URGENT NEED for a rescued girl [in Cambodia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL4_Gt7zkM0

August 13, 2012
By Stephanie
Agape International Missions

We just found out one of our rescued girls has a hole in her heart. To our surprise, her teacher on our staff has the same affliction. Both need open-heart surgery in Bangkok for a total of $44,000 during one of the slowest months for donations.

We are believing for a miracle. Please give and share this with anyone who can help.

Click here to donate

Agape International Missions (AIM) fights the ground war on sex trafficking in Cambodia. Our holistic programs fight trafficking, restore victims and transform communities.

www.agapewebsite.org

Saturday dinner [in Long Beach] to raise money for Cambodian nonprofit

08/10/2012
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG BEACH — Residents interested in helping an American nonprofit that supports education and provides emergency aid in rural Cambodia are invited to a fundraising dinner for the Cambodian Educational Network at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Paradise Restaurant, 1350 E. Anaheim St.

Tickets are $35 and include a meal and entertainment. Among the performers will be Long Beach hip-hop artist PraCh Ly.

The grassroots group, based in the San Francisco East Bay, was founded in 2000. Among its many projects, the Cambodian Educational Nework builds, staffs and operates primary schools for the poor in Cambodia.

It also digs and helps maintain sustainable wells to ensure drinkable water, and provides aid to the homeless, orphaned, elderly and disabled.

No money to save children lives ... but plenty of cash for the party's coffer

រថ​យន្តទំនើប​ចត​​នៅ​​ខាង​​ក្រៅ​​ទី​ស្នាក់​ការ​​​គណ​បក្ស​​ប្រជា​ជន​​កាល​​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​​សៅរ៍​​។ រូប សុប្រាជ្ញ

គ្មាន​លុយ​ជួយ​សង្គ្រោះ​ជីវិត​កុមារ​ទេ​ តែ​លុយ​បក្ស​ចាយ​ហូរ​ហៀរ

Monday, 06 August 2012
តុង សុប្រាជ្ញ
The Phnom Penh Post

«បើ​គ្មាន​មន្ទីរពេទ្យ​កុមារ​ទេ ​កុមារ​តូចៗ​រាប់​ពាន់​នាក់​បាន​ស្លាប់​បាត់​ទៅ​ហើយ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ខែ កក្កដា​កន្លង​ទៅ​នេះ»។ នេះ​គឺជា​ការ​ដង្ហោយ​ហៅ​សុំ​រក​ជំនួយ​ ពី​លោក​វេជ្ជបណ្ឌិត​ប៊ីត​ រីចន័រ​ ស្ថាប​និក​ និង​ជា​ប្រធាន​មន្ទីរ​ពេទ្យ​គន្ធ​បុប្ផា​ កាល​ពី​ដើម​ខែ​សីហា ឆ្នាំ​ ២០១២​ ឲ្យ​ជួយ​សង្គ្រោះ​ជីវិត​កុមារ​ខ្មែរ​ផង​។​

