To cover his gambling debt, he sells her to a Chinese merchant. He beats, starves, and even overworks her. Mam grows to hate her adoptive grandfather because he was so abusive to her. Why? When she finally leams of his death, how does she feel? -62 Was she any freer as a result of his death? Why did Somaly grow to hate her adoptive grandfather? How did the first bad sign show upright as they were in transit out of the hills? How did this ‘grandfather’ make money off of Somaly’s labor even before selling her sexually? Although she dreamed of killing him because of his cruelty, she never really opposed him. They mistreated their children and sold their children to prostitution and slavery. The Khmers and Chams, on the other hand, were brutal and abusive to their children.
She says, “The Phong people are loyal to their children-not like the Khamer” (Mam 6-7). The Phong lived in the remote hillside where they treated their children gently. The Phong people are kind to their children unlike the Khamer and Cham Cambodians. Tamam sold her though he cheated her that he would help her locate her relatives and live with them. Somaly Mam went with the Cham Muslim grandfather to the lowland Khmers and Chams to find her paternal relatives. The Cham muslin man, addressed as ‘grandfather’, was a show of respect because he was elderly. Somaly Mam, born in a hillside tribe of Phnong, ended up with a Cham Muslim man because Taman, the man who was taking care of her, as she was an orphan, said that he came from the same place as her biological father. How did she wind up with a Cham Muslim grandfather? What brought ber out of the hills at about age nine or ten to live with low land Khmers and Chams? What shocking differences did Somaly notice between the way Khmer and also Cham Cambodians treated their children and the way her Phnong people treated children? Somaly Mam was born into a hill tribe called Phnong by the Khmers and Chams. The bright spot is still relevant to her even today as she continues with her works of charity in bringing light to the dark lives of thousands of children. The name Mam reflects the one bright spot of care, kindness, and learning in her early life, as it points out or rather spots the things that she lacked as a young child. Somaly likes and keeps her name because she feels it matches her true self. The name ‘Mam’, given to her by a kind man, meant, “The necklace of flowers lost in a virgin forest” (Mam 1). Additionally, she secured the name ‘Aya’ when the old man rescued her from the forest. As a small child, she had the name ‘Ya’ followed by ‘Non’, as she continued to grow. She had other names that resulted from her temporary choices. As it reveals, Somaly Mam was not the author’s only name. The Road of Lost Innocence is a must-read fascinating chef-d’oeuvre by Somaly Mam.
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