At age six, Charm Tong was sent to an orphanage on the back of a donkey. But her parents were still alive. It just seemed to be the best way to help them survive the fighting in Burma.
Charm Tong did avoid the violence and forced prostitution that was the fate of many women her age and she was able to go to school. So now at the age of 23, Charm Tong is an advocate for human rights. She has founded a school and she has documented the use of rape, torture and sexual slavery against women in her country.
Tong is now in the U.S. to receive Reebok’s Human Rights Award. Yet despite the international attention her work has received, little has changed in her country. The military is still in power. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest and women still face oppression.
Guests:
Charm Tong, one of the founders of the Shan Women’s Action Network and recepient of Reebok’s Human Rights Award