Restoring Hope in Cambodia – Cheryl Weber

I noticed Ponlok as soon as we stepped into his village in rural Cambodia.  There was an intelligence and life in his eyes that made him stand out from everyone else. We had come to his village to document an innovative trafficking prevention program that helps identify those vulnerable to exploitation due to poverty or other factors. Our partner organization, Ratanak International, had found that educating people about the tactics of human traffickers wasn’t enough.  Even though the villagers knew that someone may offer them a fake job overseas and then traffic them, they often took the risk due to the desperation of their circumstances.  So, a unique prevention project was launched that included both education and income-generating businesses.  In this way, their vulnerability to the promises of cunning traffickers is being reduced. 

Ponlok was one of the participants in the Trafficking Vulnerability Prevention Project. Our translator told us his story. As someone who was born with dwarfism, he had been subjected to intense discrimination and mockery throughout his life.  Now a grown man with a beautiful wife and daughter, no one would hire him.  Sadly, all of his potential was locked up inside of him due to the community’s superstition and fear.  So, when he was offered the opportunity to join the project and start a chicken business, Ponlok was overjoyed.

By the time the case workers made their second visit to discuss the project further, Ponlok had already built his own chicken coop.  With an opportunity in front of him, he was not going to waste any time in making his dreams come true.  He was a hard worker, and an intelligent, motivated man.  He finally had the opportunity to show the world all he had to offer.

At Crossroads Cares, we see people like Ponlok all over the world. They are people full of potential and motivation who just need a little help. Through training, funding and support, these people are ready to change their world. Ponlok was excelling so much in the program, the caseworkers were already discussing the possibility of employing him to train new program participants. Not only was his family’s vulnerability to human trafficking minimized, but he could now proudly stand before his community as a success story. I always think that this is the part of humanitarian work we don’t talk about enough. When we empower people to take care of themselves and their families, God heals hearts and restores dignity.

Crossroads Cares works with our partner in Cambodia on a variety of projects to fight human trafficking, including repatriating both male and female survivors home to their families, walking with them in their journey of healing, reducing vulnerability to trafficking through the prevention project and helping the Cambodian government write strong policy to protect trafficking survivors. It’s a multi-pronged approach that is working.  We believe in the inherent value of every human being, and that it’s only when people are united and working against this evil that we will stop the exploitation of vulnerable people.  This month, will you join us in the fight? Please give at crossroads.ca/cares.  And thank you!