Life is often not easy for the Cambodian Bunong people, a fact that a young girl, *Mealea, learned before her thirteenth birthday. When her parents divorced and both remarried, she and four older siblings were sent to live with their grandmother. Their parents stopped visiting or supporting them, setting off a painful cycle of neglect, hunger and abuse.

Now 16, Mealea recalls the last few years of her childhood: “Sometimes we borrowed rice from neighbors or just ate potatoes when we had no food. Once, my mother gave me 10kg of rice and my father game me some money─I was so excited because that rarely happened!”

She had to drop out of school, believing she was “too slow in learning” and feeling pressure to earn income for her family. At just 12 years old, while recovering from dengue fever without anyone caring for her, she faced deep abandonment. Later, she was subjected to sexual abuse and discrimination from her community.

Trauma-Informed Care Offers a Safe Space

When World Hope International workers received her case through the Commune Committee for Women and Children (CCWC), Mealea already was deeply traumatized and overwhelmed with feelings of shame and hopelessness.

Even though she now has a supportive group around her, she said, “The bad things are still happening in my mind.” She told her care team, “Mostly, I feel disturbed by my painful experiences. I think my life is so bad because I didn’t have parents supporting me, and I also suffered from sexual abuse.”

After more than a year of consistent social work support with her WHI team walking alongside her, Mealea has begun to heal. Confidential counseling sessions created a safe space where she was listened to for the first time in her young life. It was here that she learned coping strategies and how to manage her trauma and negative thoughts.

Once she was able to begin to trust and open up to the counselors, her resilience began to grow. Siad Mealea: “In the past, I trusted no one for sharing my bad experiences. Now, I’m more confident in disclosing those experiences. I am healthier—not just physically, but emotionally too. I feel released, and I think more positively about my life.”

*Name and photo changed out of respect for the survivor’s privacy