There are no easy answers.

Cambodia has lost its fathers, mothers and grandparents to the ‘Killing Fields’ leaving large numbers of very vulnerable, poor and starving children. In this poverty stricken country where the average daily wage is less than one US dollar many children are sold by their parents simply because they cannot afford to feed everyone in the family. Over 42% of the population is under 15 years old. It has become common to sell young girls and boys to brothels where they are first ‘broken down’ and then abused horribly by many ‘customers’ each day.

The precise scale of Cambodia’s sex trade is difficult to quantify. International organizations — such as UNICEF, ECPAT and Save the Children — say that anywhere from from 50,000 to 100,000 women and children are involved. An estimated 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh are under the age of 18, according to the United Nations. The actual figure may be much higher, activists say.

Around the world, more than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year, according to the U.S. State Department. The State Department believes Cambodia is a key transit and destination point in this trade.

Everyday women around the country see the money being poured into this industry and under pressure from their families to provide the money needed to survive many go willingly into the sex trade and become trapped by the abuse and social stigma asscociated with women who do so.

You can join with TransformAsia as we work to solve this horrendous problem by sharing Christ’s love with these girls in Cambodia.
TransformAsia has developed the New Development Center to provide rescued girls a safe place to recover and rebuild their lives and the Battambang Trade School to give at risk girls the opportunity to learn a skill and avoid being drawn into the sex trade.