A Mother’s Story for Mother’s Day

by Kimsang Nget
2025/5/11

By this year, the number of cases that our Pleroma Home for Girls (PHG) in Cambodia successfully served has reached 149. In honor of Mother’s Day, I would like to take this opportunity to share a true story that happened this year.

The mother in the story is named Sokha, and her eldest daughter’s name is MSK.

Sokha turns 29 years old this year. She never went to school and is illiterate. She has been married three times and has four children. Her first husband divorced her while she was pregnant with her first child. Unfortunately, the same story repeated in her second marriage: her second husband also left her after she became pregnant. Now, she has a 9-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. The 6-year-old girl, MSK, is the one currently under the care of our Home for Girls.

Because Sokha needed to work in a factory far from her hometown to earn money, she left her two children in the care of her own mother. Four years ago, Sokha married for the third time and, within four years, gave birth to two daughters with her third husband — one is now 3 years old and the other just 15 months.

As a mother, Sokha deeply loves all her children. Last year, she managed to finally bring all four children back to live with her. However, her current husband was very unhappy that she brought the children from her previous marriages. He often physically abused the two older children and would find excuses to argue with Sokha, sometimes physically assaulting her as well. He only allowed Sokha to love the two youngest daughters, the ones he fathered.

Sokha felt heartbroken. She loved her children and wanted to protect them, but her husband was the only source of income for the family. Looking at her two youngest daughters, she felt she had no choice but to submit to her husband’s wishes and send the two older children back to her mother’s house. Having to separate from her children once again devastated her.

In June 2024, Sokha received horrifying news: her eldest daughter, MSK, had been sexually assaulted by a 70-year-old man — the owner of the house where her mother currently rented. Sokha was heartbroken. Her little girl’s suffering became unbearable for her as a mother.

Sokha immediately brought her two older children back to live with her. However, the domestic violence continued and escalated. Sokha lived in constant fear for her and her children’s safety. She noticed that her daughter was deeply traumatized by the assault — MSK often had nightmares about the rapist threatening to kill her if she dared to tell anyone. The child became terrified, depressed, unable to concentrate, withdrawn, and fearful of strangers. She couldn’t play like other children.

Sokha felt helpless and didn’t know where to turn for help. Home was no longer a safe place. She fell into deep depression and confusion.
Five months later, in November 2024, Sokha was referred to our Pleroma Home for Girls by a community service. At first, we only took in Sokha’s eldest daughter, MSK, into our home, and we also provided Sokha with counseling and psychoeducation to help her understand domestic violence and its impact.
Soon, she realized that she and her children were living at risk of danger, but she was reluctant to go through another divorce.

In early April of this year, while the mothers and children at our Girls’ Home were celebrating Khmer New Year, we received a desperate phone call from Sokha. She told us about the horrifying situation at home: her husband had burned her clothes and personal documents. She fled with her children, hiding first at a neighbor’s house and then in the forest. Her husband was searching everywhere for them, threatening to kill them all.

Upon receiving the call, our social worker team didn’t hesitate for a moment. We rushed to rescue them, and thanks to the Lord, they were all safe.
Currently, Sokha’s two youngest daughters have been placed into a residential care system. Sokha and her son are living at the Cambodian Women Crisis Center (CWCC). Her eldest daughter continues living at our Pleroma Home for Girls, receiving trauma restoration therapy.

For the first time in a long while, Sokha’s tense nerves could finally relax. She saw a glimpse of freedom and tasted the sweetness of happiness. Without fear, she can now take care of all her children and be a devoted mother. She filed reports of the sexual abuse and domestic violence to the police and sought legal help through a lawyer to fight for justice for herself and her children.

Sokha is full of gratitude for the help provided by Pleroma Home for Girls (PHG) to her and her children. We pray for Sokha’s future, hoping that she finds a new beginning of life and be blessed to enjoy happiness she has longed for.