This was Noot Seear’s first visit to a Rose Charities mission in Vietnam. She is pictured here with a little girl from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City.
This is Noot with Dr. Nous Sarom. He is Cambodia’s most skilled plastic surgeon and runs FIRST-Rose, a clinic for the poor that treats children with cleft palates. He also does amazing surgery on land mine and acid burn victims, among others.
Noot with friend and fellow model Annie Henley at the Rose Charities Eye Clinic in Cambodia. The clinic does nearly 2,000 eye surgeries a year and treats over 10,000 Cambodians for eye disease. It is free for everyone.
This little girl is named Dem Mee and absolutely would not let Noot put her down!
This was taken at an orphanage in Cambodia.
Noot at an orphanage in Cambodia.
Noot and Annie at the Rose Charities Eye Clinic in Cambodia. The two models hosted BeBare together last year. Annie also has her own new line of surfwear, which she is launching this year.
This is one of the ophthalmologists who works at the Rose Charities Eye Clinic. He had just completed a cataract surgery when this picture was taken. Noot declined his offer to let her watch!
This sequence of photos was taken at the Somaly Mam Beauty Salon in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was set up by New York hairstylist Michael Angelo, who went to Cambodia to train rescued girls and set up the salon.
The beautiful woman in green is Somaly Mam, founder of the Somaly Mam Foundation. She was sold into prostitution as a small child and eventually escaped. Now she rescues other children from prostitution, some of whom are just toddlers.
There are three centers for children rescued from prostitution. One is in the country, outside of Phnom Penh, where small children are first taken and helped to heal and made to feel safe. They attend school there. Another shelter is located in town for older girls, many of whom have babies.
These older girls are taught trades so that they can eventually go out and earn a living. Along with the hairdressing school, there is also a sewing school. (The girls are making dresses for Noot and Annie!)
The mission of Somaly Mam is to give victims a voice, liberate them, end slavery, and help empower survivors as they create and sustain lives of dignity. For more information on the foundation, visit www.somaly.org.
Taken at the Angkor Wat ruins in Cambodia, a recognized World Heritage site.
Noot at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Noot went to Vietnam to attend a Rose Charities meeting, but was also able to visit some of the projects in the Vietnam/Cambodia region. She traveled with two friends, Jason Rosenstock and Annie Henley, who are both Rose Charities board members.
Noot on her final visit to the orphanage in Vietnam.
Noot at the orphanage in Vietnam.
The Rose Charities orphanage in Vietnam.
Noot met Jason when he was working as a photo assistant, he helped her put together the first fund-raising exhibition for the tsunami. Jason is a natural with kids—in the orphanages in Vietnam and Cambodia, they just mobbed him.
Noot at a Rose Charities orphanage in Cambodia.
