I've got just over 2 months of holiday this summer, and it is really the last time I'll have to be able to travel to Cambodia before my training eats up my holidays in constant rotations. I'm excited about the trip, and will be working again with the Teen Drug Users project (TDU) set up by TASK the local Cambodian NGO that Servants began over a decade ago. Addictive drug use has exploded in Cambodia over the past 5-10 years. Reports say that 50% of Cambodian urban youth are regular users of the destructive class of drugs Methamphetamines, locally known as Yama. Many children who live in the slum communities and on the streets of Phnom Penh, get through the day through sniffing glue. There are suprisingly few Charities or NGO's working with these kids and teens to help the find a better, healthier and more hopeful path in life. The government does not have any true drug rehabilitation programme, but rather a single reserved room in its youth prison as its main response to this overwhelming issue.
When I was in Cambodia before, I worked with TASK's TDU project in its begining stages. I did research into the beliefs and behaviours of these youth to see why and how they used these substances. Now I've got an opportunity to go back and help see how the programme is doing and how it can be improved. It can seem like such an overwhelming problem, especially as it's all intertwined with other huge problems such as the breakdown of social support, lack of opportunity, and great poverty. Please pray for wisdom at how to proceed with the TDU project, and how to best reach and help these kids.
One of the communities where the TDU works
1 comment:
I forget if I mentioned it when you happily announced on facebook, but that's very cool that you get to go back to Cambodia. And also cool that you get that much time off before beginning again. It will be neat to work with the same focus you did before, and see how it has matured over the last couple of years. Do you know if you'll be working with the exact same people, and/or will get to meet back up with the family you stayed with, or are you going to be in a different location? It will be fun to see how this pans out!
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