Cambodia, and returned to Siem Reap in February for a one month follow-up program with the eight students trained last year. The establishment of a full-service hair salon and beauty school will commence, providing students with cosmetology training and paid apprenticeships during their education.