Daughters of Cambodia

Valentines Day at Daughters!

2012-02-09T09:29:00.002+07:00

cool gig to support Daughters

2011-11-04T13:27:00.003+07:00

2011-07-21T18:55:00.000+07:00

God is faithful to us!

2011-07-18T19:14:00.004+07:00

God is so faithful to help us when there seem to be no other solutions! We had a situation of threat recently, which had no clear solutions without risking lives. One of our clients, N, has been with us for 2 years. She has dysfunctional behaviours and some frontal lobe damage from a childhood injury (ADHD and anger). Her husband is a violent ex-convict who beat her, and whose violence and alcoholism has caused serious health problems in one of their 3 children who got caught in the cross fire. He was referred to Teen Challenge last year by Hope for Life, a local church we partner with, and he has made huge changes after becoming a Christian there, so much that Teen Challenge and the local church are both interested in employing him as staff in the future. N also became a Christian through Hope for Life. But N has been engaging in very destructive behaviours in recent months (night time activities with bad people, live-in lovers, regularly abandoning her daughters aged 9 and 13, and substance abuse). She developed paranoia towards our staff member, Socheata, who is the manager of the Sewing Business where N is employed. When something goes ‘wrong’ in N’s experience (such as her shoes going missing 2 weeks ago, which subsequently were found on a different shoe rack), she curses Socheata and has recently been threatening her. We take her threats seriously. Her husband was imprisoned in the past for causing grievous bodily harm to a neighbour after N told him this neighbour has said bad words about N. Recently we suspended N for cursing others and bringing pornography into the building. N then threatened that a 3rd party (who she named, and he is a definite threat) would hurt either Socheata or Ruth the director if we fired her from Daughters. She also stated that her husband will quit at Teen Challenge if we fire her, and will be harmful to his recovery and Christian development, which is clearly in the best interests of the children. We sent out this story to our prayer network last Friday with this request: ‘Please pray for this client, to truly come to repentance before Jesus and put her life right, and that we will have great wisdom to know the best decision and strategy in this situation’. Before one day had gone by, we had a wonderful answer to this prayer. Last Friday at Daughters church, Ruth preached on repentance and purity. It was a powerful and anointed message. This client, N, was there. She cried all the way through the message. At the end of the message, she responded, desperate to repent and change her life and desperate to end the sin and behaviours she's been engaged in. It seems to be a wonderful victory and the best answer to this difficult situation :) Please pray for N to continue to sustain this choice, and to walk it through day by day.

Recent News & Updates!

2011-06-16T07:10:00.002+07:00

The Sewing room:

During the first half of this year, we have begun implementing exciting plans in the Sewing Room for this year – we are aiming during 2011 to become more professional in our production and capacity, and have commenced new training courses, run by a professional trainer to the garment industry in Cambodia. Ten of our best producers in The Sewing Room have attended 3 training modules in pattern cutting. We also chose 16 clients to attend production management training courses, which were held in April and May, and all 16 graduated, and are putting their skills to practice in our production rooms. We have been purchasing new production equipment and having coaching from a professional production trainer, to increase efficiency, quality and productivity.

We added a large number of new products to our range and these are available in our online catalogue - www.daughtersofcambodia.org/downloads/Daughters%20Catalogue%202011.pdf

Our new catalogue includes the beautiful jewellery made at Daughters, which uses locally sourced raw materials and several re-cycled objects. We have added lots of pretty accessories and cushions. We have also launched our beautiful new sleepwear range, designed by British designer Emma Hawthorne exclusively for Daughters. It is made from soft, light cotton in pretty colours and trimmed with hand-made lace. Emma is returning to Cambodia this summer to work at Daughters longer term, and we are excited about that.

Jewellery

Since opening our shop last year, we have found that our biggest seller, of all the products we make at Daughters, is the jewellery. We have recently hired an additional 3 clients from Daughters Sewing Room to make jewellery, making a total of 7 girls full time in the jewellery program. In addition, we have 4 of our boys in Sons program cutting the coconut pieces that we use on the jewellery along with other accessories such as buckles and buttons.

Wwere blessed to have several designers working with us since January, 2 short term jewellery designers and an accessories designer.

