PROJECTS: new projects
Project Name: New Song
Overview: [skip ahead to project updates]
Our work with sexually exploited children has become known as the NewSong project. (“NewSong” is named after two little girls, Nhu and Sung.) Over the years we expect this will involve many types of programs. Initially the project will take the form of a rehabilitation center for between 40 to 60 little girls who have been rescued from various brothels throughout Cambodia. The compound will be a ‘safe house’ in a secluded and undisclosed location with great attention being paid to the security of the kids.
They will undergo an intensive two year trauma counseling program with physical and psychological rehabilitation. This will be followed by placement with carefully chosen orphanages and/or, if possible, trained foster families. The program will also include teaching them to be children again. They will have toys and games and school. For many of them it will be the first time experiencing these things. Over the two years they will be taught to trust their adult caregivers. This is no small thing as they have absolutely no concept of trusting any adults. These children have experienced the very worst in adult males that the world has to offer. My hope is that through this process they will also encounter a Carpenter of years ago who would never abuse them but would (and did) sacrifice his life to protect them.
We expect to be in operation by Spring 2006.
Background: In order to provide you with some background to this project we have taken some excerpts from the Ratanak Spring 05 Newsletter as written by Brian McConaghy, the founder of the Ratanak Foundation.
For years, I have been aware of the sexual exploitation of children by both westerners and Asians in Cambodia. It was an issue that appalled me but one with which I had no direct contact. That all changed in 2004 when I was asked to participate in a criminal investigation involving children of the brothels in S.E. Asia. With the help of several other Christian organizations, this became an opportunity for me to come face to face with the dark world of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. I have always felt that as Christians we are called to shine light in the dark places, to help those at the ‘bottom of the barrel’. On previous occasions, I have felt pretty close to the bottom but this stuff has opened up a whole new sad dimension that I really had not comprehended. This new project will enable us to confront a world where the oppression is tangible, the darkness overwhelming and where even hope is beyond the grasp of the little ones who exist in its terrifying grip.
I am overwhelmed by the daily hell (a term I do not use lightly) experienced by these children and have no idea how they survive as long as they do. Yet, I am stubborn in my belief that here there can be hope. I remain convinced that the penetrating light of Christ can punch holes even in this darkness. This is not a time to be passive -- it is a time to roll up our sleeves and climb down into the muck at the bottom of the barrel -- just as Christ would do.
The Context: The Khmer Rouge revolution and subsequent Vietnamese invasion of the 1970's left Cambodian society in tatters. There were few social, family and moral structures left standing and along with this vacuum came profound poverty. Under these circumstances, desperate parents, unable to feed their children will sometimes sell one child and use the money to care for the rest. In a culture already numbed by violence and with no real legal system in place, such children are unprotected and subject to terrible abuse and over time, this sad situation has become accepted by society. An environment where children are bought and sold, where no limits are placed on the degree of abuse and where few legal restraints exist will attract and encourage the very worst forms of human behavior. In more recent years, the AIDS epidemic has added to the disaster. Children are now left orphaned and are sold by neighbours, friends, police officers and distant family members. Those seeking “safe sex” pursue younger and younger girls who are felt to be less diseased. Cambodian folklore teaches that an AIDS infected man can be cured by having sex with a young, “clean” virgin. The implications of such thinking are absolutely devastating. The situation is now well known world wide and so scores of international pedophiles fly into Cambodia to wreak their havoc and add to the suffering. Brothels are now commonplace, young women and girls as young as five years of age are held captive to be abused daily. Many corrupt police and officials turn a blind eye.
The Name: The “NewSong” project is named after two little girls, Nhu and Sung. Sung turned up on an undercover surveillance tape by a Christian organization involved in the rescue of such children. She is a lovely looking child with the largest eyes but what really caught my attention was the fact that she wore a cross around her neck. This is not typical in Cambodia and I wondered if she knew anything of the meaning of this symbol. She was never rescued and I have been looking for her for over a year now. My chances of finding her diminish with every day but I still pray that she will know freedom in the One whose cross she wears even if she never knows physical freedom in what will prove to be a short life for her. Nhu is a little girl I watched on a DVD I was given by missionaries in Cambodia. She was being interviewed outside a school that had been set up in the Vietnamese slums of Phnom Penh. The interview was short but very engaging. When she looked at the camera it seemed that her eyes went right through me. She spoke of her poverty, thanked those watching for supporting her school, asked for prayer that she would continue to be strong and follow Jesus. I was thrilled and surprised that she was a Christian! As I watched, I was encouraged that here was a child, a little Christian sister, safe and with a future. She would never have to experience what Sung is going through. I was stunned at the end of the interview when a caption came up indicating that shortly after the interview she had been sold to a brothel and now, she too is out there somewhere trying to survive in circumstances of unimaginable abuse.And so this project is named for two little ones for whom I long.
The Hope:
Slowly but surely, efforts are being made to rescue children from the brothels, with skilled Christian organizations leading this dangerous work. But it has become clear that one of the biggest problems resulting from such rescues is what to do with the rescued kids. There are no social services to plug them into; many do not remember their families and some of those that do know of their families know that if returned they may be resold. They are traumatized, physically injured, disoriented and sadly, many feel totally dependant on and have become ‘bonded’ with those pimps that so abused them. Some have been sold across the border from Vietnam and so are considered stateless. Such children have no concept of compassion, trust, belonging or identity. What does one do with such children?
This is a difficult situation to tackle and it has taken almost a year of planning to figure out our response. The NewSong project will take the form of a rehabilitation center for between 40 to 60 little girls who have been rescued. The compound will be a ‘safe house’ in a secluded and undisclosed location with great attention being paid to the security of the kids. They will undergo an intensive two-year trauma counseling program with physical and psychological rehabilitation. This will be followed by placement with carefully chosen orphanages and/or, if possible, trained foster families. The program will also include teaching them to be children again. They will have toys and games and school and for many of them it will be the first time experiencing these things. Over the two years, they will be taught to trust their adult caregivers and this is no small thing as they have absolutely no concept of trusting any adults. These children have experienced the very worst in adult males that the world has to offer. My hope is that through this process they will also encounter a Carpenter of years ago who would never abuse them but would (and did) sacrifice his life to protect them. It is this totally trustworthy Father Figure I long for them to meet.
project updates
[The following is an excerpt from the Fall 2005 Newsletter]
Joy in the Darkness!
The "NewSong" project is named after two little girls sold into prostitution, Nhu and Sung. Many of you had told me that you had been praying for them since I introduced them to you in my last newsletter. I had longed and searched for these two little ones with no success. This had been a very difficult trip, I felt exhausted and overwhelmed but God had a gift in store for me. My last morning in Cambodia I was startled awake at 5:30 am by my phone ringing. I fumbled around and got it to my ear to hear a missionary friend say, “We have found her! We have found Nhu!We have spoken with her. She wants out. We can get her out!” I offered any assistance required in her recovery and rehabilitation and with that the phone call was over. My head was spinning! I was elated! God had claimed back one of his kids. The NewSong project had its first child -- and it was Nhu! Now, as I left Cambodia, I knew that despite the overwhelming darkness, this project would go ahead -- its success measured one life at a time.
Nuts and Bolts
The team that will be running the rehabilitation center arrived in Cambodia in late July. The office is set up, all agreements with the Cambodian Government are in place and the land for the center has been purchased. Final plans for building, security and staffing are now being worked out and construction is expected to start in November. Please pray for wisdom for all those involved in this complex project.
