Khmer New Year Holiday
This past weekend during the Khmer New Year holiday, Lisa Cheong, Cambodia Country Director at Ratanak International accompanied three of the young women from the Ratanak Achievement Program (RAP) home and three of the RAP staff to Sihanoukville. They had a mini getaway together. The rest of the young women at RAP had travelled to their home villages to spend time with their families. For the three young women who stayed behind for various reasons, a beach was chosen away from the famous tourist beaches so they could have a place to relax. One young woman had never swam in the ocean before. She ended up plunging into the water over and over again well into the late afternoon as the sun began to set. Lisa, the RAP staff and the three young women went to the market, selected the food for the evening’s meal, had it cooked at the market, brought it back to the beach and enjoyed a delicious dinner by the water. The following day, they visited a pristine white sandy beach in a more remote area. It was another opportunity for the young women to go for relaxing walks, hunt crabs and find beautiful shells. To reintegrate after rehabilitation is a challenging time of transition for these young women. The dedicated staff at RAP are also so well deserving of a time for rejuvenation. They encourage and support all the girls and ensured that the ones who could not visit their families were able to enjoy a beach getaway. The young women at the RAP home continue to overcome obstacles and take steps towards independence. We will keep you updated. We hope you like the pictures!