កុមារ​អើយ ​កុមារ!​ ហេតុ​តែ​ឯង​មិន​ចេះ​និយាយ​តវ៉ា​នឹង​គេ ហើយ​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​ចាត់​ទុក​ថា​ ជា​មនុស្ស​គ្មាន​ប្រយោជន៍​​ សម្រាប់​គេ​ក្នុង​ការ​ផ្តល់​សំឡេង​ឆ្នោត​ ឲ្យ​គណបក្ស​នយោបាយ​នានា​ និង​ឧកញ៉ាៗ​​ បាន​ជា​គេ​មិន​សូវ​យក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់​​ចំពោះ​ពួក​ឯង​ប៉ុន្មាន​នោះ។​ ​ចង់​ឯង​រស់​ក៏​រស់​ទៅ ​ចង់​ឯង​ស្លាប់​ក៏​ស្លាប់​ទៅ ​គេ​មិន​ខ្វល់​ពី​ឯង​នោះ​ទេ​ បើ​ទោះ​បី​ជា​គេ​មាន​លុយ​សម្រាប់​បក្ស​នយោបាយ​របស់​គេ​ដល់​ទៅ ១០០​ឆ្នាំ​ទៀត​ចាយ​មិន​អស់​ក៏​ដោយ។​ ឯ​ចំពោះ​ឧកញ៉ាៗ​ សេដ្ឋីៗ​មួយ​ចំនួន​ធំ​ សល់​លុយ​ចាយ​មិន​អស់​ នំា​គ្នា​ទៅ​ចាញ់​ល្បែង​ស៊ី​សង​នៅ​កាស៊ីណូ​អស់​រាប់​លាន​ដុល្លារ​ ឯ​ខ្លះ​ទៀត​យក​លុយ​ទៅ​ចិញ្ចឹម​ស្រី​ក្មេង​ តារាៗ​ ទាំង​ស្រី ទាំង​ប្រុស​មួយ​ចំនួនធំ​ ទិញ​តាំង​ពី​វិឡា ឡាន​ និង​សម្ភារ​ទំនើបៗ​ឲ្យ​ ក៏​មាន​ដើម្បី​បំប៉ន​តណ្ហា​របស់​ខ្លួន​ម្នាក់​ឯង​រៀង​ខ្លួន​នោះ ​ដោយ​មិន​ស្រណោះ​លុយ​អ្វី​បន្តិច​សោះ​។ ​តែ​គ្មាន​លុយ​ទេ​ សម្រាប់​សង្គ្រោះ​ជីវិត​កុមារ​ខ្មែរ​នោះ​?​ ហេតុ​អ្វី​បាន​ជា​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ និង​ឧកញ៉ាៗ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​​តែង​តែ​ភ្លេច​ខ្លួន​ កាល​ពី​នៅ​កុមារ​ក្រីក្រ​តោក​យ៉ាក​ ខ្លះ​ហូប​តែ​បាយ​វត្ត​ ខ្លះ​ហូប​តែ​ត្រីឆ្អើរ ​ខោ​អាវ​មួយ​ចង្កេះ​មក​រស់​នៅ​ភ្នំពេញ​ក៏​មាន​ដែរ​នោះ​?​ តើ​ពេល​ណា​ទើប​អ្នក​នយោបាយ ឧកញ៉ាៗ​ទាំង​ឡាយ​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​យក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់​សង្គ្រោះ​ជីវិត​កុមារ​ ខ្មែរ​?​ ឬ​មួយ​ក៏​ចាំ​ស្តាប់​សូរ​ភ្លើង​​ខៀវ​​​ចេញ​ពី​ លោក​នាយ​ ក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ ហ៊ុន​ សែន​ សិន ​សឹម​នាំ​គ្នា​ទៅ​ជួយ​ផ្តល់​មូលនិធិ​ដល់​មន្ទីរ​ពេទ្យ​គន្ធ​បុប្ផា?

Senhoa: A Refuge for Victims of Sex Trafficking

07/10/2012
By Clarissa Burt
Co-written by Brooke Smith
Huffington Post

Human trafficking has grown to become a large and perilous problem worldwide. The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children worldwide are trafficked every year. Women everywhere, especially in poverty-stricken areas, are illegally being sold by organized crime units for purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labor. Cambodia is one place in particular where a remarkable organization, Senhoa, extends every effort to offer at-risk girls an alternative route by teaching them valuable skills that they can use to create a new and improved way of life. I discovered from Senhoa the story of a young Cambodian woman who I will call Mai.

At 16, Mai was training to become a tour guide when her boss took advantage of her, raped her and dropped her off in a brothel. She was subsequently sold to eight men in the following two days. The last man to abuse Mai deemed her unfit to fulfill his needs and dropped her off in a street in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Fortunately, Mai's family was able to call on Senhoa and count on them to provide the safety and education that Mai desperately needed. After only two years, Mai is now a professional jewelry maker. This young woman's story was so intriguing that I contacted Senhoa to learn more about how they operate.

