Headline Sep 24, 2015/ ''' STUDENTS OF SORROW '''

''' STUDENTS OF SORROW '''

*I FEEL HONOURED*   -to be in a position to do something to help if I can. After listening to Saron and Tavey, I now want to do more to shine a light-

On what is happening to children/ students across across the world. Things have to change.

It's time for the world to come together and do more to actually prevent violence against children'students, not just respond to it when it happens.''

This great thinking, commitment and honour is in the words and writing,  -of this great professional footballer of our times, and England's former captain: David Beckham:

And so he writes:

Before she arrived at the center,  student Tavey had run away from home after being beaten by her  brother-in-law.

She found herself alone, walking the streets at night, too afraid to return back to her house.

To me, this is every parent's nightmare   -the thought of someone beating their child so badly that they need to escape and end up alone, wandering the streets and being put at risk of even more violence.

MY HEART BROKE THAT DAY thinking that anyone could ever hurt someone like her.

A stranger saw Tavey and called a dedicated hotline for violence cases like this run by  UNICEF partners in Cambodia, and she was immediately referred to the refuge. Thankfully she is now safe and happy.

During my visit, I also visited Friends International  drop-in-center, another facility supported by  UNICEF  to keep children safe. Here, children/students who live on the streets go for a shower, to rest, play and talk to social workers-

It's a pace to get some help when there is nowhere else to turn to. I was shocked to meet teenage girls who have been forced into prostitution to help support their families or to simply survive on their own.

Sitting on the floor of the center, the girls told me about their lives,  ''working''  all night and then coming to the center to get some sleep and respite. One of them slept on the floor the entire time I was there, exhausted.

The others sat making flowers out of tissue papers and doing origami. It was deeply disturbing to hear how these young girls had grown up without a childhood and were forced to work on the streets.

I asked one of the girls where she would go if she couldn't come to the center, and she said  ''nowhere.'' It really hit home at that moment that for these children the drop-in center is their only lifeline.

They haven't got anywhere else, and I don't want to imagine what would happen to them if it didn't exist.

UNICEF is working with the government and its partners on the ground in Cambodia and across the world to protect vulnerable children. The amazing social workers at the refuge and center that I met are-

Helping children get off the streets, out of violent homes and back into school. I could see how deeply they care about the children they are helping and to me, they are Heroes.

Nothing could have prepared for me for what these children and young people in Cambodia have experienced, and it is devastating to know that children in all corners of the world-

In all communities and all countries, are suffering the same violence.

The Honour and Serving of the state of the world  ''Operational Research'' continues. Thank you for reading and sharing forward. And see Ya all on the following one.

With respectful dedication to UNICEF and the Students, Professors and Teachers of Cambodia. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' World's Conscience '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless