This January I worked for an organization a couple hours outside of Phnom Penh that specializes in the prevention of sex trafficking to girls who are at an elevated risk of being trafficked. This organization houses and educates girls who may have been abandoned, homeless, or abused by family. Some have also been subject to the deaths of parents. Siblings are never separated and family members are welcome to visit with their children at any time. The main purpose is providing a stable and safe environment for at risk girls in order to give them a peaceful childhood while preparing them for success as adults. As it is a Christian organization, many of the girls only knew the English words in worship songs. Most of the girls at the location I was at were 7-14 years old. About a baker’s dozen lived in this location.
The house parents are natives of the area and priority is placed on raising the children in a traditional Khmer environment.
Some of these girls have already seen extreme cruelty and corruption at such young ages – yet you would think they were the most spoiled and happy kids around. Their faces would light up when we came over to play games with them at night. Again, most of them knew no more English than our names, but that failed to prevent the bond we shared with them.
During the day, our ministry team dug ditches and shoveled gravel for the irrigation and drainage system we were putting in place. We dug approximately 2000 feet of ditch and placed as much pipe. Afterwards, we shoveled approximately 3 dump truck piles of gravel into the ditches we dug. We were blessed to have an incredible host who made sure we were full at every meal. We could not have done the work we did without him.
Though the manual labor made up most of our required ministry work for the month, the highlight came at night when we had the chance to play games with the girls. I never knew how much enjoyment one can receive from helping a little girl with her ABCs whilst playing thumb war.
Stay Classy,
-Daniel
Thank you to everyone who helped me become fully funded! I could not be doing these ministries without you guys.