$1,000 in pennies for Cambodian kids

June 5, 2012
By Matt Law
Surrey Now (Canada)

The last penny may have been minted on May 4 but the little copper coin is still making a big impact.

Students at Woodward Hill Elementary in Surrey spent the month of May turning over couch cushions and emptying their parents' pockets to raise approximately $1,000 in pennies to help children in Cambodia.

Over the past three years, students at Woodward Hill have raised close to $4,000 to help fund a free school 30 kilometres outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

Organization To Install Libraries in Cambodian Prisons

Friday, 18 May 2012
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“We think that detainees have less opportunities to be educated than the general public.”

An education organization hopes to set up libraries is seven of Cambodia’s prisons. The group, Sipar, hopes to have the libraries finished by the end of the year, in an effort to educate prisoners so that they might better integrate with society on their release.

“We think that detainees have less opportunities to be educated than the general public,” said Hok Sothik, director of the organization.

The ultimate goal is to have libraries in all of Cambodia’s 26 prisons by 2014, serving more than 15,000 prisoners nationwide.

Girl, 12, on a mission: Help Asia’s enslaved girls

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
By Ben Nelms
The Citizen (Fayetteville, Georgia, USA)

Twelve-year-old Caroline Statzer is clearly on a mission. It is one aimed at providing needed items for girls in Cambodia after they are rescued from that nation’s notorious sex trade.

Caroline’s Little Princess Project is making a personal difference in the lives of young girls who already have seen horrors that many of us could never imagine.

Caroline makes a host of different items from T-shirts and sells them on Facebook and at a local women’s ministry shop in Fayetteville. The funds raised go to girls once trapped in the sex trafficking industry in Cambodia, with a smaller percentage designated for a local safe house project for girls.

Get flowers for Mother's day and help "Creating Hope in Cambodia" helps the poor in Cambodia

Flowers for mum to help charity bloom

24 Apr, 2012
KREE NASH
The Daily Advertiser (Australia)

A WAGGA charity is taking on a fund-raiser with a twist. 

Instead of a traditional bake sale Creating Hope for Cambodia is holding a Mother’s Day flower drive, which will see mothers not only receive beautiful flowers on the day, but Cambodian families living in poverty receive a roof over their head.

The concept was born from the idea of Freckles Flowers owner Katrina Dosser who was looking for a charity to align herself with.

From every sale of a Mother’s Day flower arrangement or bouquet ordered through Creating Hope in Cambodia, she has pledged to donate a portion of the sale to the charity.

Janne Ritskes: Another Canadian hero in Cambodia

Srei, Community Development Manager, Janne Ristkes, Founder of Tabitha Foundation and Director and Heng, House Building Manager

March 27, 2012
By Daphne Bramham
Vancouver Sun

Janne Ritskes is another Canadian doing incredible work in Cambodia. She founded the Tabitha Foundation in 1994. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have graduated from poverty through Tabitha’s Savings Program. Tabitha has funded for: 7,002 wells, 201 ponds and eight water reservoirs, 4,094 houses built by Cambodians (all but two with the help of foreign volunteers) and nine schools.

“Janne Ritskes is truly a Canadian heroine,” Ian Robertson wrote in his email to me on the weekend. “Her approach to the crisis in Cambodia is to nourish and support grassroots development. One result will be, of course, that with such development fewer families will be obliged to sell their daughters into degradation.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to meet Ritskes or visit any of the Tabitha projects, while I was in Cambodia.However, I knew about Tabitha of the foundation because I bought some of beautiful silk products produced by Cambodians at Tabitha’s booth at Christmas at Hycroft. But that’s where I ran into Robertson, who I had met years earlier in Singapore where he was head of the Canada-ASEAN Centre. Ian and his wife, Bonnie, have been deeply involved with Tabitha ever since they went to Cambodia six years ago as volunteers to help build houses.

