Restoring hope to trafficked girls in Cambodia

Meet Leakhena.  Your support provided for girls like Leakhena to experience wholeness!

Leakhena was supported by Hagar Cambodia for 10 years and is now grown up and self-supporting. She has sharp eyes and says with a smile that she is not shy or afraid to share her story. She wishes to share her life – the life of a girl once abandoned now on the journey of recovery.

Today, is 22 years old. She is a single mother of a three year old daughter. She no longer needs help from Hagar because she has a good job and is able to earn a living for herself.

When Leakhena was three years old, her mother sold her to a family who wanted to adopt a young daughter. Leakhena never mixed well with the family and they eventually sent her to other family members in a different province. She never felt like a member of the family and they eventually brought her to Phnom Penh and abandoned her in front of Hagar. Hagar took her in.

Leakhena has walked a very long journey in Hagar for more than 10 years. She was supported by numerous projects during that time including the Community Learning Centre and Community Foster Care.

While reintegrated into the community, Leakhena became pregnant. She was brought to Hagar’s recovery shelter for follow up. She had the opportunity to attend several of training classes provided by Career Path way project, such as, art work, computer and soft skills.

In 2010, after delivering her baby girl, Leakhena got a chance to practice her skills by interning in Hagar Main Office as admin assistant. At first work was not easy because

everything was so new to her, and her knowledge was limited in terms of computer skills. However, over time she grew as she was trained.

Six months later she decided to pursue further schooling and Hagar placed her at World Essential Organisation as a part time admin assistant. Life was not easy for her as an employed student single mother. But she knew she had to be strong for her daughter and for the future.

“My daughter was my motivation. I do everything just for her. I feel like I am no longer alone, when I have her. I want to raise her up with a wholeness of life,” she said.

In the middle of 2013, she successfully completed high school. Then she upgraded to work full time at a job with Be Free Cambodia, a company which sells handmade souvenir products.

She is satisfied with her work because she can use her creativity as well as her knowledge to teach people who have similar backgrounds like her.

“Though I am not good at English, I am able to work smoothly with my foreigner boss, and he does like my work,” she said.

Nowadays, she earns a living wage that covers her house rental and food for their family.

Lost hope is not Leakhena’s choice; she is looking forward to see her daughter’s future, so she will never give up with any obstacle of life.

“When my daughter is bigger, I will continue my study to university, I want to sharpen my ability in order to fulfill my dream of working as a manager in a big company,” she said.

“To me, my future relationships depend on God. I listen to him, if he wants me to get married, I will, yet if he wants me to be alone, I will stay alone with my daughter forever.”

Last message from Leakhena is that, she encourages everyone, especially the people who were abused or abandoned like her, to not give up and be strong, because no one can help you better than yourself.