To Cambodia and back again

Imagine how traveling to another country can change your perspective on life.

Local cosmetologist Aly Van Geystel doesn t have to imagine, having returned from a month-long trip to Cambodia, where she taught the trade of cosmetology to former victims of sex trafficking so they can start their own careers.

She found out about the Justice and Soul Foundation last year, and decided she wanted to be involved in what they do.

A lot of the time," Van Geystel told The Star before leaving, former victims from human trafficking escape sex trafficking as children, but they don t have any other way to make money so end up back in the sex industry because that s all they know how to do. What Justice and Soul is doing is giving them the opportunity to get back on their feet, learn a trade, and then place them in salons in either Cambodia or in Seattle.

Van Geystel left for the month of May, flying from Seattle to Taiwan to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where she worked for Justice and Soul and the Kate Korpi Salon and Academy.

[The] team is amazing, Van Geystel said in a recent email to The Star. I met amazing people and became very good friends with my colleagues. I was in the salon and academy Tuesdays through Saturdays, teaching classes of about two to four students at a time and also taking clients in the salon. We focus on the students futures, and we don t ask questions about their pasts.

I really hope that people can become more educated on human trafficking in general, Van Geystel continued. It s everywhere, not just in third-world countries. It s in our country, it s in our state, it s in our town, it s on our reservation. Human and sex trafficking is a worldwide epidemic, and I think that many people turn their heads to it because they cannot process it, or they are just uneducated about the situation in general. There is more slavery TODAY in our country and in the world than there ever has been in history. Let that sink in.

The experience was monumental for Van Geystel, 25, and she spoke on her Instagram page about how hard it is to put into words.

How am I supposed to describe something with just words when I experienced it so deeply in all senses of my body, she wrote. Being a part of the Kate Korpi team was the biggest blessing I ve been given thus far. My students, so thoughtful, caring, silly, curious, resilient, hungry for knowledge and full of life. & They taught me more in the past four weeks than I could have ever taught them. My colleagues (who became friends) are the most well-rounded, big-hearted, optimistic, Divine human beings. I m so grateful and humbled by this life changing experience and I cannot wait to go back.

Van Geystel said she hopes to go back in January to watch one of her classes graduate.

The experience of being in a foreign culture offered many insights for Van Geystel that she brought back with her to America, and she described what it was like there, the culture shock, and how the culture there contrasts with the culture here.

The Khmer people are truly beautiful inside and out, she said. The most friendly and curious culture I ve ever seen. A smile goes a long way in Cambodia! The city was chaotic but I was surprisingly very calm while there. Some people spoke English, but mostly people spoke Khmer.

She said she picked up some of the language, enough to greet people, talk to her students (there was a translator present), and to tell tuk tuk drivers where to go.

My route to work on a tuk tuk (a Moto with a cart attached to the back) was always interesting! Van Geystel said. The traffic is crazy, crazy busy with no set rules other than the larger vehicle gets the right away. I thought I was going to be involved in many accidents, but my tuk tuk driver Tony is a fantastic driver and got me to work safe every day!

She said the city was very hot and humid.

I loved waking up in the mornings and smelling all the street food being cooked, mixed with the smell of steamy hot garbage. & It s a smell you learn to love!, she joked.

It was the kindness of the culture, and the togetherness, that seems to have impressed Van Geystel the most, something she wishes was more prevalent in America.

There were several occasions that I went to a restaurant on my own, and if the place was busy and there were no tables available, I would be seated next to a family or a couple who had a spare chair at their table, she says. Luckily, most of the time they spoke some English so we would sit, and chat, and talk, and share our meals. Complete strangers having terrific conversation over a meal. That is something that would NEVER happen in America.

I think that s something we can take away from their culture. They are so generous, friendly, and loving. & Even entering back in America in the Seattle airport, I felt like a foreigner in my country. I was so used to talking to everyone I came across and smiling at everyone that crossed my path. Entering back in the U.S., no one smiled back at me, no one seemed keen on having conversation, everyone was selfishly in their own worlds and HOOKED on their phones.

It was extremely hard for me to return back to American life, she continued. It was harder for me to adjust to being back home than it was for me to adjust to Cambodia. Lots of very confusing emotions entering back into America. ... You feel spoiled, and almost shameful for your life here. ... It was hard to even hear some of my friends/family talk about their problems because they seemed so minuscule compared to the problems I saw first hand in Cambodia. It s not that I didn t care, it was just hard to listen to at times.

I feel like I grew more in my four weeks in Cambodia as a person than I have in the past four years, she said. Traveling to another country on your own is something I recommend everyone does in their lifetime. ... You learn so much about yourself and about life.

More info on the program can be found at justiceandsoul.org.