Cambodia experience facilitated aid effort in the Tohoku region

Cathy Hirano, director of the Second Hand charity organization, poses with workers at a shop run by the group in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. COURTESY OF SECOND HAND

Veterans at Second Hand charity had the knowhow to collect funds and goods, and to get them where they were needed

Saturday, March 10, 2012

By SKYE HOHMANN

Special to The Japan Times

Cathy Hirano says it was "so painful to feel powerless in the face of such a huge disaster," recalling the day a year ago that the Pacific coast of Tohoku was hit by the huge earthquake and tsunami.

The feeling of helplessness is something that will likely linger among many others throughout the country, but Hirano, a ginger-haired long-term resident of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, and director of the charity Second Hand, was less powerless to help than many at that moment.

"It makes a huge difference to be able to do something," Hirano says. "I think what was really moving for me were these small acts — people coming to us at Second Hand, bringing things to send to the disaster area. You could see they were just longing to do something, you could see they thought 'Thank God, there's someone giving me a chance to help,' because it was so painful."

Second Hand, at the time, was in a unique position. Long-term work in Cambodia and a charity shop-based fundraising approach had given the organization both the knowhow to collect funds and necessities for the disaster areas, and the networks needed to get supplies to people most likely to need them.

Robert Pattinson Helps Build Cambodian School For Teenage Girls

10/25/11
Huffington Post

Robert Pattinson’s Cambodian fans have another reason to fall for the heartthrob; he’s making sure teenagers there get the chance to go to high school and university, eonline.com reports.

After a Chicago family won the chance to meet the “Breaking Dawn,” actor on set, Pattinson donated the $80,000 auction item to the GO Campaign, which is giving over a 100 percent of the proceeds to Program Advancing Girls Education. That Cambodian-based organization gives young girls educational opportunities to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access, the news outlet reported.

According to the PAGE website, the nonprofit offers care, food, accommodation, tutoring, educational supplies, and scholarships to students in need. The scholarships can usher students from junior high school all the way through their university graduation.

Dispatch From Cambodia (#3): If I Had a Rocket Launcher

I couldnt help but notice a chicken or cow were available with the rocket launcher.

I thought I was a bit of a sharpshooter. Then I realized there were more holes in the paper than there had been bullets in my gun!

October 19, 2011
The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

Pam Stevens radio personality from Vancouver BC is travelling through South-East Asia. It is supposed to be a vacation. She is currently at Angkor Hospital volunteering as they can use all the help they can get.

Recently researchers working along the Thai-Cambodian border made an alarming discovery that the parasite that causes malaria was showing signs of resistance to Artemisinin which is known to be one of the best drugs to fight it. Mosquitoes are the main carrier and transmitter of Malaria. World-wide about 800,000 people each year die from Malaria. In South-East Asia there were more than 111 million suspected malaria cases in 2009. The flooding in South-East Asia is not helping because with that comes increased cases of Malaria. Pam is in Cambodia at Angkor Hospital here are her stories:

One of the beauties of traveling is being able to do things you could never do at home. For example, I’ve roasted a marshmallow over lava in Guatemala. I was able to toboggan down an ash covered volcano in Nicaragua and I got to drink yak butter tea at more than 15,000 feet about sea level in Tibet. The 15,000 feet part was cool, the tea I could have done without!!

Sumner Redstone Donates Another $720,000 to Cambodian Children's Fund

6/20/2011
by Georg Szalai
The Hollywood Reporter

The Viacom and CBS chairman had previously given the group $1 million, including a $500,000 gift in April.

NEW YORK - Sumner Redstone has further increased his donations to the Cambodian Children's Fund, which provides health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

On Tuesday, the Viacom and CBS Corp. chairman and controlling shareholder announced a $720,000 gift to the group. It is his largest to-date and brings the media mogul's total commitment to CCF to $1.72 million. 



Redstone's initial $500,000 grant in 2007 established CCF's child rescue center. And just in April, he donated another $500,000.



Supporting Cambodian school is a blessing to our church

Emmanuel Christian School students in Broyouk, Cambodia, are being educated with the support of parishioners at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansing

Sunday, March 6, 2011
Nothwest Indiana Times

Sometimes life as a pastor seems to be more joyful than others. There are some hills and valleys in the life of the parish pastor. I happen to be on one of those joyful highs right now. It isn't because life is especially easy right now. It's not. It is because of what I have just experienced in the mission field.

