processing

It has been a little over a week since I left Cambodia. I am still processing, still trying to understand different things I saw and experienced. I did not post much while there. The task was overwhelming for me. There was so much to see, hear, learn, experience, and understand that at sometimes it seemed impossible to take it all in.

One of the most important things I took away from this experience was how easy it is for me to be a Christian, to have friends who are Christians, to choose Christianity over any other religion. I have never faced the threat of ridicule for being a Christian. I have never faced the decision of turning against everything I have ever known to follow Christianity. It has been an easy life for me.

I am in awe of the men and women of Cambodia. They choose a Christianity that is not easy. That is different from everything they have learned. That only 5% of the country follows. They are so strong in their faith, so faithful to God. They are an example of how faithful I want to be.

I hope as I am able to process more about the things I have experienced, I can share them here with you. While our trip is over, the journey is still just beginning.

Home -- but please keep reading!

Katy, Sarah and I arrived back in Atlanta yesterday afternoon. Karen Scheib and Caroline Culver are spending some time in Korea, where Karen preached at a Methodist church this morning. Given the very fast pace of our trip, we got a bit behind in writing about our experiences and in sharing photos. I hope you will check this blog again in another week or so, when we hope to have a few more stories and reflections posted. Many thanks to all of you for your support, interest and prayers during our sojourn to Cambodia. I look forward to talking with many of you soon about ways we can take action together.

The Power of One

This trip to Cambodia was motivated by my desire to understand more about sex trafiicking and about ways to help victims. A friend asked me a few days ago whether I have managed to stop sex trafficking, and I said in jest "Almost!"

Stopping sex trafficking is obviously an overwhelming challenge. Stopping the demand for services of brothels and the desire for sex with young girls and child virgins requires efforts far beyond my abilities. Fortunately, the government of Cambodia is beginning to take some small steps to address the problem.

On the other side, though, there is much I can do. One is to increase awareness, which I hope I am achieving in small part through this blog and by sharing the stories I have heard upon my return to Atlanta. The AFESIP Centers and the Somaly Mam Foundation (SMF) do an outstanding job of supporting victims, and I will continue my financial support of these organizations.

Over the past two weeks, I have come to believe that the biggest impact on sex trafficking that I can have is to support efforts to educate women and girls and provide vocational training so that they have options for making a living and caring for families. If a girl is able to generate income, she is less likely to be sold into sex slavery.

I have been overwhelmed druing this trip by the seeds that have been planted by the Methodist Church which, though not identifed for this particular purpose, will over time have a significant impact on stopping the sale of young girls from the countryside. Below is a summary of the efforts I think are key:

1. Teaching the value of women and children. The Church teaches that children are valued and that women are valued As I mentioned last week with respect to the Methodist School in Phnom Penh, the schools and churches interact with parents and others in a way that demonstrates the worth and importance of each individual. By teaching that Jesus loves chidren and women, and that God made each person as a wonderful and precious creation, the churches and schools start gradually impacting the mindset of Cambodians who traditionally do not respect and recognize the worth of children and women.

2. Women's Livelihood Projects. These projects, such as the ones I visited which support small business enterprises such as basketweaving and raising pigs, allow women to earn money. If a woman is earning money, she is more valued by her husband, who is then less likely to sell her. She also can allow her daughters to attend school rather than staying home to work in the fields.

3. Providing vocational training. As I mentioned last week, COS has a center to teach women weaving, cooking and hairdressing. AFESIP also provides training for the residents of its Centers. Through these and other training programs, young women are given the skills to support themselves and are less vulnerable to sex traffickers.

