Saturday
Aug272011
Turning the tables on domestic violence
Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 1:07PM
The story of Goong Mouey, a beneficiary of our Consoling Through Counseling project in 2010, highlights just how far a small amount can go to help women suffering from domestic violence.
Mouey may have survived decades of war and genocide in Cambodia, but she didn’t emerge unscathed. The Khmer Rouge completely shut down the public education system in the late 1970s, and 90 percent of all teachers were summarily executed. Mouey is a part of an entire generation of women to grow up completely illiterate, and with little to no economic opportunity.
Mouey now holds the purse strings - and the power - in her homeMouey is representative of the roughly 30 percent of Cambodian women that suffer from regular domestic violence. Escaping her abusive, alcoholic husband and unable to provide for her five young children, she turned the children over to an orphanage for two years. “This was especially painful for me,” she shares, “but I had run out of options.”
Since coming into contact with the Dining for Women-supported counseling and reintegration program, the tables have turned for Mouey. After spending some time at a safe shelter, Mouey received $20 in start-up support along with a $120 small business grant and now runs a highly successful vegetable grocery business near Poipet city. Her business allows her to earn about $50 per day—over 20 times the per capita income in Cambodia—and she has since been able to resume caring for her children.
“I did have a small vegetable stall earlier but it was not enough to live on. The grant allowed me to offer five times as much variety and volume,” Mouey shares. “Now I can afford pretty much whatever the children need to be well nourished.” Mouey’s 16 year-old daughter, Srey Mom, pipes in as well: “Previously I didn’t have the money I needed to pay for school tuition or buy food and medicine, and now we do.”
Divorce carries an onerous social stigma in Cambodian society. When Mouey's husband came skulking back to a vastly improved financial situation, she opted to try again. This time, however, the physical abuse has ended. “I control the money in the family now,” Mouey tells us. “Though he is verbally aggressive, he no longer hits me.” Recognizing the cultural factors working against sufferers of domestic violence in Cambodia, Lotus Outreach hopes to implement men’s anger management courses in the near future to give women who do return to abusive marriages the very best chance at a safe, healthy life.
With a $39,000 grant this year from Dining for Women, Lotus Outreach will help dozens of families like Mouey’s get back on their feet through shelter assistance, start-up financial support, vocational training and small business grants.
Mouey may have survived decades of war and genocide in Cambodia, but she didn’t emerge unscathed. The Khmer Rouge completely shut down the public education system in the late 1970s, and 90 percent of all teachers were summarily executed. Mouey is a part of an entire generation of women to grow up completely illiterate, and with little to no economic opportunity.
Mouey now holds the purse strings - and the power - in her homeMouey is representative of the roughly 30 percent of Cambodian women that suffer from regular domestic violence. Escaping her abusive, alcoholic husband and unable to provide for her five young children, she turned the children over to an orphanage for two years. “This was especially painful for me,” she shares, “but I had run out of options.”Since coming into contact with the Dining for Women-supported counseling and reintegration program, the tables have turned for Mouey. After spending some time at a safe shelter, Mouey received $20 in start-up support along with a $120 small business grant and now runs a highly successful vegetable grocery business near Poipet city. Her business allows her to earn about $50 per day—over 20 times the per capita income in Cambodia—and she has since been able to resume caring for her children.
“I did have a small vegetable stall earlier but it was not enough to live on. The grant allowed me to offer five times as much variety and volume,” Mouey shares. “Now I can afford pretty much whatever the children need to be well nourished.” Mouey’s 16 year-old daughter, Srey Mom, pipes in as well: “Previously I didn’t have the money I needed to pay for school tuition or buy food and medicine, and now we do.”
Divorce carries an onerous social stigma in Cambodian society. When Mouey's husband came skulking back to a vastly improved financial situation, she opted to try again. This time, however, the physical abuse has ended. “I control the money in the family now,” Mouey tells us. “Though he is verbally aggressive, he no longer hits me.” Recognizing the cultural factors working against sufferers of domestic violence in Cambodia, Lotus Outreach hopes to implement men’s anger management courses in the near future to give women who do return to abusive marriages the very best chance at a safe, healthy life.
With a $39,000 grant this year from Dining for Women, Lotus Outreach will help dozens of families like Mouey’s get back on their feet through shelter assistance, start-up financial support, vocational training and small business grants.
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