Trinity Lutheran Church, the church I serve, has a wonderful relationship going on right now with a little Christian school in a tiny village called Broyouk in rural Cambodia. It was a special privilege for my wife, Carrie, and me to visit it recently.

Let me explain how this worked out. One of the sons of our congregation is Rudy Schaser. I call him a "son" of our congregation because Rudy grew up here. Not only did he grow up here, but he also went on to become a missionary in the Philippines and a long-serving pastor in the Lutheran church.

Better Today, Gone Tomorrow: Is Charity Doing More Harm Than Good in Cambodia?

Ek Sam Ol (pictured on right, with our translator Him Sothea and volunteer Ruth Hobson)

Photo: other side of road has fences, yards, and nice houses. Photo courtesy of Ruth Hobson, Face-to-Face volunteer

February 8, 2011
Ken Wong, Director, Face-to-Face AIDS Project
The Huffington Post

Our hearts are in the right place, but is our charity doing more harm than good? What we learn from our work with HIV and poverty in Cambodia.

A Fire in the Middle of the Night

In 2001, Ek Sam Ol (pictured on right, with our translator Him Sothea and volunteer Ruth Hobson) and his wife woke up in the middle of the night to the cries of fire consuming their slum neighborhood of corrugated metal, reused wood, and dried palm leaves. In a matter of minutes, the couple found themselves packed in a lorry with scores of other residents in this shantytown less than a mile away from Phnom Penh's royal palace and touristy riverfront. By the time the lorries drove off, bulldozers were already leveling the land.

The lorry transported Ek Sam Ol and his wife to a remote, unused tract of land called Samron Meanchey, about 15 miles outside of Phnom Penh. With only the few kitchen items they had grabbed as they ran from the fire, along with $12 and a 50 kg bag of rice given to them by the government, the couple and everyone else began constructing a new shantytown. Their shacks had to be built over a slimy, green canal, for they were forbidden to use the land that spread out on either side of the canal. It all seems a great violation of human rights.

Still, I suppose Ek Sam Ol and his neighbors never had legal rights to their land in Phnom Penh.

US-Cambodian Doctors Make Trip To Phnom Penh

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Friday, 24 December 2010

“I believe that both medical doctors and charitable contributors are showing their great affection toward their country.”

A group of US medical volunteers will travel to Cambodia next week to provide free medical care for Cambodians.


Tan Song, a doctor and president of the Cambodian Health Professionals Association, based in Long Beach, said more than 50 medical doctors and assistants will be working from Jan. 3 to Jan. 7 at a health centre outside of Phnom Penh.

“We will treat all Cambodians without discrimination,” Tan Song told VOA Khmer ahead of the trip. The service provided includes dental care and out-patient treatment.



“For serious illnesses, we will have to refer them to the hospital,” he said.

Tan Song, who survived the Khmer Rouge in Takeo province before moving to the US, said he wants to give something back to his native country.

“I believe that both medical doctors and charitable contributors are showing their great affection toward their country,” Cambodia’s ambassador to the US, Hem Heng, said. “This is testimony to the solidarity between Cambodians overseas and in the country.”

Bellevue's CampOutrageous raises $7,975 for playground

Orphaned kids halfway around the world have the kids in Memphis to thank for a new playground.

Orphans in Poipet, Cambodia, are enjoying a new playground paid for by children at Bellevue's CampOutrageous.

December 24, 2010
By Jim Barnwell
Special to Faith & Values
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)

Orphans in Poipet, Cambodia, enjoy a new playground paid for by children at Bellevue's CampOutrageous.

It all started in June with thousands of kids who attended CampOutrageous -- similar to vacation Bible school but a whole lot more -- at Bellevue Baptist Church. It was there they learned about the plight of a group of orphans in Poipet. The children raised a total of $7,975.38 for the construction of a playground for the Cambodian orphans. But it didn't end there.

