Sponsor a Girl
Daughters started small businesses as a response to the pressures faced by girls to be the family breadwinners, a factor that facilitated them being trafficked in the first place. The small businesses are the strategy for future sustainability, but in the meantime sponsorships are needed to cover girls' living allowances.
photos taken by Jeremy Maz
Girls gain a sense of empowerment and self-esteem from generating their own income in dignified ways, learning specialised skills, and making beautiful products they can be proud of. Daughters business model facilitates growing numbers, as each week more girls join, looking for a way they can escape the life they have to face in the sex industry. Girls are employed under Fair Trade conditions, with many extra benefits that address their various needs in holistic ways.
For each sponsorship the entire amount donated goes direct to the girl, none is deducted for admin costs. This means each sponsorship makes all the difference in changing a girl's life, literally enabling her to walk free from slavery. If you wish to sponsor a girl's salary for each month, please complete and submit this form to us and we will contact you with bank and payment details. Direct bank transfer each month is the preferred method, but we also have representatives in various countries who are able to receive checks.
Janna’s Story:
(pseudonym)"When I was 9 years old, my parents sold the house and went to Thailand to find work. I was left to care for my 2 younger siblings in the province. We had no food and no one to look after us or care of our needs. I used to collect tin cans at weddings for re-cycling, as this earned a little money. Other families did not allow us to play with their children in case we asked them for money. When I was 13 my mother had returned sick, and required me to pay for her surgery, so I came to Phnom Penh and worked as a housemaid. I cleaned the house of a wealthy Khmer family, and was given 2 meals a day for my work, but was not paid any salary. The husband began to make advances to me when the wife was out. One day he came to my room and began to hug me, and I was so scared I ran away from the house. I had no job and no money. I met a girl who worked in a karaoke bar, and she asked me to work there. The job there involved sitting with customers and playing music cds for them to sing to. The customers always tried to touch me. One customer asked me to go with him to his guesthouse, and I refused, but he had a gun and said if I didn’t he would shoot my legs, so I had to go. The owner of the bar did not intervene, as this is the expectation in those places. I felt such pain in my heart. It was so hard to bear.
After that I worked as a karaoke girl for one year and then a beer girl for 3 years. I didn’t want to go out with customers, but they forced me by threatening me, particularly they threatened to shoot my legs. One customer waited outside when I refused him, and when I came out after work he caught me and forced me into his car. Customers often said bad words to me, and said they had a right to touch me because I was cheap. If I refused to go out with them afterwards, they told the bar owner I was displeasing them. The bar owner talked badly to me if I made the customer angry. He blamed me and threatened to fire me. He didn’t care about the reason. If I was crying, the customer had no mercy. If I asked them to stop they would not agree. There was nobody willing to help me and I cried alone every night with no one to care about me. I started to think I was crazy. I was often so depressed; I felt I had no worth or value and my life was cheap. I cannot describe the pain.
The customer had the choice whether he wanted to wear a condom or not. Some did and some did not. I had no choice and if I refused his demands he would rape me. Some customers treated me well, and some customers treated me badly, they twisted my skin and pinched me or hit me. I hated that job. I earned a lot of money to pay for my mother’s medical treatment, but I felt I couldn’t stand life anymore. I used to have nightmares at night. I suffered from depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Since I came to work at Daughters, I feel I am living a different life, like I am a different person. I used to cry at night and be unable to sleep; now I still cry but I pray for God and then I can sleep and I feel peace. I feel so much better in my life than before. At Daughters I find comfort and strength, I know God loves me, and the staff value me, I have close friends and many people here love me and care about me. I have a job, and I never want to stop working here. I feel warm here and I can talk to people if I feel bad. I feel loved"
We are seeking individual sponsorships for girls like Janna who join Daughters to change their lives. The sponsorship money goes to pay the girl’s salary, none of the amount donated is taken in admin costs. If you wish to sponsor one of our precious girls, we will provide you with a profile detailing her story, and 6-monthly updates thereafter.
If you wish to sponsor a girl at Daughters, please complete and submit this form, and we will contact you with payment options.
Thank you. Your partnership changes lives.