Priceless

On my 17:25 hour flight from Los Angeles to Singapore, I read one of the most personally challenging books I have read called, 'Priceless.' A book by my friend Tom Davis. Tom is the President of Children's Hopechest, an organization committed to providing physical, medical and spiritual welfare to orphans predominantly in Africa and Russia. This book is the 2nd book in a trilogy that he is writing. In his first book, Scared, he writes a story on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Swaziland where hundreds of thousands of young children have lost their parents and are raising their younger siblings. Through the lens of a New York photo journalist, Tom follows the life of a young remarkable girl.

Tom's 2nd book, 'Priceless', sees the same photo journalist go to Russia where he finds himself precariously caught in the middle of a dangerous human trafficking situation. It's not only riveting, I found myself trying to decide how I would react if I found myself in a similar situation. This is a heartbreaking topic and one that is not easy to read about or talk about. It was impossible for me to read this and not think about my own young daughter. Children, the same age as my daughter, are being sold into sex slavery every day. Not hundreds, not thousands, not hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of millions. Incomprehensible? Yes. I am trying to learn more about how I can help. It is so removed from my comfortable lifestyle, but I cannot continue to ignore it.