Silk Screen Printing:

WE have been working hard to improve our t-shirt program, under Sons of Cambodia. We have 2 volunteers, Chet and Amarja, both from the USA, who are managing the production and systems, such as inventory flow, management of orders, and systems for tracking stock. We have a silk screen expert, Matt from the USA, who is Amarja is training the clients in silk screen printing skills, and Matt is also working on some exciting new designs.

Other Skills Trainings

Two clients in our Visitor Centre commenced a twelve month training in management, provided by Hagar Career Pathways. They will return to Daughters at the end of the training and use their skills to each manage 2 of the small businesses based in our Visitor Centre. We are very excited for them!

Social Services Programs

Our social work team, now 7 people, has been very busy and active. Their work is often dealing with critical situations and emergencies involving domestic violence, or interventions to prevent the trafficking of babies or young children. Another very common problem is the clients’ lack of skill in managing their money. We have appointed one of our counsellors as money management counsellor, since many clients engage in gambling, reckless spending, or losing money because they do not keep it safe. Many also have debts that mean they cannot buy food or pay rent. We are working with them to help them reduce their debts, save a portion of their salaries, and manage their money better.

We have seen some recent successes in our men’s project. This is a new project working with husbands who perpetrate violence, or engage in other dysfunctional behaviours. We have made referrals of 3 husbands to a residential treatment program for substance addictions, and they are making extremely positive progress. We have been building relationship with a few other husbands, and have also seen them implement growing behaviour changes through the behaviour management techniques our social workers have been teaching them. We often find that their children are caught up in the family problems and some have been at risk of being trafficked as acts of revenge or due to neglect. We have been able to successfully prevent several babies recently from being trafficked. We have also made 2 referrals to a women’s refuge for victims of domestic violence, and this intervention has been very valuable in proving safety and support for those victims.

We promoted one client in the Sons program to be supervisor of the other boys. Since coming to Sons, he demonstrated radical lifestyle change from the first day, and has grown by leaps and bounds in taking initiative and responsibility. He is a fantastic peer mentor to the other boys, who respect him and learn from his example. His work is diligent and conscientious. We are very proud of him.

Workshop Program

We have held educational workshops recently on the following topics:

The importance of hydration (drinking enough water)
Emotional abuse education
Making healthy choices when selecting a mate
Prevention of Diarrhea
STD education
Correct use of medicines
Preventing intestinal parasites
The Immune System
Drug & substance misuse workshops (external trainers)
How to implement a savings scheme & money management
Hepatitis, dengue and malaria prevention
Education in the use and misuse of medications
Parenting skills

Medical Program:

We had an outbreak of rubella among our clients earlier this year, and due to the steady number of pregnant clients, we developed some new health policies which we have been implementing for the purposes of infection control. Rubella is particularly harmful to the foetus in the first trimester of pregnancy, and is very widespread among the community at large in Cambodia. We introduced isolation measures for clients with rubella and the incidences were eradicated at Daughters, which we were thankful for.

We have widened our infection control measures to include a range of other diseases that are important to eliminate without further spread.

Photography Classes:

We have 5 clients who are learning photography skills for a project which we ran for 4 months. They were trained by a photographer George Hsia from the USA. We will be producing a photojournal shortly as a result of this project. It was a great opportunity for them to learn this beautiful skill.

some thoughts for the new year

2011-01-21T23:34:00.003+07:00

When I was young, I used to dream of being a world changer, a history-maker, for the purposes of God. Now I'm (slightly) older, I know that anyone can do this - it doesn't depend on ability, or some personal attribute, it depends on stepping out in obedience to God, putting faith to the test, and the power of prayer. If you are exactly where God has called you, doing what he's anointed you to do in the place he's anointed you to be, you can live life that is exciting and miraculous beyond your wildest dreams. Not glamorous - obedience is a place of humility and there is a cost. But a place where you know God, because either he comes through for you or you crash and burn. And he comes through every time :)
This has been my experience. I am living my dream. Its not an ability of my own, or personal charisma, or super-human energy or anything else that depends on me - its all about God creating something amazing and me being privileged to be a part of it. He is the one who does amazing things over and over, to make every difference in our hurting world. He is the one who shines :)

a few words to close the year with...

2011-01-04T22:13:00.003+07:00

2010 has been an exciting year for Daughters of growth and expansion and change in wonderful areas, with new projects, and amazing outcomes, all of which greatly exceeded my expectation.

