

Every week I have been helping to build up the child care center at a small organization called Daughters. They work with women (many moms) who have been victims of sexual exploitation, and empower them to set themselves free from enslavement through employment opportunities (and a wide range of social and psychological services too).
Their logo is a butterfly, which represents freedom and transformation.
Cambodian children are some of the most gorgeous babies you have ever seen, and each one so absolutely unique. Big grins, huge eyes; those who love to dance; and ones who like to ride bikes. It has been a joy to see the transformation of the child care project over the last few months, as they are playing more and more, and sleeping less and less each day.
One enormous lack in the center was resources: toys, books, music, and the like. Before I continue, I must say THANKS to everyone who sent resources with my parents; they are SO wonderful and useful! And yesterday I had the amazing privilege of showing the mom’s how to make toys for their children out of recycled objects, and I got to do it with my mom! (And you all know how I love kids, my mom, & recycling!!)
Collecting boxes and bottles; using glue and moto design paper, and rice we constructed beautiful building blocks and shakers.
We sat on colorful straw mats on the floor, with beautiful women and their adorable children. And mom got to teach them about how what is old can be made new again (in life and with toys). And she was able to teach them about safe toys and the importance of supervision & stimulation.
And then the creativity and bonding began. What a beautiful image it was to see the babies helping their moms. They all make handicrafts for their jobs, so are incredibly gifted, but here they were able to work together with their children. And THEY themselves were able to GIVE their children toys to play with. Oh, and the boys loved sitting in the box baskets and pushing them around, and dumping them all out, and putting them back again. It was really beautiful to see how much fun they had with old boxes, containers, and baskets.
One mom showed me her block, which had intricate flowers on two sides, and a simple triangle and ‘v’ on another side. I asked her what it was and she said that her son had made those two sides. Melt my heart! Praise God!!
It was a truly rewarding day for myself, for mom, and for dad (who worked at Chab Dai and trained over 20 organization staff on accounts!).











