Kunthea

Susan and I went to see the girl we had working for us the first year we were in Cambodia. She is working in a bar/restaurant on the riverfront. Kunthea is a beautiful Christian girl who struggles like thousands of other young Cambodians. She learned to speak English by paying 1 dollar per session and standing at the back of a crowded room listening to a Cambodian teacher say phrases first in Khmer and then in English. She is bright, industrious and full of humor. Her problems begin with the Cambodian culture. She is responsible for her mother and father who do not work, she is responsible for a brother who has not worked for some time, she is responsible for the brother's wife and their two children. To provide enough money to keep them all fed she must work 11 hours/day  six days a week. Kunthea's hours are 7A.M. to 8P.M. Here in Cambodia it is dark by 6P.M., this means that she goes home at night in the dark. One night she was knocked off the moto, had her backpack and phone stolen. Our hearts went out to her. Had she been in North America she would have finished University by now and had a great future lying ahead of her.

There is nothing to be done for her- she cannot afford to miss any work to go to school, she cannot work at  a nicer job because they don't pay enough.

The final blow for her is that she must work on Sunday and cannot attend church where she would be able to socialize with other young people her age.

Susan and I love this little Cambodian girl. We hope and pray that in the future she will somehow have an opportunity for personal freedom and dignity.

Daughters of Cambodia

We visited this neat place where girls who work in brothels can come during the day and be treated with love and respect. While at this house the girls have an opportunity to learn a trade whereby they can earn money and pay off their debt to the brothel owner. Once this debt is paid the girl then has the option of leaving the brothel and living a normal life. This house ( called "Daughters of Cambodia" ) is funded by Ratanak. What is so surprising about this operation is that the pimps and brothel owners agree with the concept. Apparently the pimps and brothel owners are friendly with the people who operate Daughter of Cambodia. (  how does this work???). Anyway there is some 60-70 girls who regularly come to this facility. The operators of Daughtes of Cambodia do not pressure the girls to leave the brothels- it's entirely up to them individually. What the operators do is love the girls and tell them of God's love for them. 

If a girl is pregnant DofC will pay the hospital costs for the birth. DofC will then find good foster parents for the children if the mother does not want to keep the child. The whole operation was well run. We were impressed.