A team of men from Bellevue used the money the children collected to buy the materials for the playground. Then the men made the 9,000 mile trek to Poipet to build the playground Nov. 15-19.

The Bellevue team worked with missionary Steve Hyde in Cambodia. "Building a playground in Cambodia is not like building in the USA because we don't have Home Depot or Wal-Mart," Steve said. "Much of the tools they had to bring with them, including chains, rust-proof screws, and bolts. We had to pre-order the timber to build the playground which entailed having a wood-cutter go into the jungle and find the trees we requested. Then we had to hire a table plainer to plain all the wood down so it was not so rough. It took months of preparation just to get the wood ready."

Despite the sweltering Cambodian temperatures, the Bellevue team worked five days outdoors alongside Steve's team of missionaries. The end result was a completed playground and lots of smiling children.

"Steve Hyde's love of the Cambodian people is especially inspiring to me. I believe God led us to these orphans and I would love to go back," said Bellevue team member Spence Ray. "The children are thrilled about the playground. I think it will be a continuing outreach and ministry tool to all children in the area."

Bellevue Baptist Church is located on Appling Road at I-40 in Cordova. For more information about the church or any of its ministries, call 347-2000 or visit bellevue.

Jim Barnwell is communications director for Bellevue Baptist Church.

TPRF Grant Provides Food for At-Risk Children in Cambodia

A grant of US$25,000 ensures nutritious food for over 500 children

SOURCE The Prem Rawat Foundation

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A grant of US$25,000 from The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) ensures direct food aid to impoverished children living at a toxic landfill site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

This is the third TPRF grant since 2008 to Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education, health care and safety of marginalized Cambodian children whose families are trapped in persistent poverty.

An estimated 1,200 families live and work at the 100-acre Stung Meanchey landfill, scavenging through the garbage for scraps of plastic and metal to sell to nearby recycling centers. Children often work at night and are under constant threat from roving gangs and child traffickers. Domestic violence and child abuse are widely reported, as are manifest health problems resulting from malnutrition and environmental hazards.

For six years, CCF has been providing food, medical attention and education to children from destitute communities like Stung Meanchey. TPRF has helped to support their program each year since 2008. Paul Saunders, Board Chairman of CCF, writes, "Too many of Cambodia's children suffer in silence. Thanks to TPRF's commitment, CCF will continue to lead Cambodian children and their families beyond survival to a safe environment." The renewed funding by The Prem Rawat Foundation will ensure that over 500 children in CCF's Educational Centers receive the consistent and quality nutrition necessary for their development.

At CCF facilities, meals using fresh local produce, herbs, aromatics and meat are prepared on-site by experienced cooks trained in balanced nutrition and good hygiene practices. In addition, rice is distributed to 72 daycare 150 Satellite School students and their families as weekly school attendance incentives, and over 1,600 people are served nutritious subsidized meals in the Community Center Cafe each month.

TPRF's president, Linda Pascotto, observes that "TPRF is proud to support the Cambodian Children's Fund, which is making a huge difference to neglected children by offering them the chance not just to survive, but to grow up healthy and able to develop their own skills, talents and possibilities."

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)

Created in 2001, TPRF promotes Prem Rawat's vision to address fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live their lives with Dignity, Peace, and Prosperity. For more information, visit: http://www.tprf.org

Christmas Card Project Supports Free School Programs In Cambodia and Laos

JWOC, which has been instrumental in building classrooms, creating scholarship programs, and developing free learning opportunities for people in need in Southeast Asia hopes that the sale of the Christmas cards will further benefit these communities dire

(EMAILWIRE.COM, October 19, 2010) SIEM REAP, Cambodia—Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), a non-profit organization that helps local communities in Southeast Asia, announced that it will be selling Christmas cards designed by students in Southeast Asia in order to benefit underprivileged local students. JWOC, which has been instrumental in building classrooms, creating scholarship programs, and developing free learning opportunities for people in need in Southeast Asia hopes that the sale of the Christmas cards will further benefit these communities directly.

