February 16, 2008
Crocodile Lake
Rotha is the girl at the helm of Precious Girl Magazine in Cambodia. She is turning into an excellent writer, and I've pasted below a love story which she has written for the latest issue. Some of the dialogue is absolutely sparkling!
Could she be Cambodia's answer to Barbara Cartland?
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The crocodiles have long left Crocodile Lake in Cambodia. Now it's full of factories, offering employment to the local people.
A man of 28 drove into one of these factories and got out of his car. A girl ran up to him and smiled.
'Good morning, sir! You have two meetings this morning, first with the staff, and then with an American client.'
Continue reading "Crocodile Lake"
Posted by sahelsteve at 02:03 PM
April 07, 2007
Precious Girl Magazine
My fiancée Charlie continues her wonderful work as editor of Precious Girl Magazine, a 50-page glossy magazine for factory girls in Cambodia. She comes home in June but is hoping to leave the project in the hands of her team of Khmer writers and designers. Please pray for her.
Issue 6 of Precious Girl Magazine came out recently. It is published in Khmer, but now there are also English versions of all six issues available online for free.
Roathanak is an 18 year-old girl working in a garment factory in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. She grew up in the countryside but left school early and came to the big city. She hoped that the money she made would support her parents and her younger brothers and sisters back home.
Away from the security of ther family, Roathanak misses home, even though she shares her small bedroom with five other girls. On a good month, she can earn $68 with maximum overtime and bonuses, and sends $30 of this back to her family. With basic living expenses costing over $30, there is barely enough money for her to eat well, let alone buy books.
Roathanak is just one of about 300,000 young women working in garment factories in and around Phnom Penh. Clothing manufacture is an important industry in Cambodia, generating income for this developing country and providing employment for the daughters of poorer families.
Precious Girl is an affordable quarterly magazine which aims to be a blessing to these vulnerable young women. It is designed to encourage and inspire its readers and impress on them a sense of their immense value. Most Khmer magazines for young women are expensive, celebrity-laden and morally questionable, but Precious Girl is invariably wholesome and uplifting.
The glossy, full-colour pages are packed with health and beauty tips, creative ideas, inspirational stories and practical help for girls facing real-life dilemmas. The factory worker's photos, comments and letters are also printed - the only stars in this magazine are the readers themselves!
Precious Girl is run by a young vibrant team of local Christian girls. In producing this magazine, they want to celebrate the richness of the factory worker's lives and encourage thousands of girls like Roathanak to find meaning and happiness.
If you would like to donate, please do.