We opened our new Visitor Centre, as previously described, housing 3 businesses, and able to accommodate the large number of visitors who are interested in supporting our work. This centre has been covering its own costs for some time already. Due to the volume of products being sold in the shop from our sewing business, The Sewing Room is also covering its own costs, which are substantial, being our biggest business employing 50 clients. This outcome is greatly beyond our expectation, and helps us move towards our goal of sustainability.

We started a new project, Sons, in February offering opportunities to male transsexual sex workers (‘ladyboys’) to change their lives, with 2 new small business schemes geared to their skills. We now have 12 boys who are stable and committed. They are making great progress. Their needs and struggles are different to those of the girls, and we are learning along with them. They are precious and a blessing.

We received funding for a social work program in June, and now have an active counselling and social work team, headed by a British Social Worker, Amanda, which is actively creating change in domestic situations of clients, to improve quality of life, reduce risk factors and protect children.

We commenced a new project to combat gender-based violence, which is a huge problem for our clients. We have 2 staff employed in this project, 1 female and 1 male. The male social worker is working with Cambodian husbands to reduce dysfunctional behaviours including domestic violence, but also addictions, abuse, unwillingness to financially contribute, frequenting brothels, and many more behaviours, in order to raise the standard of domestic life for vulnerable women. Dysfunctional male behaviour norms are a huge problem in Cambodia, but are largely untackled and we are thrilled to be making a difference in this area also.

The most thrilling aspect of all is the change I see in the clients who work at Daughters; as I interact with them each day, I see life, hope, joy, dignity and self-worth shining out of them tangibly, along with a determination. This determination comes from empowering them in the ways we strive to do, so that they are working to raise their own lives in greater and greater ways into a place of having surmounted, conquered, the chains of their past, having gained for themselves self-esteem in their hearts, dignity from their work, increasing quality of domestic life, financial security, a respected status in society. Most of all they know they are loved, and this is where healing begins.

I cannot end the year without acknowledging the incredible contribution made by Daughters’ dedicated and gifted team of staff, both Cambodians and foreigners, and the large number of volunteers who have raised our capacity in various ways throughout the year. None of this would have been possible without them, and I wish to express my thanks to all of them for working so hard to give our clients a new and beautiful life that would not have been possible otherwise.

A huge thank you is also due to our donors, both large and small, who believe in what we do, support us in our stress (!) and work incredibly hard to raise funds without which none of this would be possible.

Daughters New Visitor Centre!

2010-08-01T15:43:00.002+07:00

At last, I can proudly announce the successful opening of our own new visitor centre. This is a beautiful space housing several Daughters' businesses, to which the public can come and learn about our work, be educated about the issues and realities of sex trafficking in Cambodia and support Daughters through the many customer opportunities (shop, women's spa and top floor cafe). It is located on st 178 (art street), opposite the University of Fine Arts' new art gallery. We employ around 14 girls here, some of whom are training as managers and other positions of responsibility.

The cafe, called Sugar 'n Spice, opened mid-June and has had a steady stream of customers who have been giving great feedback. We could not have done this without the skills of our kiwi Chef, Rich, whose amazing culinary talents have meant a fantastic menu and 3 highly skilled trainee chefs. The cafe is intended as a place for vocational training, where new clients will train and then graduate to work in top end restaurants and hotels. We offer comfy sofas, free wifi, delicious coffee, original smoothies which are fast becoming famous along with our outstanding brownie, light lunches, desserts and homebaked treats. All at unbeatable prices! It is not surprising our customers keep coming back.

Customer feedback so far includes; 'We really enjoyed our visit, the food was great and served in good portions. What an inspiring business - the slide show was very moving, and presented the trafficking situation well. Thankyou and good luck to all the girls'; 'The food and service at the cafe was wonderful! I definately would love to come back soon'; 'What a gorgous place - I could stay and browse in the shop for ages. Beautiful food and super service in the cafe' (Australia); and 'Service was gracious and efficient, the environment & setting is beautiful. I will be telling all I know to come here' (UK).

The shop sells the beautiful products made in the Sewing Room. Many of our products are made with eco-friendly naturally dyed cotton in earth tones, and includes accessories (jewellery, bags, scarves etc), clothing, and home furnishings. Jewellery is made on site and you can watch this being produced en route to the women's spa and visitor exhibitions. The women's spa specialises in head, shoulder and face massage, along with hand and food treatments including massage and pedicures/manicures. A registered Canadian massage therapist trained the girls, and as a result they have highly professional skills.

