When I came to Cambodia to teach English I didn’t think I would be working with women in the sex trade, but once again my expectations were shattered by God, and I had the opportunity to work with a ministry called the White Doves. In Cambodia, some women working in the sex trade work in karaoke bars. They get paid about $55 a month to sit outside a bar in scandalous clothing, and get the customers drunk so the bar owners make money. They get the men to come in by singing karaoke with them. While the girls are working the men may sleep with them if the men choose. These girls give their lives and purity away because they see no other option of supporting themselves.My teammate, Rachel Hartman, spent most of her time this month working with these girls.
The White Doves in a ministry started by a couple in Siem Reap. It’s a house where girls who are coming out of the prostitution industry can stay, receive healing, learn how to read and write, and learn a trade so they can get back on their feet. The girls earn a monthly wage by selling purses and cards they make. They live in a community of women and receive counseling and health care while living at the center.
I had the chance to do a video for the ministry and hang out with the girls in a slum ministry they’ve started. The minute we turned down the dirt road leading to the village I felt a heaviness in my heart. The poverty was unlike anything I saw in the DR or Haiti. The village has about 400 people, 150 (at least) are children, who mostly don’t go to school and their daily jobs consist of collecting trash and trying to take care of themselves. The girls come into the village once a week and play games, sing songs, tell bible stories, teach English and love on the kids. They also give them baths and wash the lice out of their hair.
It was beautiful to see these women pouring into a younger generation, so they don’t have to end up the same way. A lot of karaoke girls come out of this village because they’re so poor and have no way to earn a living and take care of their families.
For more on The White Doves please visit their website.
The village where the girls reach out.
Some of the kids in the slums.
The video I did to promote the organization.
