When I was 14, I came to Phnom Penh to work as a housemaid in the home of wealthy Cambodians because my parents were poor and they had left home to find work in Thailand. My employers didn’t pay me a salary but gave me two meals per day. Then the husband began to make advances towards me so I ran away. I had no job and no money.
I met a girl working in a Karaoke bar who offered me a job. The job involved sitting with customers and playing CDs for them to sing. But all the customers liked me and tried to touch me. If I objected, they threatened to call the bar owner and demand that I lose my job. They would make derogatory comments saying, “Why can’t we touch you? We have a right to touch you because you are cheap. This is what you are here for.” One customer asked me to go to a guesthouse with him and I refused. But he had a gun which he pointed at me and threatened to shoot my legs if I did not go, so I had no choice. The bar owner never intervened because this was a normal occurrence in these places, it happened all the time. After that it was often like that, I had little choice about who I had to have sex with because they were wealthy or threatened me. I was filled with pain in my heart. It was so hard to bear. Customers often made derogatory comments to me; they did not care if I was crying and if I asked them to stop they would not. If I asked them to wear a condom they said they would rape me. There were customers who pinched and twisted my skin and some hit me. 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.
Since I came to work at Daughters of Cambodia, I feel I am living a different life, like I am a different person. I feel so much better in my life than before.
Narrative provided by Speak 4 Change Foundation
