Chong Kim, a victim of sex trafficking in the United States, spoke at the Performing Arts Center at 7p.m. last night to share her experiences with students. The Russell Union showed the film, Eden, that was based on her experience Feb. 11.

Kim has been speaking to people and telling her story for 10 years.

“The first time I spoke was in front of law enforcement and the FBI,” Kim said.

Kim started from the very beginning, explaining how she didn’t know any better when an attractive young man claiming to be a Marine soldier took interest in her.

At the age of three years old, Kim was raped and abused at home. She was the minority in school and was bullied for being different. She ran away at the age of 12 and even though she had whip marks all over her legs, back, and arms.

“The skin would open. And you know what they told me? ‘You go home and be a good girl.’ I said ‘If I go home I will commit suicide and my death will be on your conscience.’ And you don’t want that. So I left,”

Her young experiences caused her to have low self-esteem so when a young man took interest in her while she was at a country club with friends, it didn’t occur to her that he was acting strange.

“If I asked him to tell me about himself he’d say ‘No tell me more about you’ and I thought ‘I like him. He likes everything I like!’ It was a red flag later,” Kim said.

Her supposed boyfriend, after a few weeks of dating suggested they be spontaneous and take a trip to Florida. Instead they went to an abandoned house in north Oklahoma.

“He told me that he had a homeless friend that lived there and I thought he was perfect. Not only does he love me, he loves the world,” she said.

Instead, he handcuffed her to a door for two weeks with no food, or shower, or chance to brush her teeth and burnt her citizenship papers, Social Security card, and drivers license. She was taken at the age of 18 and kept from 1994 through 1997.

Kim also talked about Eden, sharing what was fact and what was fiction.