The visitor exhibitions include information boards scattered around the building, along with a slide show presentation in our dedicated presentation room, which gives insight into the issues and problems faced by victims of trafficking, and the solutions Daughters is able to offer.

We are very blessed to have this beautiful new centre, and thankful to everybody who has participated in making it possible, including donors and volunteers, and the girls themselves who are the true stars :)

We now have Sons!

2010-08-01T15:24:00.002+07:00

Earlier this year we started a new program working with ‘ladyboys’, male transsexual sex workers known in Cambodia as '3rd sex'. They are a completely unreached and highly ostracised population in Cambodia. Generally they only come out after midnight, due to the blatant social discrimination they face, which at the very least includes insults hurled at them from passers by if they venture outside in daylight hours. We conducted outreaches with these boys in the early part of 2010, and as a result started Sons project. We invited these boys to join Sons if they wanted to end sex work and earn alternative income. Thanks to a partnering business from Europe, we were able to offer them jobs making hand-made leather buttons, and have since added another small business to this project, silk screen printing. Their attendance has fluctuated, with a high attrition rate, but also a number of steady participants throughout, who have begun implementing huge life changes. The boys have been attending creative and educational programs, including music classes (we have a plan to form a worship band with them in the future) and literacy classes. We have had wonderful male volunteers working with the boys to show friendship and loving care, and the boys have chosen to attend our Friday church where most of them have become Christians. Two of the boys who became Christians a few weeks ago have made the decision to take on male identity once again, and end their promiscuous lifestyles, as they seek to follow Jesus. We are very blessed by them and thankful to the volunteers who have impacted them so much with friendship and unconditional love and acceptance. We see God is at work in their lives in a beautiful way and give him the Glory for this.

Take a look at all our hard work!

2010-04-27T20:48:00.002+07:00

At last, the news we have all been awaiting! We have opened our beautiful Daughters of Cambodia shop - phase I of the Daughters Visitor Centre - on March 25th 2010. It has taken 5 months to complete the renovations (should have taken 2 months max, but hey, this is Cambodia). It looks stunning, and we are thrilled with it. Until now, the products we make at Daughters have been exported overseas to wholesale buyers in Australia, the USA, and the UK, but since March 25th these beautiful products are available for the first time in our very own shop. The address is street 178, house 65eo, on the opposite side to the national museum and one block towards Street 19.

The products are made at Daughters centre by our clients - girls we have had the privilege of setting free from the sex industry, and empowering to change their lives. We offer the girls a job in our Fair Trade businesses, primarily The Sewing Room, where we produce gorgeous clothing, fashion accessories and home furnishings. We have at least 60 girls at any one time working with us, and they are my heroes - their courage, their resilience, their ability to take hold of new skills and learn to transform their own lives. From the pit to empowerment, hope, joy, life to the full.

I digress (I cannot help but get excited when I talk about the girls). Back to our shop. The location, it transpires, is divinely inspired; there is little comparable competition on st178 but many tourists and visitors. We are greatly enjoying the experience of doing business with the general public, learning what they like and which products are our best sellers. We had some great advice from Bonnie in that regard (thanks Bonnie, you are right about tops being high on the list!). Most of all we are enjoying having the opportunity to tell people about the work of Daughters and the issues of sex trafficking in Cambodia. Many people, amazingly, do not realize either the existence, or extent of, the problem.

So, sales have been going well and we are working hard on Phase II - the visitor exhibition rooms, the spa, and the Tea Rooms. I use the term 'Tea Rooms' because I am English, but in more cosmopolitan terms it is a Cafe, where we will serve light lunches (salads, sandwiches), a few main courses, lots of home baked goodies (try our brownie, it is the best Phnom Penh has on offer), great coffee, fresh teas using local flavours, delicious desserts (the best pavlova you have ever tasted, outside New Zealand of course), and some original smoothies you will write home about, believe me. The Cafe, which is named Sugar 'n Spice, will hopefully open mid-May. 7am-5.30pm, Monday - Saturday.

