Somaly Mam was born in either 1970 or 1971 in Cambodia. Nobody knows for certain, since there are no records of her birth. She and her family lived in extreme poverty. When she was 12 years old, her parents abandoned her. She survived alone until a man she had never met before found her. He promised her he'd find her family if she went with him, so she did. He took her in and she became his slave. He instructed her to call him "grandfather".
