Rising from Ashes

A Survivor’s Story

A victim of domestic violence, Somphors suffered under the tyranny and beatings of her abusive husband for years. In 2015, she was driven out of the house and separated from her young children. To survive and to continue supporting her children financially, she found work on the Thai-Cambodian border as a beer promoter in a night club.

Her eagerness to make money to support her children made her vulnerable to the lies of a human trafficker who approached her. Her aunt’s friend told Somphors that she could be paid 2,000 USD to be married to a Chinese man with some money being paid to her now and the full agreed amount being given to her when she was in China. Somphors later said:

Little did she know she was sold to yet another abusive man and the severity of the abuse that lay ahead.

In 2016, Somphors arrived in China and did not know any of the places or how to communicate. This was the beginning of her nightmare. She was sexually abused by her husband and forced to have sex against her will even when she was ill. She was severely abused and isolated, and endured this treatment for two years before jumping out of the window of the house she was in. She called for support from the local police, and the Cambodian Embassy in China and other local NGOs worked to get her back to Cambodia.

After receiving her referral, and in partnership with other organisations, HAGAR then worked to help Somphors get the medical treatment that she needed to heal from the physical injuries resulting from the severe sexual abuse she had endured. HAGAR’s team also provided counselling to Somphors to help her begin to overcome the trauma of her experiences and her case manager also helped her to resettle back into living in Cambodia.

As well as providing her with the services she needed to overcome her trauma, the Hagar Economic Empowerment team and her case manager worked with Somphors to help her develop the skills she would need for employment and provided vocational training at a salon. HAGAR also provided her with food assistance until she got a job in her community. Somphors later described that without HAGAR’s support, her life would be nothing.

Somphors has recently remarried and her new husband supports her and their family. She is now a housewife and enjoys looking after her family and home.

Somphors is truly an example of what the long-term love and support of HAGAR donors and staff can achieve in a person’s life. The road to recovery from the trauma of exploitation and abuse is often long and complex, and there is no easy solution. Returning dignity to survivors and empowering them with the means to protect themselves, and to build a future where they and their families can thrive is at the heart of HAGAR’s work. We hope you would join us in this journey by making small regular gifts to support their ongoing needs for complete restoration. Click here to Empower A Survivor today!

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.