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Da was too young to remember why her parents broke up. After the divorce, Da, her older sister Srey, and their mother moved to another village where her mother met and married Da’s stepfather.
“I thought my stepfather loved us," says Da. "He worked very hard in the farm and climbed palm trees to make sugar to help our income. I was very happy.”
But it wasn’t long before her stepfather began to change, coming home drunk and beating Da’s mother, as well as the girls if they tried to stop him.
Finally he abandoned them, when Da’s mother fell sick. Concerned for their younger siblings, Da and Srey left home to became the breadwinners in the family.
“I made a mistake of not telling my mother about the job in the restaurant,” admits Da. “I knew for sure she wouldn’t let me and my sister go.”
Da earned a meagre US$10 each month. Still, for the first three months, everything was good and she managed to send money home.
But the restaurant was also a brothel, and it was only a matter of time before the two girls would be forced into working there instead.
“One day, a regular customer approached me,” said Da. “When I refused his invitation, the owner of the restaurant pushed me into his car and he drove me to a guesthouse in Phnom Penh.”
When Da woke up the next morning, she realised she had been raped. “The man bought me a fruit shake and I became unconscious after I drank it,” recounted Da. “I was with him for a week before he drove me back to the restaurant.”
That incident started Da’s nightmare of being sold as a sex worker. She was only 14 years old.
Da never knew how much the restaurant owner made by selling her to customers. Her sister, Srey, was also coerced to work as a sex worker for the restaurant.
Da felt she could not leave. The social stigma for sex workers was unbearable. She could not face her neighbours. More importantly, her mother needed money for her medication.
A few months later, Da met a young man from Phnom Penh who told her he could find her a safe job earning three times more. "I had no doubts at all," says Da. "I ran away with him at night."
“After a few hours drive, we arrived at a house belonging to the man’s relative. I was told to wait until the morning to go to the factory.”
But the man never came back. Instead, Da was sold to a brothel in the city.
“The brothel gang confined me in a dark room, beat me with an electric stick and did not give me food and water when I refused to receive customers. The brothel owner said I needed to receive customers to pay my debt,” said Da. But she never knew how much she owed or how long she would work for her freedom.
“I attempted to escape four times. They tortured me and threatened my life. I was very scared,” says Da. “When I became sick they sold me to a nearby brothel.”
Fortunately, in 2004, Da was rescued through a police raid and eventually sent to World Vision's Trauma Recovery Project for care and support.
“I was very shocked when I learnt I was HIV positive. I knew it was a dangerous disease but I did not really understand about it," Da says sadly. "I heard people talk about it at the brothel but no one let me ask questions.”
Da received regular counselling, love and support from the centre's house parents. It encouraged her to leave behind her traumatic past, to move on and start anew.
“I asked to meet my mother, and World Vision reunited me with my family,” says Da. “My mother and I were very happy to meet after more than four years apart. My mother thought I was dead.”
Armed with renewed determination, Da has now returned back to her mother's village and has been welcomed by her neighbours and her family.
World Vision is helping Da to settle in by providing alternative forms of family income, agriculture and a cow. She looks after her health carefully and takes an active role in caring for her younger siblings.
Da willingly shares her story. She believes there are many girls like her who need help and support to overcome the hurts and scars of their bitter past.
Da’s case is not uncommon. In Cambodia, many girls like Da and Srey have been lured with promises of jobs in other places, only to end up as sex workers in brothels in Phnom Penh and other areas.
Although there are no exact statistics, it is estimated that over 20,000 women and children are involved in the sex trade in Cambodia. One third are believed to be children. Stories of girls being cheated by strangers or even their friends are common.
But there is good news. Since 2000, around 1,300 perpetrators or traffickers in the sex trade have been arrested and prosecuted in Cambodia.
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