The Visitor Exhibition Rooms should be open by the end of April. These are a first in Cambodia, and an opportunity for the public to learn about sex trafficking and to read some of the personal reflections of the girls who have survived, and now thrive, at Daughters. The women's Spa will open at the same time as the visitor centre. The staff and clients involved in the new Spa voted recently about whether the Spa should be for women only. The vote was unanimously in favour. We believe in ownership, empowerment and choice at Daughters.

A word (or several) of thanks to a large number of volunteers for their great endeavours in this project:
• the designers (products and shop); Abbey, Olivia, Jennifer
• the marketing/graphics experts; Lisa, Liz, Lee Anne, Caroline
• skills trainers; Richard, Lois, Olivia, Bonnie, Henk, Maryke, Esther, Lene, Ruth from NZ
• exhibition information & research; Jenny, Sadie, Elisabeth
• photography exhibitions; Jaymie Friesen, Jeremy Maz
• the builders especially Samuel, Pete & Sharon for their sweat blood & toil. Well, hopefully not blood.

A word of thanks also to our donors, The Ratanak Fdn UK and Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc for making this possible.

2010-03-01T23:00:00.002+07:00

Daughters Shop

We are in the exciting preparation stages for opening our new store in downtown Phnom Penh. It is in an old French building on the Art Street (St178, opposite the National Museum), and has space inside for several outlets in the one store. A team of Cambodian builders have been renovating the premises, along with Pete from New Zealand. The ground floor will house the shop selling Daughters products, along with a women’s spa. Exhibition rooms will be situated on the next floor up, with a tea shop on the top floor. There are a number of purposes: it will be an outlet for Daughters products and businesses to generate sales locally; it will provide jobs to around 12 Daughters clients; it will also serve as an educational venue where the general public will have an opportunity to more about the situation regarding the sex industry in Cambodia in addition to supporting the work of Daughters.

We are thankful to have the amazing skills of Richard, a chef from New Zealand, who has been training the girls in cooking skills, and also an interior designer recently arrived, Jennifer from the USA, who is styling the store. We are thankful to many other volunteers at Daughters who are all very busy helping with the many preparations, including; customer service classes, English classes, spa skills training, graphic design and marketing, product design, screen printing techniques, and many more. In addition, we are blessed to have had a clothing designer, Olivia from Australia, who has designed a range of clothing for our new shop. Olivia has taught design classes each day in order to pass on her skills, both for sustaining Daughters design department and also to empower girls with skills for their own future businesses

We in the final preparation stages and are anticipating opening mid-March. Watch this space for more...

Exit Strategy

2010-03-01T22:55:00.002+07:00

We have been developing our exit strategy at Daughters, for girls who have been with us for 2 years or more. Our desire has always been that girls are able to graduate Daughters and live sustainable independent lives. Three girls entered our exit program in January 2010. These girls had been at Daughters for more than 2 years; they were reluctant and nervous about leaving. We arranged for them to buy sewing machines and over-lockers through a partnering micro-finance organization, and they started their own small businesses at home. The scheme is proving very successful so far. They have been taking in piecework from Daughters and producing high quality work much faster, as a result of which they have earned double what they had been earning at Daughters. We are currently creating a support structure for providing various other support structures that will help them be successful, including a social worker to visit weekly and business advice and support. These girls are able to attend the other programs at Daughters, including church, medical and counselling clinics and educational programs.

This scheme is in the early stages, but is considered so successful by the other girls that some have requested to buy sewing machines to work in their own homes, so we are expanding this program.

Meet The Team

2009-12-05T01:02:00.003+07:00

Daughters is growing from strength to strength and striving for professionalism in what we do. The success we are seeing is due in a very large way to our amazing staff and volunteers. So I wanted to briefly mention them all here in order to acknowledge their hugely valuable contribution and to thank them.

