Proud to Be a Girl: Empowering Girls in Cambodia

Socheata is a bright, confident, talented nineteen-year-old who works at a boutique beauty salon in Phnom Penh. She’s also a survivor of extreme abuse.   

Born somewhere in the bounds of Phnom Penh, Socheata was left at the Russian hospital as a baby. When a woman arrived, claiming she was Socheata’s Godmother and had come to bring her home, hospital staff assumed she was telling the truth and released Socheata into her care. What they didn’t know is that there was no real connection between Socheata and the woman, and that Socheata was about to be placed in a violent home.  

Throughout the early years of her life, Socheata was subject to severe violence from her ‘Godmother’ and her nephew. Her neighbors started to notice bruises and cuts all over Socheata’s body. When they finally reported it to the police, Socheata’s arm was broken and she had experienced head trauma. Both the ‘Godmother’ and her nephew were arrested, and that’s when one of Hagar’s partners were able to refer Socheata to Hagar’s care.  

At first, Socheata was placed with a family in Hagar’s emergency foster care program. A few months later, Socheata was placed in a permanent foster family. Her case manager recalls that there were some challenges throughout Socheata’s time with her foster family. As she got older, she was a typical teenager. She got a boyfriend, and sometimes she’d come home late and make her foster parents worry. After some time and work with her case manager, she learnt the importance of communicating where she was with her foster parents. During Socheata’s time in foster care, she received comprehensive psychological and physical care, and was able to enroll in school. Socheata struggled with academic learning, but her case manager is proud of her for her persistence, “even when Socheata did not perform well in school, she kept pushing through and she was able to finish her final year.” 

When Socheata completed grade 12, Hagar’s Economic Empowerment team were able to help Socheata to find a job placement. They supported her in preparing for work, and secured her an apprenticeship at a local boutique salon. Socheata thrived, and within three months, the manager of the salon promoted her to being an employee and gave her a payrise. Socheata can do almost everything in the salon, but her favorite thing is hair. She says she likes to do every single hairstyle.   

 One day, Socheata would like to run her own salon, much like the one she is in now. Like anyone in their first full-time job, Socheata finds the work tiring and at times has wanted to quit, but she is well supported by Hagar staff and the management of the salon and they’ve walked through those challenges with her. Her case manager is proud of Socheata’s commitment saying, “she is committed to learning her skill.”