Romduol*

AGE

16 yrs

Schooling

Salon Vocational Training

WELCOMED INTO HOME

in 2022

THINGS SHE LIKES TO DO

Soccer and Swimming

FAVORITE FOOD

Fried meat

AMBITION

Salon/Hair Stylist

Romduol’s* Journey

Romduol* came into the care of the SHE Rescue Home in 2022, when she was 11 years old. She was being sexually exploited in her community and was also rescued by her neighbours. It was her neighbours who found her hurt and brought her home to her grandmother, who got her medical care and reported the abuse to police. Romduol* had lived with her grandmother since she was young; her parents had separated and her mother had moved abroad for work, sending money home but rarely able to visit. Her grandmother's one-room home had no lockable door and no direct access to the road, and keeping Romduol* safe there while the family worked toward a more secure future became a central thread of the years ahead.

From the start, Romduol* brought warmth to the SHE Rescue Home. She loved playing with dolls, playing soccer and swimming with the other girls, and dreamed of one day working in a salon. Over the four years that followed, that dream became a real path: she completed her introductory salon vocational training and was accepted into a more advanced program in hairdressing, manicures and waxing, alongside ongoing English and computer lessons with tutors in the home.

Her time in the SHE Rescue Home was not without real struggle, and it's important to be honest about that. Romduol* testified in her own court case in 2023, and the case moved slowly, through delays and appeals, until it finally concluded at the Supreme Court level in late 2025, with her perpetrator sentenced to ten years in prison and her family awarded compensation. Counselling support helped her process the emotions that testifying and years of uncertainty stirred up. She continued to work through anger, stress and self-expression with her counsellor even as she grew more confident. Her housemothers and social worker watched closely for signs she needed extra support, and gave her space to rest when she needed it too.

Alongside the harder seasons were good ones: Khmer New Year celebrations, Phcum Ben visits home to her family, joint birthday parties with cake-frosting fights, a movie outing with the older girls, and a weekly Youth Group that helped her build friendships and a sense of belonging beyond the Home. Her social worker also worked steadily with her grandmother's family on the practical barriers to a safe return; legal walking access to the home was secured, and a bathroom was finally built in 2026. Full house repairs are still needed and have been delayed by instability along the Cambodian/Thai border, with construction now hoped for by 2027.

Romduol* had turned 16 and had spent nearly four years in the SHE Rescue Home's care. She asked for the chance to live more independently, and in early 2026 her reintegration plan was approved: rather than waiting on her family's home repairs, she moved into the SHE Transition Home in Phnom Penh, where she can keep building her salon career with continued daily support from Transition Home staff, and ongoing counselling and social work follow-up as part of her reintegration. She was sent off with a party at the SHE Home, where the other girls shared words of encouragement and Romduol* thanked her housemothers and staff, and with a gift box packed with clothes, photos, a bicycle, household items, a silver necklace, a mobile phone and toiletries — small, practical things to carry into this next chapter.

Romduol* arrived at the SHE Rescue Home as a child who had survived something no child should have to. She leaves it as a young woman with a trade she loves, friendships she's built, a legal case closed with justice served, and a plan for a home her family is still working to make safe for her. That is exactly what this work is for. Every part of her story: the counselling, the schooling, the birthday cakes, the patient years of waiting for family home upgrade were all in service of this moment: a girl choosing her own next step, surrounded by people who love her, heading toward independence and, in time, home. We couldn't be prouder of her and we can’t wait to see what she does next.

*names changed for privacy