Kanha was on her way home from school when a man approached her and forced her to follow him to a quiet and less populated space. There, he raped her, leaving Kanha both physically hurt and emotionally traumatised. The trauma of this event resulted in Kanha having terrible nightmares and reflecting on it often. She also faced discrimination from people in her community and her own family who all looked at her differently. It was in this season of her life (at 17 years of age) that Kanha got referred to Hagar Cambodia and she received support services from the team in Battambang.
The Hagar Cambodia team supported Kanha to recover from her trauma. She received case management and counselling services and Hagar also helped and encouraged her continue her studies as well, which her family had wanted her to discontinue. She is now working for another NGO that Hagar partners with as a child educator in her community, teaching others about child protection and development.
She says of her time with Hagar:
“I got a lot of support for my emotion and economy, especially my study till I am able to use my knowledge to support back to my community children in my provinces…I am happy to share back my resource and knowledge to my people and I do hope that one day I will fully become the full support to them.”
Kanha is truly an example of what the long-term love and support of Hagar donors and staff can achieve in a person’s life.
Disclaimer: Hagar pursues the highest degree of care and protection for each of its clients. To protect the identity of our clients, names have been changed and images do not necessarily represent the individual profiled.
