Cambodian Leader Talks To Influential Colo. Women

World leader Mu Sochua from the Opposition Party in Cambodia spoke to some of Colorado's most influential women activists to help her in her fight against corruption in Cambodia.
CBS

Reporting
Shaun Boyd
http://cbs4denver.com

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ― The leader of an opposition party in Cambodia came to Colorado last week, not only to ask for help for her country, but to teach a lesson about freedom.

In a backyard in Boulder Bounty, on the eve of America's Independence Day holiday, a group of women gathered to change the world. Among them was world leader Mu Sochua from the Opposition Party in Cambodia.

"I'm here to ask the American public to be aware what is going on in Cambodia right now," Sochua told the women.

Sochua faces imprisonment after speaking out against the prime minister. With her freedom running out, she came to the United States to beg Americans to help free her country from corruption and to ask where American money goes in Cambodia.

"We're talking about 36 percent of our population living below poverty line," Sochua said.

It's a condition that she says has lead to children as young as 3 years old being sold as sex slaves for as little as $50.

"I'm an abolitionist. I rescue slaves," she said.

Beth Klein knows what Sochua is up against and called on some of Colorado's most influential women activists to help. A Boulder attorney, Klein works in her spare time rescuing women from the sex trade in Cambodia.

"It's a huge effort that needs to be made to support these people, who through no fault of their own, became a thing and now they need to become somebody," Klein said.

Sochua says she will return to her country for those women and children.

"We cannot continue selling our children because of a corrupt government. It has to be stopped," Sochua said.

Her hope is that those of us lucky enough to have freedom will help free others.

"I wish I could be here for the Fourth of July, but I won't be here," she said. "But in my heart I will breathe the freedom and that's why I go back, hoping one day there will be a Fourth of July in Cambodia."