Today we went to Hagar. Khmer people are friendly and have lovely smiles. The catering business employs 85 women and men rescued from sex slavery. It's a great enterprise that was statrted by a french man and he got a retired catering man from Perth called Frank Woods who came here to show them how to do hospitality to western standards. He was ready to retire but flt called to come here and he started the business side for them so the women/men could work in quality jobs enabling them to get a good salary and buy food for their children and work their way out of poverty so they don't end up back on street and in sex industry. It was inspiring to see how well they worked and how much respect they all have for each other.
Then we met with Sue Taylor in charge of the childrens' program and she is a New Zealander. About my age. Her husband is in charge of the soya milk factory. Nestle donated a large factory with machinery and he is helping to get it under way. They are just back from Bangkok because they were the victims of a drive by bag snatching. When they pulled her bag her arm was through it and she went flying off the bike as did her husband. Sue received head injuries and shoulder reconstruction and her husband had fractured ribs and clavicle.She is ok but it was a big scare. It happened in broad daylight coming back from church!
They are very busy trying to get it operational so the factory can employ more women and men gainfully so they work their way through with support and learn skills for 2 years and then they can find jobs or set up own business enterprise. Its an effective model. The beneficiaries are inspired to work hard because they can see a way upward and out of their poverty. Hagar actively build their capacity and they have coussnelling support to build their confidence and work through past abuse and trauma. They have many women who have been raped and as we were their the childrens worker was called out to retrieve a woman and baby who had acid thrown over them and were badly burnt. Family violence is a legacy of the trauma of the past .Tomorrow we will see what the Peace bridges program is doing as they are capacity building around conflict resolution skills.
Today my tummy is a bit upset so I hope I am not getting a bug. Time will tell!
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1 comment:
Great to hear your news, it must be quite humbling to see how little people can survive on and compare that to what we complain about not having back here in Australia. Love to you both.
Susan
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