Ng's Path to Freedom (Part 3)

[See previous postings of Ng's story.]

The path Ng took to freedom was neither straight nor easy.

Someone at the old man's house where she was a slave told her that her mother had moved. Desperate, she escaped into the jungle with only the clothes on her back.

Ng met up with an older woman who took her in and fed her. The woman knew her mother; and Ng's hopes soared with thoughts of a reunion, but that dream was quickly dashed when the woman said that her mother had met another man and had moved away. The woman did not know where. Ng was just thirteen-years-old and all alone in the world.

After staying at the woman's house a few days, Ng left. She didn't want to be a burden to her, so she slept in the jungle, ate food from people's trash and begged for money. People spurned her.

Once two young men grabbed her from behind and pushed her behind a house and raped her. With a heavy sigh, she says, "After they were done, I ran to a policeman. He thought I was just a beggar and scolded me. But then he noticed that my pants were ripped and bloody." She was taken to an emergency shelter and transferred to Phnom Penh and was eventually brought to Rapha House.

When asked about what life at Rapha House has been like, Ng replies, "La ah." Good.

She arrived malnourished, and her skin was darkened from constant exposure to the sun. The staff says that she was extremely difficult and would fall into long periods of deep depression.

But then something changed in Ng. She started making friends with the other girls there. She started going to school for the first time in her life and began learning to read and write both Khmer and English. Ng has started to trust again. She even has hopes for the future.

Ng has a long road ahead of her. But now, she is safe. And since Ng has no family other than us, we're going to walk with her on the road to lasting freedom.

In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. (Psalm 118:5)