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Families leave their homes in the provinces and head to opportunities in the city. More factories, more construction, more jobs, higher wages are the small margins that add up to just enough. It’s enough to keep children fed and grandparents housed. Parents send money home. They make phone calls. They accept the distance and call it love, because that is what it is.
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Families leave their homes in the provinces and head to opportunities in the city. More factories, more construction, more jobs, higher wages are the small margins that add up to just enough. It’s enough to keep children fed and grandparents housed. Parents send money home. They make phone calls. They accept the distance and call it love, because that is what it is.
Twenty years ago, our founder Leigh and International Director Hilary first set foot on Cambodian soil during a trip visiting organisations across Asia to learn how they could help stop the sexual exploitation of children.
The Year of Courage, Justice & New Beginnings
As we look back on 2025, we are filled with gratitude for every supporter, donor, team member, and advocate who helped us care for girls who have survived human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Below is a snapshot of the impact you helped create.
At 18 years old, Alice* should have been celebrating her newfound independence—She had just reintegrated after two years in the SHE Rescue Home’s high-security care. Instead, she found herself at the centre of a growing global crisis: the digital exploitation of trafficking victims.
Davy* has been part of the SHE Rescue Home community since 2018, showing incredible resilience and determination throughout her journey. After being reintegrated with her family in 2019, she returned in 2020 when the pandemic increased her vulnerabilities and opportunities in her local community.
Sreypich* has endured more than any young girl ever should. Rescued from human trafficking and exploitation within her own home, she bravely told her mother what had been happening while her mother was at work.
Srey Oun* is the youngest girl in the SHE Rescue Home, and this year (2024), she has shown incredible bravery and resilience. Arriving earlier in the year, she quickly embraced the support and care available to her.
This year (2024), Racheal* has made incredible strides on her journey to healing and independence. Through counselling, she’s grown stronger emotionally and is learning to process her past with resilience.
SHE Rescue Home: 2024 Milestone Highlights
What an extraordinary year it has been for the SHE Rescue Home! Together, we have achieved remarkable milestones, celebrated significant progress, and impacted countless lives.
If there is one message you should take from this index is that exploitation is by design, not default.
The first $30,000 donated this International Woman's Day (8th March) will be matched by a generous foundation!
Welcome to 2024. We have some exciting new plans for the year including re-opening more of our programs in Cambodia and welcoming more new girls into the home!
But first lets celebrate, grieve and learn from 2023 at the SHE Rescue Home!
How trust and hope are abused: Elisabeth's* story follows a horrifically common entrapping method of exploitation in human trafficking.
The community these young woman are building together is vital to preventing the isolation that is preyed upon by human traffickers. We can’t wait to see what this get together becomes in the future.
For the past 3 years Panha* (17) has testified multiple times in a Thai court as the case kept being delayed and restarted. It has been stressful and traumatic reliving her abuse but her perpetrators have finally been convicted. We are awaiting the final part of the process, the announcement of the sentencing from the court next month.
A Legacy of 15 years! In March 2008, we opened the doors of the SHE Rescue Home. We have had the privilege of seeing those young girls grow up over the last 15 years. They are now in their 20’s building careers, starting families, finishing school, graduating from university. Some of them wanted to share their stories.
The beginning of the year is a great opportunity to consider what we are going to change, value and improve in the year ahead. What are your New Years resolutions this year? Have you thought about ONE thing you could do to help end human trafficking? Maybe this year you only buy ethically made clothes? Maybe you organise a fundraiser? Maybe you can join an action and awareness team with the SHE Rescue Home in Cambodia? The options are endless!
The annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has been released for 2022. The report does an incredible job of showing the scope and response of human trafficking in the world. There are some things to celebrate. Unfortunately there is not much to celebrate in their annual analysis of Cambodia.
Have you ever wondered how girls come into the SHE Rescue Home?
We never get a lot of notice when a new girl is going to come into the SHE Rescue Home. Sometimes we get a day or two notice; Sometimes it is only a few hours.
We welcomed a new girl into our SHE Rescue Home last month. She is only 11 years old. She hasn’t lived with her mother for years and can’t remember where her family lives. We know finding her family is important for her emotionally but it is also necessary for practical reasons. Without knowing where her family is or where she was born we cannot get her birth certificate or any official identification. She cannot attend school or officially/legally exist in Cambodia without ID.
Her social worker knows how difficult this process will be as finding a girl’s family has been struggling for previous girls in our care as well.
A modern maxim says: “People tend to overestimate what can be done in one year and to underestimate what can be done in five or ten years.”
We can do a lot in a year
But we never want underestimate what we can do in the next 5 or 10 or 15 years. The impact on these girls’ lives will be life changing! The ripple effects into their families, community, country and the international response to end human trafficking can be exponential with your help!
We often say ‘together we can end human trafficking.’ But how can we? The answer is to break the cycle of exploitation. There are several things that make people vulnerable to human trafficking - poverty, desperation, isolation. Anyone seeking to better their lives can fall into a traffickers trap.
14 years ago, the girls in our care were children. Now they are adults in their twenties and some of them want to share their story. It is our incredible privilege to amplify their voices!
We have four girls who have graduated grade 12 and are ready to go to university. Yes – You read that correctly! In the midst of a pandemic with schools only online for six months, four girls rescued from human trafficking and exploitation graduated from HIGH SCHOOL!!
Many girls in Cambodia don’t receive justice because they cannot afford it. Your donations go towards providing justice for girls like Panha* and Kanya*.
Have you heard of Giving Tuesday?
Giving Tuesday was created to provide a time of generosity in the midst of the crazy Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
This year we want everyone to join us on Giving Tuesday to bring joy, safety and a future to girls rescued from sexual exploitation.
There are so many insidious and horrific sides to the pornography industry but today we want to highlight racism in pornography. Somehow racism is still acceptable in porn!
Many of us have heard the term ‘sex tourists’ before in TV shows, stand-up comedy specials and movies – usually aimed at Asian countries. The casual nature of referencing sex tourism on these platforms sanitises a real-life issue that directly impacts women and girls and robs them of their voice. Cambodia, like many other countries is a destination for these kinds of predators.
Today is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons! The United Nations sanctioned this day to bring international awareness and attention to human trafficking and promote the ending of suffering for millions of people. Today is about fighting for the rights of people trapped in modern slavery and seeing them treated with dignity.
This season has tested our resolve and current programs but we have found that we were already set up to provide the best care and advantages possible for the girls rescued out of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Families leave their homes in the provinces and head to opportunities in the city. More factories, more construction, more jobs, higher wages are the small margins that add up to just enough. It’s enough to keep children fed and grandparents housed. Parents send money home. They make phone calls. They accept the distance and call it love, because that is what it is.