Ending trafficking before it begins in Cambodia

At AusCam Freedom Project we believe that every girl should have the opportunities, choices and freedom to live out her full potential and realise her dreams. We are doing that every day for hundreds of girls in Phnom Penh, but it is only possible because your support enables us to continue running towards (not from) enormous challenges. 

The last three months have been a massive example of that, as we have been providing essential emergency relief to keep girls safe, supported and encouraged. 

Here is how:

After receiving calls into our emergency hotline (The Freedom Line), we performed intake assessments on each girl to determine the situation and needed intervention(s) using our customised line of questioning. Over three months, we provided immediate intervention to 75 girls (new clients). Of those 75 girls, 62 of them received emergency relief packages, while the rest received other forms of crisis intervention or referral. There were a total of 434 full food/hygiene relief packages given out to 217 girls (two packages each set to last 2-4 months). Many more girls received top ups (rice support, menstrual hygiene kits, etc.) for a total of 993 people served.

Take Sreyneath for example. She is 15 years old, with two younger sisters, one of whom is a baby. Her mother left her husband (Sreyneath’s stepfather) on suspicion of abusing the girls. But he still makes unwanted visits to the house and Sreyneath was feeling pressure to drop out of school to support the family any way she could. “Anyway she could” would likely lead to exploitative work, or worse… trafficking.

When we received Sreyneath’s call on the Freedom Line, we instantly provided emergency food and hygiene relief to keep her and her sisters fed and safe while we sorted out what to do. Fast forward two months and her family is now food secure, her mother has learned how to protect her family using our network, Sreyneath is now studying by e-learning on her smartphone via the Ministry of Education and Facebook Live, and she has 24/7 access to our team for any help she needs.

The next part is up to her… building her own future. So we are also providing a safe environment and access to training, mentorship, leadership opportunities and educational support. She will be building her skills and confidence to do remarkable things.

Traffickers cannot prey on a girl who is protected, educated and motivated.

With the shifting environment, we are now combining our proven outreach tool (The Freedom Line) with our prevention model, which will culminate in a unique centre that will give girls at risk of being trafficked (or re-trafficked) opportunities and access to education while surrounded by an encouraging support network. Our focus on the quality and impact of our programs to prevent school drop out and increase girls educational outcomes will increase our overall impact of preventing trafficking and exploitation.

It is called the Shine Centre.
More details to come, but if you can’t wait, please visit our website (auscamfreedomproject.org)!

We envision a world free of exploitation and trafficking, and never before has the opportunity to lower the risk been given to those directly at risk. And we plan to look back and see a generation of girls who took that opportunity.

Thank YOU for being a part of that vision. 

Links:

• AusCam Freedom Project
• The Shine Centre