One woman's story: Lita's journey to Forgiveness

For Lita, it was a long road to find peace. As a young girl, this Daughters client was raped by two men, and the trauma of that experience continued to haunt her well into adulthood.

Lita says she felt trapped by her feelings of anger and hurt — feelings that had kept her from moving on with her life. She would often lie awake at night and cry as memories of her rapists came back to her. More than anything, Lita longed to be free of those memories and the hatred that came with them.

Year after year, Lita struggled with these feelings that entrapped her. But recently, she decided to pray a prayer of forgiveness, letting go of the hatred she felt for these men. Immediately, she says she felt the burden of her memories dissipate only to be replaced by an uplifting spirit of freedom. Lita says she is no longer a slave to her feelings. She no longer lies awake at night in anger. She can sleep well, and she feels the most amazing peace has overtaken her.

Now, Lita is able to focus on her work in the Daughters sewing room, where she is part of the team that cuts patterns for all Daughters' products. She enjoys the challenge and pace of the work, and is grateful to be at peace now whether at work or home.

One Man's Story: Sokun's Shame

Sokun came to Sons of Cambodia two years ago, shortly after the program was launched. Today, he works in the wood shop, learning the skills of carpentry. He's made a lot of progress in the last two years, but as with all of our clients, total life transformation is rarely instantaneous, and it's never easy — especially when they come from a home like Sokun's.

When Sokun was growing up, his father was almost never around. When he was, it was usually to abuse Sokun's mother.

Between the beatings and his mother's blindness, Sokun quickly became the caregiver in the mother-son relationship. He aspired to go to school, but wound up missing classes to stay home and care for his mother. When money was tight — which it often was — he and his mother would go door-to-door begging for money from their neighbors.

"This made me feel very ashamed," Sokun said of their begging. But it was the only way the boy could provide for his mother.

As Sokun grew up, he said he always felt feminine. He grew his hair long and was known in his neighborhood as an effeminate boy. Male neighbors took note and abused him.

Later, Sokun left his home to find a job in Phnom Penh in an attempt to support his mother, but his lack of schooling made his job search difficult, as he did not know how to read or write.

Unemployed and desperate, Sokun easily fell in with a group of ladyboys. He started dressing as a girl and selling his body to male clients. But he still barely scraped by, sometimes sleeping on the streets and usually going hungry.

Then, Sokun met some people who worked at Daughters. They told him about the new Sons program, and Sokun joined.

Two years later, Sokun is employed and off the streets. And he's finally learning to read and write. He finds special comfort in the Bible and discipleship classes, and, earlier this year, he became a Christian.

Sokun says his anger toward himself and others is reducing and, in an outward sign of his inward transformation, says he wants to start dressing like a man again.

Today, Sokun harbors great ambitions for his future. Once he learns to read and write, he wants to work for a wedding dressmaker, helping brides change in and out of their intricate and elaborate traditional wedding costumes. When he's saved enough money, he hopes to become a hairstylist and open his own barber shop. Someday, he wants to get married and start a family.

Daughters implements "Safety First" program to protect clients

Two members of Daughters production staff received their certification in Basic Fire Safety and Extinguisher Use this September thanks to a generous donation, which enabled them to attend a course through local company FireSafe. 

As part of their education, the staff members learned techniques in fire prevention and extinguishing, including use of equipment to be purchased for use at the Daughters' Operations Centre. They also learned the proper method for safely evacuating a building — an essential skill for the pair, who are charged with ensuring the safety of the more than 100 clients employed in Daughters' sewing room, wood workshop and screen-printing press.

The course is part of a larger Safety First program being implemented at Daughters by funding from Ratanak International that includes purchase of fire extinguishers, alarms, hoses and other equipment, as well as improvements to wiring throughout the Daughters' Operations Centre and Social Work building.

Srey Pov's Story: "My Worst Nightmare"

For Daughters client, Srey Pov, it was her worst nightmare: After leaving the sex industry behind, she discovered she was pregnant by one of her former clients.

When the pregnancy test came back positive, Srey Pov became desperate. She contemplated suicide and told counselors she planned to take not only her own life, but those of her small boys as well. She talked of taking them to Phnom Penh’s tallest bridge and pushing them to their deaths before taking her own life.

Even as counselors worked with Srey Pov to find alternatives, they arranged for trustworthy people to monitor her outside of working hours to ensure the safety of her and her children. But alternatives proved difficult to find. Slowly, Srey Pov stopped talking of suicide and instead contemplated abandoning her children with her estranged husband — an unacceptable alternative, as her husband had previously considered selling their children to traffickers and had more recently expressed hope that Srey Pov’s unborn child would be a girl, who could fetch a high price.

But the social work team was finally able to find an answer in a partnering women’s shelter offering a yearlong program that would furnish a safe place for Srey Pov and her children while providing a family and group support structure. Within 24 hours of hearing about the shelter, Srey Pov agreed to go. She went home, gathered her boys and their belongings and, with the help of Daughters’ social workers, moved into the shelter right away.

Now, Srey Pov says she feels happy, and, for the first time since reading that pregnancy test, she says she has hope. Daughters’ social workers continue to work with Srey Pov to find a long-term solution for after she finishes the yearlong shelter program and are currently looking for families or permanent live-in centers outside the city and away from her husband that could provide her with work as well as a safe and stable environment for her children, whom she now says she wants to raise on her own and protect from traffickers.

Marika's Story: Trapped in a foreign brothel

Marika left Cambodia with high hopes that working as a domestic servant abroad would help her provide for her family. But once she arrived at the home of her new employer, it became clear this was not going to be the case. Marika became a virtual slave to her employer, who confiscated her passport and withheld her wages. One day, she worked up the courage to escape, only to fall into the hands of a trafficker -- a man who had promised to help her but instead raped her and sold her to a brothel.

