Restoration Center
The Need and Purpose
The Need:
Cambodia is one of the least developed nations on earth and the average per capita income is near $280 per year. Most of the employees in the garment factories are single women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. A majority of them come from provinces where there are limited employment opportunities. If they do find employment, they receive an average of only $40 per month for a standard work shift and are forced to pay a six month procurement fee to even obtain the job. (Pay $240 for a $40 per month job). In addition to the economic stress they face, they also have tremendous pressure to send funds home and get out of debt. Thus, pressure to prostitute themselves in order to meet all these pressures is intense. Additionally, housing is a major problem because most of these girls do not have family near the factories. The women are transported in crowded trucks to and from the factories. Factories that do provide housing are typically only 150 square feet and house up to ten girls per room. As result, loneliness, long working hours, poor living conditions, poor nutrition, and lack of guidance are all problems associated with the lives of these workers.
Project Purpose:
To reach out to the 150,000 plus young, single women, eighteen to twenty-five years old, employed in the garment factories within five kilometers of the Phnom Penh Training Center by providing safe and affordable guarded housing with access to counseling, convenient church services and training into various optional career choices. Our goal is to use the gospel of Christ not only to meet the physical needs of the women we reach but to restore their lives so they become kingdom workers to their own families and communities. The hopelessness and spiritual poverty that exists in the lives of these young women can be met with the hope of a new life and new beginning in Christ. Only the Christian message can radically change the value of these spiritually empty and socially beaten Cambodians. We have found that many of the girls working at the factories are receptive to the Gospel, however, because of their long shifts and working hours, they are unable to attend normal church activities. Additionally, scattered lodging over a wide area without transportation makes the social unity, evangelization and training of this group difficult.