Currently we have 13 staff and 10 foreign volunteers. They are as follows:

Danet, Medical assistant & counsellor, who works very hard and is very flexible
Sam Nieng, centre manager who is also a great counsellor
Phillip, machine technician, whose skills make him indispensableHeang, guard & driver, who is a very safe male to have at Daughters.
Socheata, business manager, & newly promoted to marketing manager, who is a great advocate on behalf of the girls
Kolab, Director's assistant, who is a pastor's daughter and has been with us since we started in 2007
Pich, a former client who works in the daycare program & is shortly to be trained as a cousellor
Touch, our daycare leader, a gentle older lady
Lois from Canada whose skills in organizational development are also invaluable (in addition to baking!)
Elisabeth from Switzerland, who is a skilled counsellor & speaks amazing Khmer
Joanna from New Zealand who is our midwife, artist and worship leader (she is multi-talented)
Jen from USA, our admin assistant, whose skills we value highly
Rika from Indonesia, who is our valued accountant
Casey from the USA, who is our centre nurse and runs the clinic very competently
Phyllis from Canada who leads the silk screen printing program & is highly creative
Akia who is our housekeeper and keeps the centre clean
Sovannary who is our new bookkeeper, currently learning the ropes
Olivia from Australia, who is our designer and is doing an amazing job
Chenda, assistant manager in The Sewing Room
Carole from France who is our Art Therapist and is highly creative
Jenny from Switzerland who is our admin assistant and researcher
Aimee from USA, who is our new daycare consultant and is doing a fantastic job
Ruth (me!) Founder & CEO, a psychologist from the UK who has worked with victims of trafficking in Cambodia since early 2004

Thank you to all of these hard-working, flexible, committed staff and volunteers. They are a great team and very valued. Thank you equally to all the volunteers who have worked with us in the past before returning to their own countries. We have been so blessed by all of you, your work has enabled many many girls to escape the sex industry and find a new life of dignity and hope :)

Reviewing things...

2009-09-05T13:48:00.004+07:00

How effective are we???

I have been reviewing and evaluating how effective we are in achieving our goal of creating sustainable life changes in the lives of the girls we work with. We want to make a real and lasting difference to their lives, not just crunch numbers, and for this reason we have created a few assessment tools which we have been using during 2009. These have been very useful in assessing which areas we are doing well in and where there are gaps or things we need to improve. We are striving for excellence!

1. Quality of life assessment: measures the extent to which life-styles changes have been implemented, changes in psychological symptoms, social functioning and behaviours in the lives of each girl (quantitative & qualitative).
2. Client feedback survey: measures the effectiveness of each program in achieving these outcomes (quantitative & qualitative)
3. Statistics (quantitative)

Assessment findings show us the following (averages):

100% of girls stop selling their bodies after joining Daughters
Alcohol consumption ceases by average 87%
75% reduction in experiencing domestic violence
75% improvement in dysfunctional domestic relationships
65% improvement in health and physical wellbeing
87% reduction in risk taking behaviours
50% improvement in spending habits/money management
50% reduction in anxiety symptoms
70% reduction in depression symptoms
70% increase in self-esteem and self-worth
91% reduction in suidical thoughts
56% reduction in somatic symptoms (headaches, stomachaches etc)
62% increase in sense of hope for the future

Which programs are most effective?

80% of girls rate the church program as the one which has helped them experience the most healing, even girls who are still Buddhist
The small businesses, and medical clinic were rated by 80% of girls as being the most important programs
60% of girls rate the life-skills workshops as having given them skills to change their behaviours and life-styles
Other aspects at Daughters that have created life-style changes: new friendships (20% of girls), the staff (20%), parties & games (40%), the creative classes (60%), counselling (80%)

When asked about future plans, many girls said they wanted to stay at Daughters forever (flattering, but not ultimate goal for them!)

Programs requested for the future:
English literacy (50%), Khmer literacy (35%), hair & beauty class (20%)

Statistics show:

Within the last 12 months, 100 girls have joined Daughters.
58 currently work at Daughters
Of those who have left, around 10 have entered job placements that we have referred them to (5%).
Around 10 have found alternative jobs for themselves, or set up their own small businesses (5%).
A large number of girls have returned to live with their families in the province and not returned to the sex industry
4 or 5 girls have returned to the sex industry that we know of (2%)
24 clients (almost half the total number) a week are treated in the medical clinic, plus 9 external referrals
20% of clients each week receive counselling

What these findings mean:

A large number of girls are escaping the sex industry through the work of Daughters (on average 100 per year)

we are being effective in enabling them to change their lives in sustainable ways (evidenced from high % changes in quality of life assessment)

Most girls who exit Daughters do not return to the sex industry (estimate just 2% return that we know of)

Strengths include the skilled business volunteers we now have working with us, to develop the organization in important areas, particularly the businesses and the organizational strategic planning. As a result, professional standards are being achieved in the businesses, and salaries of girls are beginning to be covered, moving us towards goal of self-sustainability

Other strengths include the range of creative activities and workshops, delivered by great long term and short term volunteers, such as the professional art therapist working with us at present.