She spent three years trapped in the brothel, where she was raped and beaten daily. Yet her spirit endured, and she was again able to orchestrate her escape. This time, she was successful in making it back to Cambodia. But even at home, she found she wasn’t free. Vivid nightmares haunted her dreams while all-too-real flashbacks tortured her waking hours. It was too much, and she turned to drugs to dull the pain.

But then, Marika found Daughters. With help from Daughters' social workers, Marika was able to overcome her trauma and beat her drug addiction, and the flashbacks stopped. She earned a good wage in the Daughters' sewing room, where she quickly advanced to fine hand-stitching work.

For the first time since she left Cambodia to work as a maid, Marika felt empowered, and this time, it lasted.

She was so excited about her transformation that she wanted others to feel the same. She started going on Daughters’ outreaches in Phnom Penh’s red-light districts, giving girls trapped in the life she once lived hope for the future. She dreams she will someday be able to locate and free the young women who remain trapped in the foreign brothel that once imprisoned her.

Christmas arrives at the Daughters

A set of Christmas bunting goes through a quality control inspection.

Christmas came early this year in the Daughters of Cambodia sewing room, where clients are busy stuffing stockings and sewing Christmas tree bunting. The sewing room has been a tangle of red and green since July, as our production team vamped up work on seasonal decor in order to meet an anticipated high demand for those products this fall.

This line's of Christmas products includes some of last year's best-sellers, like our Khmer-inspired Sarong Stocking, Christmas party bows and stuffed reindeer, as well as a few new items, like our snow-white polar bear bear sporting a festive Christmas scarf.

Our Christmas line will hit the shelves at the Daughters of Cambodia Visitor Centre shop in September. 

A client sews the lining into a Khmer-inspired Sarong Christmas Stocking.

A sample reindeer sits atop a pile of reindeer parts in the sewing room.

Stretching to the limit

Daughters of Cambodia's increased outreach efforts, which started at the end of 2012 and have continued into 2013, have been more fruitful than we could have imagined, with more than 100 new clients starting work with us so far this year. However, this exciting growth also brings new challenges for Daughters, as space in our sewing room and Operations Centre is becoming increasingly limited with each new client.

Nonetheless, Daughters is committed to maintaining our policy of never turning away a girl or boy hoping to leave the sex industry. But in order to do so, we will need to expand. Daughters is currently in negotiations with our landlord regarding rental of a building he is constructing immediately adjacent to ours. Such an expansion, if negotiations go well, could more than double our available space and ensure our strategic presence in the red-light district of Stung Mean Chey for years to come.

In the meantime, Daughters is continuing our outreach program to draw in as many clients as possible, and we're set to launch a new nighttime outreach later this month.

White Linen Boutique Hotel Opens

Daughters of Cambodia's newest social enterprise, the White Linen Boutique Hotel, opens today. In a country ravaged by sex trafficking, White Linen offers hope to young women who are looking for freedom and dignity outside the sex industry. White Linen aims to provide relevant training and employment to our clients in order to meet demand in Cambodia's growing hospitality industry, giving our clients the ability to sustain their exit from the sex industry long after their graduation from Daughters.

The name of the hotel was inspired by Scripture: "She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear," (Rev. 19:8, NLT), and represents a counter-narrative to the commonly held Cambodian belief that "women are like pure white cloth that cannot be made clean once stained." At White Linen, we help victims of trafficking see their own value through dignified, rewarding employment.

Soak in the view from our penthouse suite's private rooftop terrace.

The hotel itself is located on a tranquil street near the popular Russian Market and features five custom-designed rooms in a light and airy layout. Its breezy balconies and complementary home-cooked breakfasts make White Linen the perfect home-away-from-home for couples and tourists, while its common lounges, guest kitchens and flexible booking options make this hotel ideal for large families and teams.

Beautifully made custom products from the Daughters of Cambodia Sewing Room and the Sons of Cambodia wood workshop and screen printing press are on display throughout the hotel, from the screen-printed pillows inviting guests to "relax" or "sleep," to the hand-sewn laundry bags and complementary toothbrush pouches.

To learn more about White Linen Boutique Hotel, visit our website or book online now. To see even more photos of the hotel, visit our Flickr album.

The Frangipani Suite boasts a stunning four-poster bed.

Even the hotel's exterior is done in White Linen's signature light blue and white color scheme.

time to celebrate!

We had a wonderful reason to celebrate recently - Daughters just turned 5 years old on January 1st 2012, and we held a celebration in February in the new building we rented in February. It was a special time together :) to which we also invited a few partners and friends of Daughters. We had some worship together, testimonies from clients, a message pastor David Chacko (Covenant Renewal Centre), slide show looking back over 5 years, cake from Daughters cafe, and we all agreed together as I (Ruth) prayed this prayer:

"Jesus, we want to thank you for your great faithfulness to us these last 5 years. We acknowledge that it is you that has led Daughters and done an amazing work changing so many lives, leading so many out of slavery and darkness, into freedom and light. We give you all the glory for this, and we thank you for allowing us to be part of such a wonderful miracle. We are blessed and privileged to be part of this, and most of all to know you.

Thank you too for this great new premises which you have provided for us. Please fill this place with your presence, we invite you to come here. Please make our work fruitful in this place. We dedicate this building, we dedicate the work of our hands, and we dedicate our lives to you. In Jesus name. Amen!"

Valentines Day at Daughters!

cool gig to support Daughters

God is faithful to us!

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!

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

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...

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!

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!

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!

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.

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...