Tarina* works in the brick fields to support her family. She is 12 years old. Each day, she earns 50 to 60 taka (S$0.80 to S$1) by breaking bricks. “If I stop breaking bricks, how will [my family] pay off our loans?” she says.
With the beginning of World Vision’s work in Simran’s village, families started to recognise children’s importance. “People care about us now and they know that we are the future of our country,” says Simran, smiling.
"For the next three years, I was enslaved to this family. The Chinese couple married me to their son. But I wasn't treated as a wife and this was not a marriage," says Hnin.
What started as a normal day for Khatema, 9, joyfully playing in the village with her friends quickly turned into one of the worst days of her life. Her world and her dream of becoming a teacher came crashing down when her brother interrupted their game with a message: Their father had decided to marry her off.
"This is the first trip I came back from with zero souvenirs for anyone and nothing for myself, but I am certainly richer from the experience," says Su Lin, who recently visited her sponsored child in Kirivong, Cambodia.
