"I did a village stay at an orphanage of 250 children with HIV and AIDS," Bec said.

While there, her friend Nat Drew, also from Australia, began educating the then Mt St Benedict's College student about human trafficking as a global crisis.

"There are more than two million women and children sold into sexual slavery each year," Bec said.

"These poor people are traded like animals and moved from town to town, city to city, country to country.

"Many will never know freedom again unless we do something about it."

In November, the 18-year-old from Glenwood was one of 20 who cycled 445 kilometres from Sydney to Canberra to raise money for a new human trafficking initiative called the Freedom Advocates Project.

The inaugural Salvation Army/Project Futures Australian Cycle Challenge raised $40,000.

"There were times when we didn't think we would make it up the next hill but in the end we all pulled through and felt so proud when we rode into Canberra," Bec said.

She plans to cycle from Cambodia to Vietnam in mid-July to help raise money for the non-profit Somaly Mam Foundation, which supports survivor rescue, shelter, and rehabilitation programs globally, with a focus on southeast Asia where the trafficking of women and girls, some as young as five, is a widespread practice.

"During the 16-day cycle, we will have an opportunity to go to some of the rescue centres," Bec said. She will hold a fundraising dinner on March 16 at the Epping Club to raise money to get to Cambodia.

For more information, email bec.burrowes@hotmail.com. Donations can also be made at www.gofundraise.com.au/page/becbu rrowes/.