Bopha*, a young woman, is sitting in front of a computer in a tiny air-conditioned room. The room is noisy with the conversations of two girls sitting at two separated desks. Though, the conversations are not between the girls in the room.
“Hello, welcome to Child Helpline Cambodia, this is Bopha,” she says. Bopha`s voice is gentle as she talks with her clients, children and youth from all around Cambodia, on a wide range of issues, from homework pressures, family issues and teenage pregnancy, to poverty, trafficking and HIV and AIDS.
Child Helpline Cambodia (CHC) is a free national phone counselling service reaching children across the country. The first of its kind in Cambodia, it was established with the help of ChildFund in 2009 and began operating 13.5 hours, five days a week. Now CHC is an independent local non-government organisation that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Bopha has a degree in psychology and is one of eight full-time counsellors who work for CHC. She started working for the helpline two years ago because she wanted to help educate and empower children. “Most people in Cambodia don`t understand what counselling means, they think counselling is providing guidance and advising people what to do. While in reality it means to empower people to explore their options for themselves,” says Bopha.
The helpline now receives on average nearly 12,000 calls per month, one of those calls was one Bopha will never forget.
“One day last year, I received a call from a frantic mother who feared for her daughter`s safety after she had not returned home that day. I immediately called a partner organisation who could work with the police to help this mother. We found out that young 18-year-old Srey* had drunk a bottle of water which had been spiked. She had then been taken, unconscious, to a nearby banana plantation where she was raped by four men. The police found her at a karaoke bar, after she had been sold by the men for 500USD. Srey was extremely traumatised by the experience and had tried to take her own life. This is when her mother encouraged her to call me at the helpline,” recalls Bopha.
At first it was just Bopha who spoke while the young girl sat in silence and listened. Gradually Srey began to talk and tell her story. After this first phone call, they had regular phone counselling sessions for the next three months. Srey is now doing much better and is working with her mother at a garment factory.
“I could feel and understand her hurt. It was very sad. However, I am happy I was able to help her and make her life a little better, this is why I love my job,” smiled Bopha.
*The names of the women in this story have been changed to protect their identities.
I had always been interested in Cambodia, so when I started sponsoring Vary in 2009 I decided it was the perfect opportunity to visit the country and meet this little seven-year-old girl who I was very happy to be sponsoring.
The journey to my sponsored child’s village in Cambodia
In February 2010, my friend and I arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, ready for our adventure. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I just knew I was very excited to meet Vary. We met with ChildFund staff who accompanied us on our journey out to her community.
To get to Svay Thum it took about three-and-a-half hours by car. The last hour was quite a rough, bumpy drive as Vary lives in an isolated area where the closest town is more than 40 minutes away. This makes it very difficult to access her community in the wet season.
When we arrived I was quite surprised by how many people were waiting for me. As well as Vary and her family, there were also lots of ChildFund volunteers ready to greet and welcome me!
After meeting my sponsored child, sponsorship felt so much more real
When I met Vary for the first time she was very shy. It was quite overwhelming for me and I think she felt the same way. I gave her a stuffed toy koala, which she still has today.
When I left Vary and her family after that first visit I had tears in my eyes. It was such an amazing experience to be able to meet and talk with her and her family. I had such a wonderful day and it really made my sponsorship feel so much more real to me.
How I’ve made the most of my experience as a child sponsor
Fast forward to 2013 and I have now been to Cambodia four times. I have completely fallen in love with the country, its beauty, its people and its culture and, of course, I love that I can visit Vary each time I go.
Every time I see Vary she is less and less shy. On my latest trip when I arrived in the community Vary ran up to me, hugged me and asked, “Did you miss me?” That was such a special moment for me and a memory I know I will cherish forever.
I’ve learned she is just like any other child, anywhere else in the world
I spent the day with Vary, her mother and aunty, and the local ChildFund staff. We shared a meal together which gave us the chance to catch up on each other’s lives. Vary told me about her school and her friends, and we spoke a lot about dancing as she likes to dance, just the normal stuff that any 11-year-old girl is interested in.
Vary’s family are farmers and back in Australia I live on a farm so we like to chat about that too. It’s nice to have that little connection with her and her family, even if our farms are slightly different!
ChildFund’s work doesn’t stop at child sponsorship
Each time I visit I also get the chance to see some of the work ChildFund is doing in Vary’s community. This time we visited a group of local youths who’ve established their own latrine (toilet) manufacturing business with ChildFund’s support. These young people were taught how to construct latrines through vocational training and now supply the toilets needed not only for ChildFund’s sanitation projects, but other customers in their local area, which I thought was a wonderful initiative.
I cannot wait to go back to Cambodia! If you’re thinking about making the trip to visit your sponsored child, I’d say definitely do it!
Step into child sponsorship and start a journey of your own
Child sponsorship is a meaningful way to change the world, by changing the life of one child. It’s the beginning of a journey, where you’ll walk hand in hand with your sponsored child to uplift them from poverty.
Want to know more? Learn more about our child sponsorship program, or find out how sponsorship can change your life here.
