Sokhim's* Story

Sokhim’s* story is an amazing, heartbreaking, exciting and hopeful journey that beautifully encapsulates the heart of IT'S NOT OK Projects. There is nothing like seeing restoration brought to a girl’s life that was once filled with shame and hurt. 

Watching their eyes widen as they understand the beauty of their identity and their possibilities never gets old, and it’s a whole new and different journey with every girl.

Sokhim* came into the SHE Rescue Home in 2014, at age 15, after being sexually exploited by a member in her community. Coming from an abusive home environment and weighed down by her experience, she was told by her culture, her family and her understanding of the world that this is it for her. That this sexual exploitation defined her.

The SHE Home was the calm whisper of truth among the shouts of lies.

We educated her on safety and her rights. We taught her about healthy relationships and the strategies around them. She learnt how to sew, a skill that provided her with financial stability. We ingrained in her that she is more than what society tells her she is. She is Sokhim*: the Overcomer, the Bold and the Brave.

That’s not to say it was easy.

As you can imagine, there were many challenges. Risk within your families’ home doesn't stop you from missing your family. We do everything we can to make our girls feel at home and we remind them that they are loved unconditionally. 

We embrace behavioural issues like any other issue: with love and with strategy, in order to urge these girls to grow and be world changers.

Sokhim* reintegrated back to her family in January 2016, after completing her sewing vocational training. She walked out of the Home with a stable income, strong independence and an exciting future.

She began her year with hope and strength and ended the year on an equally celebratory note: she got married! Sokhim* and her husband have created a wonderful and independent life for themselves with their own home they paid for together. At the close of 2018, they welcomed their baby boy into their lives and we have seen Sokhim* flourish as a mother. 

One thing remained for us to do before we closed her case, and that was to build a bathroom. Recently, we had the opportunity to partner with you to raise funds for a bathroom, providing safety and hygiene for this beautiful family. Well, the bathroom is finished! And Sokhim* and her family are doing better than ever!

It’s moments like this that make you think back to the first time you saw this scared, lonely, hurt young girl that would have shrugged off a word like "hope". But it was hope that saw her, individually, and it was hope that inspired her to create the future that she desired. And now, as we close her case, it’s hope that she will take with her and hold onto for the rest of her life.