Wholeness in the Transition
Last April, we opened what we call our SHE Transition Home, responding to a special and important need for continued support after girls have completed their time in the high security home. Located in Phnom Penh, our SHE Transition Home houses girls aged 16-21 years who have opportunities for work or study in the city.
The purpose of this initiative is to strike that balance of support/protection and independence. It’s a significant option for reintegration - another way we can cater to the unique circumstances of girls moving on from the SHE Home. For the girls ready to reintegrate, their court cases are completed, but their families’ homes are not safe or too far away, the SHE Transition Home allows them to continue to study or accept employment while living in a safe environment.
Currently, there are 8 girls living in the SHE Transition Home. For some of these girls, the SHE Transition Home is the only safe option that they can afford. Alana, our volunteer in Cambodia who oversees and lives onsite and checks in on the girls daily, explains our responsibility beautifully:
“What I think is important about the transition home is the girls can be in an environment where the ‘seed’ that has been planted can be protected from being easily snatched away or withered.”
Not only do we bear a responsibility to protect this seed in a physical sense but, like our whole approach to rescuing girls out of sexual exploitation, we see this in a holistic way. The girls’ time in the SHE Home is spent learning about their value and identity and how to overcome their trauma. They learn safety precautions and how to develop healthy relationships.
For some girls, staying in the transition home is really important and beneficial to ensuring these teachings are instilled in them. Alana is very involved in these girls’ lives. As a mentor, she encourages them in building friendships and in their jobs. She is someone they can open up to and they are comfortable doing so after having her around while living in the SHE Home. She says,
“I just try to be a good example and point out to them that you can be happy and single... and happy when you help others also.”
Alana really is a light to these girls, showing the value of what's within over your circumstances. Because of past traumas and struggles over identity, these girls tend to feel incomplete without a boyfriend and it can lead to poor choices. Alana shows these girls the beauty in a strong, independent woman and how to be complete in yourself.
The social workers and counsellors are also very involved in the girls' lives. The girls have weekly counselling sessions and the social workers are consistently making sure that the SHE Transition Home is genuinely the best place for them to be. The girls are always surrounded by support and people who really care about them.
They pay a very small amount for rent each month to teach them about budgeting and managing life once they move on from the SHE Transition Home. It allows them to save for their future so they can be well set up when they move out.
The SHE Transition Home is such an integral part of IT'S NOT OK Projects and how we can fight against injustice. It's how we can ensure the lives of survivors of sexual exploitation are truly transformed and can become trail blazers in the eradication of human trafficking.