Things to work on:

We are still understaffed for the growth that has occurred, running on the bare minimum due to lack of funds

The divide between the social support services and business model can create a dilemma for some staff as the interests conflict

These are very encouraging results! A huge thankyou to all the volunteers who have been working with us, and also to everyone who has donated. We are making a huge impact on the lives of many trafficked girls as a result, and this is priceless :)

end of July...

2009-08-02T18:21:00.003+07:00

The team from Canada left on Friday, with a great party in the afternoon; the 50 clients we have plus 20 staff were all given a beautiful pearl and a pink rose by the team as symbols of their worth and beauty in God's eyes and ours too. The girls performed some beautiful dance pieces they had learned, and there was showcasing of the hair-do's the girls had learned in the hair-styling program. It was a fun and special afternoon. Many thanks to the team for all their hard work and dedication, they brought lots of fun, skills, learning opportunities and hope to the girls. Many girls mentioned the workshops on domestic violence as having been helpful, since this is an experience that is common to so many of them. They also liked the drug education and the budgeting workshops.

Next week it will be back to business and busyness as usual, with quite a number of orders to finish in The Sewing Room and some new customers to meet with. This business is growing steadily and beginning to generate income, and we find that work at Daughters is continually moving forward in exciting ways, changing and growing.

Client Testamony: Tokna

2009-07-27T12:14:00.000+07:00

Tokna

“In the karaoke bar I welcomed customers standing in a line with other girls. The customers looked me up and down from my toes to my head, before deciding whether they would choose me. If a cutomer didn’t choose me, he would say and do derogatory things to me, such as throwing alcohol at my body. I saw many girls there being threatened with a gun or hit by customers, in order to force them to go to a guesthouse with the customer.

I felt like I was a game for the customer to play; when he needed me he took me to play, and when he didn’t need me he threw me away. I felt different to other people – I felt small. I was beautiful its true, but my value was small. Other people had education and a good life, with value. I felt life was too hard because I had no value. At night I used to sweat all over and experience intense fear and hyperventilate. I wanted to kill myself.

Since I started to work at Daughters these feelings have reversed; I know I have self-worth, and people don’t look down on me. I feel happy and valued. Before I earned a lot of money, and at Daughters I get less, but here no one looks down on me and I feel peace in my heart, nobody despises me.

I would like to help other sex workers to stop that life-style and change their lives, this is my plan. I want to be a counsellor.”

Introducing some of our overseas volunteers!

2009-07-27T12:12:00.002+07:00

One of the strengths at Daughters are the wonderful volunteers and staff. Some of the new faces who joined us:

Sarah from England who worked as marketing consultant for us for 3 months, from April-June, and who masterminded the arts exhibitions, catalogue, and also taught art classes.

Cassie and Jen, both from the USA, who worked as admin assistants. Cassie returned home to get married, and Jen is having a break at home with her family for 2 months and will then return to Daughters.

Joanna from New Zealand who is our new midwife, who is here long-term and is taking wonderful care of our pregnant ‘daughters’ of whom there are currently 13.

Lee Anne who is our graphic designer (short term sadly!) and is responsible for some gorgeous new publicity material we now have. Lee Anne is currently re-designing our website.

Rika from Indonesia, our new accountant and marketing person, who has amazing skills and an amazing heart.

We welcome back Alta, our nurse practitioner from South Africa, who worked with us during 2007 and has now returned to fill in part time, whilst we look for a full-time nurse. We had a skilled Canadian nurse, Kim, working with us for a year, who has recently left and she is greatly missed.

We have had Jaymie, a photographer from Canada, working with us on our photography project which just ended in June. This was wonderfully successful.

Update, July `09

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Prayer Centre

We are excited to announce the launch of our prayer room during June 2009. This operates as a place for intercession and prayer every afternoon, with attached retreat areas for staff and a counselling room. The prayer room is open for staff as well as external volunteers to drop in and join our daily intercession sessions, or to pray individually. We have seen that prayer makes such a difference to our effectiveness, and for us, it is a priority as we are engaged in front-line work.

