Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

Never Fall Down, Patricia McCormick. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2012. e-book, 139 pps.


     Arn Chorn Pond was a boy in a small Cambodian village when the Khmer Rouge came calling. It was a vicious time in history to have lived through. The village emptied out. Everyone was forced to march to fields far away where they grew rice and didn't have enough to eat. Conditions were inhumane.

     Arn was one of the "fortunate." He was adopted [his family died in The Killing Fields] and came to the United States to live. Other kids and adults, not so much.

sapphoq reviews says: Patricia McCormick relates a true story in Never Fall Down. Although characterized as a novel, the book has Arn's memories stamped in it. Highly recommended lest we forget the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

Not for Sale by David Batstone

Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade-- and How We Can Fight It, David Batstone. New York: HarperCollins e-books, 2007. 228 pps.


Not for Sale talks about the slave trade, a.k.a. human trafficking. In the intro, the author admitted that he had dined at a particular restaurant in Berkeley frequently-- 
     [the case covered in Slaves of Berkeley by Tim Huddleston, reviewed at: http://sapphoqreviews.blogspot.com/2014/03/slaves-of-berkeley-by-tim-huddleston.html ]--
without the realization that the imported help from India were part of the labor trafficking done by the rich and well-respected owner.

Chapters cover Cambodia, Thailand, South Asia, Uganda, Europe, Peru, and the United States. Of particular interest to me was the narrative about the child soldiers of Uganda and the woman in Peru who was sheltering street kids. The Lord's Revolutionary Army takes children as it will and forces them into fighting. Once the pressure in Uganda got to be too much, their headquarters was moved to Sudan. I was disgusted to learn that since the U.S.A. does not consider Uganda to be a politically important [to the goals of the United States], nothing has been done by our interfering country in a case where something ought to be done. Lucy Borja of Peru got her start in child trafficking work when she offered shelter to two street boys. She is a true hera. Also mentioned is Ma'am Anna of Florida and the work that she is doing there.

sapphoq reviews says: This inspiring book gives a solid understanding of human trafficking and the evil that people do to each other in the name of greed. Definitely a keeper. In order to change the system, we have to create a meaningful dialogue while disregarding our personal comfort zones and learn how to observe our environment in order to be able to identify possible victims of human trafficking hiding in plain sight around us. No one is a possession. Highly recommended.