EMPOWERMENT NOT HANDOUTS: AN INSPIRING INTERVIEW WITH FREE TO SHINE FOUNDER NICKY MIH

Nicky Mih’s dream is to eradicate sex trafficking.

But that dream surprisingly doesn’t start with rescuing victims. It starts well before that point, through educating vulnerable girls and their families. This is something that Nicky found out through visiting and speaking with 200 girls in Cambodia who had been rescued, and soon learned no one was filling this need for prevention through education.

The girls told her that many of them had dropped out of school at a very young age to help provide for their families. These families could barely put food on the table, let alone pay for schoolbooks and uniforms.

So in 2010, Nicky founded Free to Shine to help both the girls and their families. Free To Shine's Motto and Mission to keep girls in school, and away from brothels.

Free to Shine identifies vulnerable families who do not have adequate food, water and shelter, and might be susceptible to trafficker’s offering ‘jobs’ to their daughters. The organization then provides educational tools like uniforms, books and bikes to keep the girls in school, in addition to giving them resources like water filters and seeds to grow their own gardens.

Free to Shine has 18 Cambodian education outreach officers, and pays special attention to local issues and local solutions surrounding them.

To date, Nicky and her team has helped empower more than 700 girls and their families throughout 44 villages in Cambodia. And much of that support would not be possible if not for B1G1 businesses.

Consider supporting this project today and making a massive impact for these girls and their families tomorrow.