This is how Mae’s story was told when she was on the jury:

When Mae was nine years old, she had to leave school and start working to help support her family. She was forced to perform in front of a camera in an internet café

The images were sent all over the world via the internet. It took two years before the owner who exploited Mae was caught by the police. He is now in prison, as are many of those who viewed the images. But Mae was unable to stay with her family. There was a risk that she would suffer again as a result of poverty. Today, she lives at the Visayan Forum Foundation’s safe house for vulnerable girls. She goes to school and fights for the rights of other girls who have suffered abuse.

“I miss my family, but I love going to school and my life is better here,” she says.