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By Lori Pederson
THOUSANDS of children are raped countless times every year in Cambodia.
These crimes are perpetrated in brothels, frequently by international sex
tourists. Many of the children are orphaned street kids; some have been sold by
their own parents, for hard cash.
The encouraging news is that new life and hope are being brought into this dark
world by ordinary Christians – including a number from B.C. – who now partner with people and ministries in Cambodia.
The Ratanak Foundation, a Vancouver charity operating in Cambodia since 1990,
started as a medical aid organization. It later expanded into the area of
rehabilitating children rescued from brothels.
Founder Brian McConaghy – until recently a forensic scientist with the RCMP – assisted police in 2004. He helped identify the location of a pink room shown in
a videotape in a pedophile case. The tape showed seven Asian girls servicing
the pedophile.
The pink room was in a brothel in Svay Pak, a village near Phnom Penh. It was a
special upstairs chamber where pedophiles paid a higher price for the privilege
of raping virgin girls. McConaghy gathered evidence at this crime scene, which resulted in the conviction of the pedophile seen on
tape.
“My first introduction to this whole world was viewing child sex assault videos,” he said. “That process, while traumatizing, removed these children from the realm of
statistics to real people. The children were seven through 10 years old in that
file, and I dedicated myself to finding and recovering them.
“That ultimately led to a rehabilitation centre in Cambodia called NewSong – named after two little girls, called Nhu and Sung.” At NewSong, children rescued from the brothels receive long-term extensive
counselling and love.
“During processing of the crime scene,” McConaghy continued, “there were conversations with the NewSong staff about rebuilding this filthy
symbol of the destruction of children’s lives into a Christian community centre – right in the middle of the brothels.”
In August 2007, the NewSong staff leased the building. They named the new
facility Rahab’s House, after the Old Testament prostitute who was commended for her faith.
Three months later, McConaghy contacted pastor Grant Wilson of Fairview
Presbyterian, a small church in Vancouver. Within four months, the congregation
donated more than $35,000 to purchase supplies and send a missions team.
In May 2008, Wilson travelled to Cambodia, along with a construction person,
salesman, professor, forester, telecom administrator, chef and two nurses. They
tore down the walls of the rape cubicles, and changed the paint colour of the
pink room.
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“God had used us to do a relatively small piece of work in a bigger story,” said Wilson. “It really was, by God’s grace, a transformation of the building – and God is now transforming the community through Rahab’s House.”
The one-time house of horrors is now a house of God. The facility is being used
as a church, with more than 200 regular attendees; it is also a community
centre and a place of learning. Girls recovering from past traumas, now working
with NewSong, volunteer to help run the children’s programs.
St. Andrew’s and St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in North Vancouver is involved in the ongoing project.
Senior pastor Martin Baxter described Svay Pak as “hell on earth.”
The village, he added, has haunted him. “I’ve met some of the girls and spoken to them – and it just won’t let you go. God is not prepared to let you go, and is getting people into this
– and he says: ‘This is something I want you to focus on.’”
Also partnering with ministries in Cambodia is Tenth Avenue Church in Vancouver.
Pastor Ken Shigematsu said their mission is to “develop the young emerging Christian leaders of Cambodia, to support women and
children who are vulnerable to being trafficked into the sex trade – and to encourage young people, by helping them to gain skills to enter the
workplace.”
He said the missions team wants to do this in a “holistic” way – praying for Cambodia, but also “meeting people’s physical needs, and working toward justice.”
Tenth Avenue sponsors short-term missions trips to Cambodia. The next trip,
scheduled this fall, will help support a kids’ camp, run by a Cambodian charity.
Contact: ratanak.org and tenth.ca.
July 2009
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