THOMAS FULLER JUNE 14, 2014 The New York Times

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The fall from grace of one of Cambodia’s most prominent social activists and the unraveling of her sad tale of being an orphan sold into sex slavery has highlighted what aid workers here say is widespread embellishment and in some cases outright deception in fund-raising, especially among the country’s orphanages.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/world/asia/cambodian-activists-fall-exposes-broad-deception.html

Read the article.......its so sad, so sad, that innocent children are perceived by evil lying people as a way to make money. In my opinion it is the real shame in this part of Asia. An organization to do good for others does only good for themselves. The fact that the woman,supposedly, has lied about her own background and became famous....well...no surprise.

SAD SAD SAD !!

An eye-opener.

It is tragic that we can not trust charities. This sort of story makes me less inclined to be charitable; So sad.

I have been solicited by this type of organization and encouraged to "adopt" a certain child to assure the best in everything including education. I didn't bite.

It is too easy to find a charity where you know the people and what they actually do, and where their books are transparent.

This was apparently a US registered charity. Also in the US I know a real charity which is a group of doctors and nurses who donate their time, pay their own expenses and provide their own equipment and medications. Well ahead their visit is planned and advertised, and 3rd world people come to them from all over when they arrive.

They do just one thing. They do cleft palate operations which transform people's lives. People with cleft palates are one step on the social scale above lepers. I know they do this. I've known one of the surgeons all of my life and went to school with him.

Why throw money at people half way around the world that I don't even know? I'll bet they have sick buffalo too.

Good thread to get people thinking.

When I first heard about this I was just sad. Now I'm angry at having been taken in by this fraudster.

Oh well, as PT Barnum said ...

Wonder how much Angelina Jolie sent her?

A number of Hollywood 'celebrities' got involved with Somaly Mam, I believe after the 2009 Time Magazine & New York Times articles praising her work. Do a search within TV on Somaly Mam, within the topics, Sheryl, who knows Cambodia very well, has posted a number of comments regarding NGO activities in Cambodia.