For one 30-year-old Bunong mother living in Cambodia, home had become a place of fear.
She’d already survived severe food insecurity, disease outbreaks, and crop failures that forced her family to relocate in search of stability. After years of turmoil, she hoped marriage would bring peace. Instead, after the birth of her two children, her husband became increasingly violent and controlling. He threatened her, insulted her family, spent the household income on alcohol and affairs, and eventually became addicted to drugs. This mother lived in constant fear for her own life and the safety of her children. She still carries the memory of one night when her husband threatened her with a knife.
World Hope International came alongside her and stayed.
For more than two years, WHI provided consistent psychosocial support through home visits, counseling, and encouragement. Slowly, she began to rebuild her trust in the people around her. Today, she describes the WHI team as people she can confide in. With newfound confidence, she now encourages other survivors to speak up and seek help.
“I want to tell other women who experience violence: be confident to report, seek justice, and never lose hope,” she shared. “Thank you for changing me into a different person.”
This woman’s story is part of our broader effort to make protection more available to Bunong communities in Cambodia.
WHI is training local Commune Committee for Women and Children (CCWC) officers to be voices in their neighborhoods. Women and men representatives are selected by their own communities and complete training on gender-based violence response, child protection, and positive parenting. They serve as trusted figures who can raise awareness, connect neighbors to resources, and bring community concerns to local protection authorities.
The approach is already showing promise. In a recent assessment of 18 families, every participant reported that the project’s training was useful, with two-thirds describing it as very useful.
Additionally, with support from our partners, Entrust, WHI has established hotline channels through phone, Telegram, and Facebook — all available in the Bunong language. These channels give community members and survivors a way to report sexual exploitation and abuse and get help safely, often for the first time.
Lasting protection cannot simply be delivered from the outside. It grows when communities have the education and a trusted group of people to protect one another. For survivors like this Bunong mother, these efforts bring the hope of a safe future.