‘Caring for Myself’ workshops

We have a team with us from Canada at the moment, and they are working hard running workshops for our clients on topics including: domestic violence prevention, how to choose a good mate, budgeting, drugs education and dance classes. They have also been running hair cutting classes for girls who are still working in the brothels in order to help them realise the possibilities of changing their lives. They are doing an amazing job, and we are enjoying having them.

Photography Classes and Artwork, July `09

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Photography Project

As a celebration of the life-changes of girls at Daughters, we held 2 photography and arts events in early June at 2 premier arts venues in Phnom Penh. The photography exhibition was a culmination of a 4-month photography class, and included a presentation on the work of Daughters to a packed house. The reception was extremely supportive and encouraging. An arts exhibition was held a few days later which was a showcase of many of the art forms used at Daughters, including the fine art classes and the eco-friendly products from The Sewing Room and re-cycled jewellery products. Sugar & Spice, our cake decorating program, proudly provided cakes and refreshments all day. Teas were served in a range of fresh local plants, including ginger and lemongrass. Both events were a huge success for publicity /awareness raising and product sales, and the credit goes to the amazing team of staff and volunteers who worked very hard to create a professional and beautiful event, along with the girls themselves who created the incredible and beautiful products.

Art Classes

Sarah, our marketing consultant, held classes in fine art for a select number of girls who are budding artists. The art work included themes of Khmer life and culture, such as stencil designs taken from architectural details found in the temples of Angkor Wat, and self portraits in bright colours using a variety of techniques.

Photographs: Daughters re-cycled jewellery at the Gasolina event in June 2009, stencil work and fine art.

Welcome To Daughters of Cambodia

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So this is the new Daughters of Cambodia blog!
We'll be posting regular updates here about the centre and everything that happens there.
For starters, here is a little bit of info about Daughters:

Daughters is a faith based NGO that provides comprehensive services to female victims of sexual exploitation of any age and nationality who are working in the sex-industry in Cambodia, empowering them with the courage, inner resources and external resources to make life-style changes for their own lives. Through Centre activities and programmes, Daughters’ provides services which enable victims of sexual exploitation to set themselves free from enslavement through employment opportunities, and a wide range of social and psychological services. These include:

• Fair Trade business schemes providing salaried jobs
• Medical clinic
• Therapeutic and counselling services
• Free day-care
• On-site residential housing (optional)
• A wide range of creative classes to build self-esteem and provide a creative and expressive outlet for healing and fun. These include hip-hop dance, photography classes, art & design classes, Khmer dance, music classes, jewellery making, and others.
• Weekly educational workshops on important life skills topics, including domestic violence prevention, relationship/conflict resolution, drug addiction education, parenting skills, budgeting, team-building skills, self-esteem, and many more.
• Weekly church program to which girls are invited if they wish to learn about Christianity. Many girls have become Christians and are being discipled. The church program includes Biblical teaching, worship and prayer ministry.

Daughters started these services after conducting needs assessments with girls in brothels and finding that most girls wanted to live free from sexual exploitation but they were constrained by the need to earn an income constantly, because their families demanded on-going financial support. Daughters therefore designed a programme in which girls would be offered a job and immediately receive a salary, have freedom to choose where they want to live, receive therapeutic treatment, nurture, social support and educational services to enable holistic recovery, teach healthy decision-making and ensure changes are sustained long-term.

Daughters is a new approach to eradicating enslavement in sexual exploitation in Cambodia, avoiding the trauma and unsustained outcomes of forced rescues; victims who are reintegrated following forcible rescues (even when given skills and education) are mostly re-trafficked for 2 reasons: 1. the changes were imposed rather than internal and voluntary and 2. because families demand an immediate source of income. Outcomes from Daughters model to date show that the growing number of girls who leave the sex industry to start a new life through Daughters schemes 1. experience healing and freedom from trauma, and 2. sustain healthy choices because the life-style changes are internal, voluntary and holistic.

Girls who leave the sex industry prefer to live in their own homes rather than a shelter, and most of Daughters clients live in the community around the Centre within their existing support networks; however Daughters also provides on-site housing for younger girls who need more safety and nurture. Daughters approach to housing is one in which girls take responsibility for their own lives, they buy their own food and household supplies from their salaries and have to clean their home. This teaches them independent living, responsibility and life-skills rather than NGO dependence.