Education

As I’ve been here in Cambodia, I have obviously been learning quite a lot about trafficking and how complex the issue is.  I am surrounded by it and the signs of it every day.  I work with people who work against it.  I hang out with people who work with this organization and that, all against the same issue.  It’s hard not to become passionate about the issue.  But the more that I’m immersed in it, the more I learn.  I’ve learned much about what causes trafficking.  Why it starts. All the different forms of it.  What it can look like and how it can be disguised.  What is being done to fight it.  What are the best ways to fight it.  Even the things that we still don’t know or are possibly currently researching about trafficking.  There is so much to learn, and we’d be fools if we looked at it as a black and white issue with a black and white solution.

Today I went just outside the city to a little village where Agape International has a community center that they run.  I had been there last week and was going to visit again, to finish my work and get the last pictures I felt I needed.  The village has quite a history with trafficking, but the details of that are irrelevant to my topic.  One of the main reasons I went back today was because there was an English class taking place, taught by one of the women working for Agape.  The class was very simple.  They were learning new words, how to pronounce them and what they meant.  It was much like language classes in the states start.  With the basics.

As I rode my moto the 30 minutes back to my house, which leaves for a lot of thinking time, I began to think about the importance of education and it’s roll in combating trafficking.

When I talk about education, I don’t really mean like school educations and language and math and science or higher education such as Bachelor’s Degrees or even Masters’ and PhDs.  I am more talking about simple education, that sometimes people don’t have. It can be absolutely crucial in helping people understand what is appropriate or not, even in their own communities and it can offer more opportunities than we would think.

An example of this is the prevention & education programs that Chab Dai and some of its member organizations put in place for the national people of Cambodia.  A lot of it has to do with awareness of what trafficking looks like.  How can you know if maybe something that is presented to you is maybe not what it sounds like and can possibly put you or your family in danger.  What are some things that are warning signs of possible exploitation that you can look out for in your community?  Even things like protecting yourself and loved ones from vulnerable situations.

Another piece that simple lifestyle education offers people, are alternative job opportunities that will help them provide for themselves and their families.  People are being trained vocationally to do things that would earn them a living in a safe environment.  Training varies from sewing, cooking, baby sitting, cleaning even to business work.  It helps to alleviate some of the stress of providing for yourself and your family, without resorting to exploitation.

The reason the English class brought all this to mind is because I realized how huge learning this language is for the people and how it directly ties into our efforts to bring exploitation to an end.  Knowing English in this country can help you tremendously and give so many opportunities for jobs and furthering your skills.  Because of the high number of tourists & foreign NGO workers in the country, there is a wide market of jobs that need English speakers.

Learning English is more than just a language to these people.  It’s an opportunity.  Whether they realize it or not, this new language they are learning, could possibly help them provide for their family and keep them from having to resort to other means. 

Back in the states, I never thought of these tasks as being anything more than just everyday life.  They were never more than just something that was “good to know”.  Education has taken new meaning for me.  Something you learn affects so much more than we often think.  It gives opportunity for something so much more rewarding and gives a priceless value to lives.