Half a million people in Cambodia leave the country every year desperately searching for work and opportunities. Over a third of them end up sold into slavery. Human trafficking strips people of their value and their dignity. It leaves behind scars that take a tremendous amount of love and counselling to heal. Sometimes the scars are physical, but often they run much deeper.
Survivors encounter compassion and dignity in the Ratanak Achievement Program (RAP). They can receive longer-term therapy and counselling, or the resources they need to start anew back home. New young women enter the program every few weeks. They have all been helped out of situations of human trafficking and abuse. Because of your support, 85 young women received care through this program last year.
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Most of the survivors escaped from forced marriage in China or domestic slavery in Malaysia. They were lured by false promises for better jobs and higher wages. Neighbours and family members are sometimes rewarded for referring more people to these jobs.
“Each step that the young women choose to walk alongside us is a miracle”, says Leng Chan Pisey (Project Manager of RAP). “It is not easy for them to open up the door again, to rebuild relationships when they were hurt in the past from people that they loved.”
Last year, one of our partners uncovered a human trafficking ring. The traffickers awarded Cambodian students false scholarships to Chinese universities and many young women signed up to study under these promised scholarships. But when the students arrived in China, they were instead forced to work in factories under strict conditions with little pay. Their passports and visas were taken away, and they still owed tuition fees, which they couldn’t afford to pay with the little they earned. When they couldn’t pay their tuition, the university threatened legal action against them.
Most Cambodians trafficked to Malaysia are young women sold into domestic slavery as maids and nannies. One survivor was violently beaten and physically abused by her employers, trapped in their home for five years without pay.
Thankfully, after experiencing physical violence and even sexual abuse, sometimes these young women find ways to escape. Many flee to the Cambodian consulate where we and our partner NGOs can be contacted. Plans are then put in motion to bring them home to Cambodia. Your support makes it possible for these young women to return home where they can begin their journey of healing.
When the young women arrive at RAP, they face challenges of a different nature. They have to decide to overcome the hurt in their lives and look forward to the future. “There are moments of joy and excitement, [but also] moments of tears,” describes Pisey. Many of the young women are able to dream of their future for the first time. Our staff assist them in identifying the steps needed to achieve those dreams. At RAP, survivors are able to finish high school, enrol in vocational training classes, or attend university. Some choose to go home to their families, knowing they have our support and resources to start fresh. Poverty prevented them from dreaming about their future. Your donations give these young women the space to dream.
Kanya*, a young women who successfully graduated from RAP, drew this image of a lotus as part of her therapy. The lotus flower grows out of the mud. It pushes through dirt to reach sun and air before blooming into a beautiful plant. It is a symbol for beauty and rebirth – an important symbol in Cambodian culture. Even though the lotus flower is originally rooted in Buddhist teachings, our staff have the opportunity to share the true source of healing and transformation – the love of Christ.
She drew this flower as a reflection of herself. It describes her life, once trapped in mire and darkness, but now transformed into something beautiful, blossoming, and full of life. What a beautiful image of hope!
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Your donations can make hope stories like this possible. We are preparing to welcome more survivors this year! Would you consider sending in a donation that will help others journey from slavery to wholeness?
Your support will double to transform lives.
A generous donor has offered to match your donation (up to a total of $10,000) to make more stories of hope possible. Chariya* is a survivor of sex trafficking who entered RAP at the end of 2015. She discovered a passion for food and cooking, and decided to enrol in culinary school to learn how to cook Western foods. The RAP staff helped her prepare for this opportunity (we’re always happy to help these young women cook delicious meals!). They provided career counselling and training for other life skills that would help her to succeed in school and her future job. Last summer, Chariya started work as Assistant Chef at a local restaurant, where she has consistently been a model employee. She now earns above the average income in Cambodia, allowing her to be independent and free from the grip of poverty that makes many Cambodians so vulnerable.
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Help others journey from slavery to wholeness.
*Ratanak International is committed to empowering and upholding the dignity of those we serve. Names have been changed and pictures in this letter do not depict women who have been exploited.