4. Education. Education is ultimately the key to improving the lives of women. Cambodia provides public schools that are free to attend. However, the child must have a uniform and must pay the teacher for copies of lessons and books. Providing scholarships for girls to attend school is critically important; however, it is not the full solution since some parents in the countryside still desperately need their children to work in the fields rather than to attend school. We asked the SMF about programs to pay parents an incentive to send their daughters to school, as discussed in Half the Sky by N. Kristoff. However, SMF was not aware of any studies which establish how effective this program actually is. Also, older children often do not live close enough to a high school to continue their education. In this regard, the work of the church to build dormitories where children may live away from home and attend high school is critically important. Similarly, dormitories are also needed for young women to attend universities. For about $300/year, we can provide a girl with a scholarship to attend school. For about $800/year, we can provide a scholarship for a young woman to attend university. For about $20,000, we can build a dormitory that will house 12-16 girls attending university or high school.

A faithful reader of this blog emailed me last Friday a quote attributed to Mother Theresa: "If you cannot feed one hundred, feed one." I cannot solve sex traficking, but I can hopefully save at least one girl from becoming a victim. I can provide a scholarship or help raise funds for a dormitory. Together, we can save many girls.

Women's Livelihood project --- basket weavers

On the way to Siem Reap, we stopped at another Women's Livelihood projects that Marilyn facilitates. This one is also a basketweaving project. We enjoyed visiting the women and seeing their beautiful baskets. And, of course, we bought some!

There are children everywhere. Some are coloring popsicle sticks, others are stringing beads onto necklaces, while others still are playing games with the visitors who have come. Each one is preciously made, full of life, and represents hope for the future.

We have spent the last two days working at an elementary school. I can’t really call it work, though. I had just as much fun as the children did during the crafts and game time. Each child was given four popsicle/craft sticks to decorate with markers and plastic jewels. The craft sticks were then glued together to form a picture frame. All the members of our team worked hard instructing, drawing, coloring, gluing, and lining up the sticks. Deborah and Sarah also worked hard taking each child’s picture and printing it off so that it could go in the frame. Once the frames were done we helped them to make necklaces from lanyard string and colorful beads.

While I got to help with each of these things (except the picture taking and printing… I left that to the professionals!), I mostly spent my time tying the ends of necklaces and enlisting my camp counselor experience to dance and play games with the children. We were able to do the Hokey Pokey, I’m A Little Hunk of Tin, Moses Says (think Simon Says), the Big and Small Game (a wonderful game introduced to me by our lovely translator, Tola), a slightly altered game of Duck Duck Goose, and Ring Around the Rosy just to name a few.

After working with these beautiful and wonderful children, I learned about their lives at home. The Methodist School asks for a $5 a month fee for those students who can afford it. Many cannot. The other school where we worked asks for no tuition, because the children that attend there are the poorest in the area. Each school is divided into three sessions: 1 group in the morning, 1 group in the afternoon, and 1 group in the evening. The evening group comes at that time because many work during the day with their parents.

I wish I could do a better job of explaining what the past two days have been like for me. It has been such a blessing to work with such wonderful children and teachers, but so heart breaking to see the level of poverty many of these children face on a daily basis. I am blown away at the level of support for these schools though. People are investing in the future of these children. I hope to do the same.

As you pray today, remember the children, parents, teachers and others with whom we have worked. Also, remember our team as we experience and learn from everyone we meet.

-Caroline, Candler School of Theology ‘13

Somaly Mam Foundation and AFESIP

I was thrilled last Tuesday that we were given the privilege of visiting the Somaly Mam Foundation in Phnom Penh and am very grateful to Chair of the Somaly Mam Foundation in NY for making the visit possible. As you may recall from my post about Three Books, Somaly Mam's memoir, The Road of Lost Innocence, was a primary inspiration for my planning this trip. I highly recommend this book in which Somaly Mam shares her story of being sold into sex slavery at age 16, surviving the associated brutalities, escaping, and eventually starting AFESIP ( Agir Pour Les Femmes en Situation Precair). AFESIP now has 3 centers in Cambodia and one in Laos to provide support and training for women who have been rescued from the brothels. The Somaly Mam Foundation (SMF) was founded a few years ago in NY and exists largely to raise awareness and to raise funds for addressing sex trafficking.

