By Ly Sokkhun, senior social worker of PHW

“Mother” is a word of deep and wide meaning. “Mother” is a symbol of love, care, and the wonderful creation of nature. She is my first teacher, friend, and my inspiration. She is the strongest, the most beautiful, loving, caring and wonderful person. I always wonder how she manages everything perfectly and am surprised by how kind she is. 

Our creator has made men and women in His own image and made them equal in His eyes. Thus, there are so many traits and differences between the two of them. Women are the mothers of our world. They do not simply bear children but work hard to fulfill their role as a mother. Being a mother comes with many responsibilities.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Not that different from actual mothers, the caregivers in GoHC (Pleroma Home for Girls and Pleroma Home for Women) are mothers to their own kids at home and mothers to our clients, who experienced the lack of love, brokenness, betrayal. Some of them do not even know their own identity. They are like birds without a nest and sheep without a shepherd. Our caregivers take on the role of their mothers to make up for their loss, to fill up the lack of past experiences, and to show our clients a different way to define a “mother.”

The caregivers try their best to cook from their hearts, so that our women do not only eat, but get to taste and experience food with pleasure. They care about the details and the look of the meals, as well as the choices and preferences of so many girls and women at the same time. They have in mind the interest of every client, instead of their own. They are here to participate in the healing process of the girls and women. Even though they are also human beings that age and get older and older with time, they remain steadfast in their role, regardless of their body aches and discomfort. They may complain but they never give up. They can never ignore the unproductive manner of our clients. Their goal is to restore and enrich our clients’ life and to help them secure a happy future. Because they care and are worried about the girls and women, that is why they get upset and angry when undesirable behaviors persist and when our clients challenge them. They are future oriented workers that care about the present and the future, always bearing in mind the benefit of our clients. They are the mothers of the mothers. They are the grandmothers of the kids.

As mothers, they never forget about their children, but they are still girls and women at heart. It is a blessing for them to see our clients leading a successful life – their greatest wish for them, their children.

I deeply appreciate our caregivers’ big heart to serve, care and love, as well as their comforting presence to those in need of such warmth in life. 

  Happy Mother’s Day! Rich blessings to all the mothers in the world!