How trust and hope are abused: Elisabeth's* story follows a horrifically common entrapping method of exploitation in human trafficking.

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 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.

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!

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*.

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!

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.

This is why we celebrate anytime a girl begins to shower regularly. It is a simple sign that she is starting to look after herself. She is starting to value not just her health, but her own life.

If you were to paint or draw a picture of yourself – what do you think it would look like? Would you lean towards the abstract or depict your features as in a photograph?