Proud to Be a Girl: Empowering Girls in Cambodia

In Cambodia sometimes it's hard to be a girl.  Dangerous to be a girl.  Scary to be a girl.  Thank you for your help in making these girls become brave. 

Malis* knows this to be true.  Malis was born in Thailand and when she was just 7 days old, her mother brought her across the border to Cambodia.  She dropped Malis off to live with her grandmother and then went back across the border to live with Malis' father and brother.  Her grandmother loved her and took care of her.

But it can be dangerous to be a girl.  When Malis was just 3 years old, her mother reappeared one day.  Quietly, while her grandmother was out in the back yard planting trees, she grabbed Malis and sold her to a man.  Then she disappeared across the border again with the money.  It took Malis' grandmother three days to find her.  Then she went to the police station and had them all arrested.  

Life was good, until... someone seized Malis' grandmother's land.  They had to move on to a neighbor's property and Malis had to find work so they could pay rent to the neighbor.  The only work was in the capital city of Phnom Penh.  The job didn't pay well, but it was just enough.  Then a friend told Malis about a good job outside the city.  Hoping to be able to contribute more to her loving grandmother, Malis agreed to go. As soon as they arrived, Malis' friend disappeared.  Malis was forced to work in the house and in the family market stall and was never left alone.  She was trapped and was never allowed to visit her grandmother.  Also she didn't receive any money.

It can be scary to be a girl.  One day her boss approached her in the market stall and raped her.  This happend on many occasions.  Malis found out later that she wasn't the only one to whom this happened.  Eventually Malis became pregnant by this man.  One day her boss found out she was pregnant and accused her for theivery and gossip so he could beat her and try to kill the child.  That didn't work.

The boss' wife found out Malis was pregnant and, to avoid gossip around her husband, fed Malis sleeping pills and arranged to have men rape Malis while she slept.  Someone later said 3 men rapd her so that her boss wouldn't be identified as the father.  

After trying to run away multiple times, Malis was finally allowed to leave.  A woman who sole medicine in the village convinced Malis' boss to allow her to bring Malis to her house to live.  She agreed she wouldn't let Malis run away.  But after Malis' boss ordered men to have Malis killed, the woman took pity on her and let her run away.

Malis called a hotline.  They called women's refugee NGO hotlines.  They called Hagar. 

Now Malis is in Hagar's care.  We are showing her that she is already brave.  She has been brave and resilent since she was born.  She is strong and coureagous.  She's beginning to dream.  

Because of you, Malis gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  She dreams of becoming a seamstress.  She is working to bring her former boss to justice.  She dreams of the day she can be reunited with her grandmother.  

*names have been changed to protect the identity of those in the story