Southeast Asia tour company Journeys Within, is covering all of the printing costs of the Christmas cards so that all proceeds of the sales go directly to JWOC’s Free School Program in Cambodia and Laos. By buying the specially made JWOC holiday cards, drawn by the children who study in JWOC’s free classes, purchasers can directly support the development of these free classes while purchasing Christmas cards that have a very personal connection to Southeast Asia. JWOC’s classes offer free educational opportunities to many people in the local community from tuk tuk drivers to primary school children. All of the new skills that all students learn at JWOC have a direct impact on them and the lives of their families.

A set of 10 JWOC Christmas cards costs just $25. For more information or to purchase the cards, visit http://www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org/projects/education/jwoc-christmas-cards/.

About Journeys Within Our Community

JWOC was founded by Brandon and Andrea Ross, owners of Journeys Within Tour Company in response to guests and travelers desire to give back and make a difference. JWOC believes in its slogan, “See a Problem, Solve a Problem” and has been doing that for the last five years. More information can be found and donations can be made at www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org or you can contact Andrea at andrea@journeyswithinourcommunity.org

Contact Information:
Journeys Within Our Community
Stephanie Moreland
Tel: 832-755-7661
Email us

'Daughters of Cambodia' Leave Sex Trade for Christ

Friday, August 27, 2010
By Stan Jeter
CBN News Senior Producer

In Cambodia, 90 percent of prostitutes are sold into the sex industry by their parents. Many of the girls say they feel obligated to stay because their families depend on them for support.

British missionary Ruth Elliott is determined to provide a way out for the victims of sex trafficking. For six years, Elliott has been working to set the girl's free through her "Daughters of Cambodia" ministry.

"They live in the pit of hell. It's the truth," she said, explaining the victims' situation. "And they experience horrendous trauma when they come out."

Elliott said she feels God called her for this difficult work when she was only 14 years old.

"The Lord began to speak to me," she recalled. "He wanted me to go into the places that were worst and to facilitate healing the broken-hearted and setting the captives free."

Training for Life

Elliott arrived in Cambodia in 2004 and focused her efforts on rescuing sex workers.

"This involves going directly into the brothels and inviting sex workers who are in the sex industry in Cambodia to change their lives, if they are interested in doing that," she explained.

Elliott started Daughters of Cambodia, a day-center near the brothels, to help the girls transition out of the sex trade. The first thing they learn is a new way to earn an income.

"We had to start small businesses, which are fair trade businesses, in order for the girls to exit the sex industry," she said. "For without another job, it is just impossible for them to leave the sex industry."

At the Daughters of Cambodia center, the girls not only learn new work skills, they also learn valuable lessons for establishing a healthy family and a home.

"Things like domestic violence prevention, conflict resolution skills, budgeting skills, this kind of thing," Elliott explained. "[Also] drug prevention."

The Daughters of Cambodia market their clothing, fashion accessories, and home furnishings locally and overseas. Up to 60 girls at a time participate in the program, earning money for rent, food and other needs.

Doing Good Among Evil

But it takes time and a lot of help to overcome the trauma of working in the sex trade.

That's why Elliott, who's also a psychologist, trains counselors to work with the girls. Along with others in the red light district, she even introduces them to Jesus.

"We do build relationship with the brothel owners and they are welcome in our church program," she said. "We want brothel owners to come. We want pimps to come. We want everyone in the sex industry to come to our church because we believe in the power of Jesus to change everyone's life."

And that message is having its effect, especially among the girls.

"They respond very quickly to the gospel because they have never in their lives experienced love -- unconditional love and acceptance," Elliott said. "And many of them become Christians as a result of this."

Still, working in this environment is never easy. What Elliott does can be dangerous.

"But I have to say we have never, ever, not even one day, had any problems, any brothel owners turn up at our door demanding a girl back or threatening us in any way," she proclaimed. "We have never had a single threat against us. And I can't explain that to you except I believe the grace of God is on us."

Elliot's goal is to graduate her girls to successfully live on their own. She hopes to someday replicate the Daughters of Cambodia center in other countries with similar needs.