At the SMF, we met with two remarkable young women, Sreypou and Chhaiveun, who are part of a program called Voices for Change. This is a new program designed to empower victims to be part of the solution. A couple of years ago, 6 girls were chosen from the AFESIP Centers to join the program. Six more have been added, and soon six more will join to create a three-year program with 18 girls. Sreypou and Chhaiveun deeply inspired me. They were cheerful, and they spoke about their experiences courageously and without bitterness. During the three-year program, the participants receive training to improve literacy, computer skills, and English, and they learn about other life skills, including stress management. They also spend time at the AFESIP Centers to counsel with newly arrived victims, and they provide encouragement to the girls leaving the Centers as they seek reintegration into society. In the third year of the program, the participants work as interns at SMF to prepare them for finding jobs at the end of the program.

We asked Sreypou and Chhaiveun about their activities to increase awareness among potential victims. They presently host a one-hour radio talk show 5 days a week. During this time, they share their experiences of being a victim and they warn girls about the "tricks" of the traffickers. They explained to us that the traffickers often arrive very well dressed in remote villages. They lure the girls with promises of nice clothes. When we asked about parents selling their children, they acknowledged that this is a real problem and they added that husbands will sometimes sell their wives. They also indicated that, although many men who go to the brothels are foreign (both Asian and Western), most of the customers are Cambodian. SMF is exploring creating a TV show to reach an even larger number of girls and young women.

We asked Sreypou and Chhaiveun how we could help in addition, of course, to making financial contributions. They said that these girls and young women in the AFESIP centers want to be loved, affirmed and accepted. (Our team later wondered about sending cards as expressions of our support.) They added that increasing awareness and telling the stories is extremely important. In response to our question about support from the Cambodian government, we were told that the government is making some progress, and Dec. 12 has been declared National Human Trafficking Day in Cambodia. We also asked about providing scholarships for persons in the Voices for Change program to study in the U.S., but a practical challenge in that regard is that most victims have, at most, completed only the 7th or 8th grade.

After graciously spending about an hour with us, Sreypou and Chhaiveun, along with a SMF Volunteer, took us to the Tomdy Center, located about a half hour outside of Phnom Penh. We were understandably asked not to make photographs there but you can see some on the AFESIP website. The setting is in the countryside, and the grounds are encylosed for privacy and security. The landscaping is lovely and serene, creating a peaceful environment for healing. In addition to the 75 regular residents, there are 9 small childen who live at the Center with their mothers. One girl who was only 14 had just recently given birth and shyly showed us her beautiful baby. This Center offers training in sewing, weaving and hairdressing. I was particularly impressed by the achievements of the sewing class, who shyly showed us their projects. There is no set amount of time a resident remains at the Center; each decides when she is ready to take the next step of reintegrating into society.

I left the Center with the deepest respect for these brave young women and girls who have survived many horrors, including sometimes torture, and yet have the fortitude to move forward with hope. They know from Sreypou, Chhariveun, and other participants in Voices for Change that a new life is indeed possible. My heart goes out to these young women. This day alone made my entire trip worthwhile.

In the 3 photos above, the first shows our team at the entrance to the Tomdy AFESIP Center, along with some of the staff and our Voices for Change guides. The second shows Karen Scheib giving a quick knitting lesson to Sreypou (white shirt) and Chhaiveun (purple shirt) while we were waiting for our ride from SFF to the Tomdy Center. The third shows our team at SFM along with Sreypou, Chhaiveun, and another volunteer.

If you think you may like to volunteer at AFESIP, information is available on the webite.

A new church being built

On the way to Siem Reap, we stopped at the site of the Phum Sre Methodist Church in the Kompong Thom province where the congregation is building a new church. Many members, including children, were at the building site when we arrived. (Notice the scaffolding in the photo.) We were asked to offer prayers for the new church. There is sufficient land to build a dormitory also, which the Methodist Mission in Cambodia would like to build. It would house high school students who live in villages which do not have high schools, so the students could attend the high school near the church.