His intonation was sharp and his request sounded crystal clear. We were looking at a video of a grown man, possibly American, purportedly looking for young girls for sex. Within the first hour of meeting former pastor Don Brewster, he pulled out his iPad to show us hidden camera video of what looked and sounded like western men -- 3 Americans and 1 Australian to our ears -- asking strangers on the streets of Cambodia where to find children for sex.
The video was filmed covertly by members of his staff over the last two years in the neighborhood of Svay Pak, just 10 miles outside the capital of Phnom Penh, where Don and his wife Bridget now live. Our team sat mouths ajar. You could hear a pin drop in the room as the video played:. Don and Bridget are the founders of Agape International Missions, or AIM, a Christian missionary group on the front lines of the war against child sex trafficking in Cambodia.
They are both in their 60s and have 12 grandchildren back home, in Northern California and Upstate New York. In , following a visit to Cambodia where Don said he was propositioned by a pimp offering him young girls on the street, Don and Bridget decided to pick up their lives in the U. The Brewsters welcome us to Phnom Penh with a smile -- and a warning: Not everything we were about to see would be easy to handle.
At the center of their operation is a restoration home in Phnom Penh for young girls rescued from the sex trade. There are more than 50 children living there the day we arrive, many of whom are less than 10 years old. Hand prints are painted on white walls. Teddy bears line each of their bunk beds. Little girls, trying their best pop-star impressions, sing along to Cambodian tunes on their own karaoke machine.
Staff members throw high fives to passing kids, while Don and Bridget share hugs with every girl that wants one.
