Free To Shine, with the support of our

fundraisers, sponsors and volunteers

are now providing scholarships to 44 girls.

A young teenage girl, with no education beyond primary school, and no vocational skills, living in poverty, is at high risk of being targeted by traffickers.

Our girls have each been selected from one of 24 poverty stricken villages in rural Cambodia. Since the safety and protection of these girls is paramount we choose not to disclose our girls’ names or location and release only limited details.

I’m 11 years old. My father died and my mother has moved to work in Thailand and has remarried there. I live with my grandmother who weaves baskets to try to sell at market. I help. I’m now studying grade 4.

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I’m 15 years old. Both of my parents have died. I now live with my brother and his wife. No one in my family has ever completed primary school. I work very hard as I really want an education. I’m now studying grade 7.

I’m 16 years old. My mother has 9 children, with a man who has a wife and another family. He visits my mother for sex and when she is giving birth. Both my mother and father are unemployed. They have no land on which to grow crops and so work for other villagers in return for food. They owe money to a loan shark who charges very high interest. My mother finds life very hard and turns to alcohol to help her cope. I was trafficked. And one of my sisters were too. Now we are safe. There are numerous offers by traffickers to my mother for her daughters as they know that she needs money. Now I’m safe I devote myself to my education and am the first person in my family to ever attend school. I am now studying grade 4.

I am 12 years old. We are currently living in very poor conditions in a hut on the roadside. We are living on public land and the government has threatened to evict us. Both my parents are unemployed. My father is disabled. 9 years ago he sought factory work in Malaysia in order to provide for us. He was tricked, when he arrived in Malaysia he found there was no factory job and he was forced to work as a beggar. He now tries to sell balloons in local ceremonies and festivals but does not earn enough to support us. I have missed a lot of school as I must help my mother go to a local pond and pick fruit called morning glory which we can then sell to buy rice and vegetables. I’m now studying grade 4.

I am 7 years old. My mother died, leaving my father with 7 children to care for. My father is old and unemployed and instead of taking care of us children he would drink and gamble. I was often hit by my father when he was drinking, and once he put me into a sack and threw me into a pond. I am now safe and studying grade 1.

I am 13 years old. My mother and father divorced and left me when I was a baby. I am being raised by an elderly couple who have no children of their own. The couple are unemployed and collect plastic bottles for a few cents. I assist my foster mother in collecting these bottles. My foster mother is old and my foster father has developed lung cancer and is dying. I’m now studying grade 5.

I am 11 years old. My mother died when I was young. My father is old and unemployed. Last year I was raped by a neighbour. Now I have some problems; I sometimes wet myself and I have a sexually transmitted disease which requires treatment. I’m now studying Grade 1.

I’m 16 years old. I have 3 brothers and a sister, and 6 half siblings. My father died when I was 8 and my mother has remarried several times since. I am determined to get my education. I will not be looked down upon for being illiterate. I have worked hard to collect bamboo from a mountain to sell to support my studies and I walk 5 kilometers to school each day. I aspire to be an English teacher so that I can assist other Cambodians to learn. I also hope to assist my younger brother and sister.

My mother died because our family could not afford treatment for her illness. I have 6 siblings and my father is unemployed. He drinks and he gambles. I was rescued from a brick factory.

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My father died many years ago leaving my mother solely responsible for 11 children. We live in an exceptionally poor village which is targeted regularly by traffickers and pimps. Poverty is so bad here that women agree to either work for these pimps for just $15 a month, or sell their daughters. Several of my relatives were sold into the Phnom Penh sex industry. One has died of AIDS while another lives with HIV. Two of my brothers were trafficked to Thailand for labour. They received no payment, receiving instead only death threats. I am now gaining my education.

I am 16 years old. My parents have 7 children.  My family are very, very poor. We have no land for farming or on which to build a house, and no money to rent a house. So we live in the forest.

My father died from AIDS, and my mother lives with HIV/AIDS, without any sources of income generation. Living with HIV has made my mother very aggressive and she often physically abuses us. My mother wanted to give my cerebral palsied sister to anyone who would give her some amount of money, since she believed she could not be responsible for her. Then my mother ran away so now we live with our elderly grandparents.

I am 15. My mother passed away. My father had lost his leg in a landmine, left over from war time Cambodia. We owned no asset or property and so when my mother’s funeral was finished he left me with my aunt and uncle. Life was hard. My uncle is a disabled man who drank every day and abused his wife and me. Instead of going to school I had to work very hard for them. I was physically abused and they would withhold food as further punishment. Once when my uncle was drunk he put me in a sack and tied me up until I lost consciousness and was eventually assisted by neighbours. My body is covered in marks and scars created by my uncle. One night when my uncle and his friends were drunk they tried to rape me. Luckily I escaped. I’m now safe and studying grade 4.

Thank You to our Fundraisers: Mana, Jessica, Natalie and Stephanie; and our

Sponsors: Morris, Lisa, Bridget, Darryn, Elke, Jay, Kevin, Jodi, Melissa, Belinda, Brooke, Ethan, Irene, Peter, Slade, Sarah, Debbie, Narelle, Samantha, Miriam, Nicole, Clare, Brian, Karen, Derry, Penny, Linda, Kelly, Jenny, Ros, Karen, Ronnie and Bob