The sex slave who changed my life: Mira Sorvino's heartrending mission to end human trafficking... and how recycled bras have saved dozens of desperate women

She is a glamorous Hollywood star who has graced hundreds of red carpets.
But the cause closest to Mira Sorvino's heart is a long journey from the bright lights of Tinseltown and into the dark world of human trafficking.
In a moving interview with Mail Online, she told how one heartrending meeting with an imprisoned sex slave had changed her life and made her even more determined to end the trade she branded a 'hideous scourge'.
The 45-year-old described coming face-to-face with the woman, who was wrongly locked-up for killing the man who had taken her captive when she was 16.
Despite the real murderer confessing to the crime, she had still spent much of her youth in a jail cell.
She had also endured years of horrific abuse at the hands of the human trafficker. He would routinely threaten her with black magic and say he would murder members of her family.
‘Although she had wanted to commit suicide, she did not,’ Mira said. ‘She told me “I have nothing left to give on this earth, beside staying on and enduring to keep my brother alive.’
‘To see in her eyes deep, excoriating pain and yet to hear no bitterness in her words, after spending her entire youth incarcerated for a crime someone else ultimately confessed to, was extraordinary.’
‘More extraordinary still was her commitment to help others and become a fighter of this hideous scourge.’
Mira’s latest project is CNN documentary Mozambique or Bust which features the pioneering work of a small American charity Free The Girls.

Survivors: Tashina (left) was trafficked when she was 15, and Ofelia (right) became a sex slave when she was just 12 - their stories are among those that have inspired Hollywood star Sorvino

The project was set up to help victims of human trafficking in an innovative and highly unusual way – by sending bras to Mozambique where they can be sold by freed sex slaves.
Set up by Denver housewife Kimba Langas, who thought her appeal for unwanted lingerie would only have moderate success.
But she was completely overwhelmed when women sent her 20,000 bras but was then faced with the fresh challenge of getting them shipped to Africa.
The problem was when Paul Jarzombek, the CEO of shipping company LR International stepped in and offered free transportation from Chicago to Maputo.
‘Kimba is an amazing person, a stay-at-home mom with a dream and gumption as big as the sky’, Mira said.
‘She proves that there are no limitations to what we can do to fight slavery if we put our minds and hearts to it.’
The actress said that the idea of selling bras was both surprising and inspirational.

Some of the thousands of unwanted bras donated by American women ready to be shipped out to Mozambique

Breast efforts: A group of former sex slave and human trafficking victims unload a box of bras donated by women in the U.S. which they will sell in the local market

‘I like the idea that these are items that would exclusively be bought by women, so that the women and girls selling them wouldn’t have to sell them to me, and possibly be intimidated or retrafficked by them.
‘They are being set up to succeed, in a safe zone. I think it was a great, genius idea and proves that you don’t need money to fight human trafficking.
‘Kimba’s story shows that you do not need special expertise. Everyone has something that they can do.’
The documentary features the stories of two women, Tashina, who was trafficked when she was 15, and Ofelia who became a sex slave when she was 12.
Both are now selling Free The Girls bras and supporting themselves. ‘We lived in darkness,’ Tashina said before talking optimistically about the future.
For the women of Mozambique, bras are a difficult item to acquire and highly-coveted. The people  who sell them make about three time the living wage.
Mira, 45, said she was particularly moved by Tashina’s devotion to her child.

Gumption: The project was the brainchild of American housewife Kimba Langas (left) while Paul Jarzombek, CEO at the LR International shipping company, heard about the project and agreed to transport the bras from Chicago to Maputo for free

Bra aid: Denver-based charity Free the Girls charity collected thousands of donated bras in the U.S. to ship to Mozambique

‘As a mom of four, I relate to her quest to make sure her daughter’s life does not follow the same terrible road hers did,’ she said.
‘She is an incredibly brave and beautiful person’.
The Mighty Aphrodite actress was first exposed to the issue of modern-day slavery as a spokesman for Amnesty International’s campaign Stop Violence Against Women three years ago.
But she says it was meeting survivors of modern day slavery and human trafficking that really spurred her to take up the cause.  
She was asked to become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), something she considers a great honour.
‘I was thrilled with the reach and gravitas of the position,’ she said. ‘It has been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have ever undertaken.’
Mira said that she would encourage people to get involved in grassroots projects like Free The Girls and urged people to get in touch with organisations battling to end sex trafficking.
‘She said: 'A first step could be a call to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, a 24/7 hotline that not only is a highly effective tipline that leads to the rescue of thousands of trafficking victims, but an informational hub for those who want to get involved in the fight to end slavery. 
'They have a grid of nationwide abolitionist groups, so you can find one in your area that will appreciate your specific skill set.
'If people would like to donate funds, no sum is too small to begin helping victims across the globe; the UN's Voluntary Trust Fund for the Victims of Human Trafficking gives grants to meticulously vetted NGOs that work directly with victims, providing them with rescue and rehabilitation to reclaim their lives; as we see with Free the Girls does, these non-governmental organisations that can do truly miraculous things.'