Tuesday, 26 February 2008

Leesburg couple leads efforts to rescue Cambodian children

Rosalind Jennings Special to the Sentinel
February 25, 2008

LEESBURG - Following decades of civil war, Cambodia's internal strife and corruption has hit the country's children the hardest, according to Tim Brown, co-founder of Legacy of Hope International.

The faith-based organization is dedicated to saving Cambodian youths from cruel practices such as sex slavery. It provides shelter, loving adult care, food, education and medical treatment. Brown and his Cambodian-born wife, Lakhina Brown, live in Leesburg and founded Legacy of Hope in 2003. Now they're looking for help in their efforts to save Cambodian children.

Cambodia, a tropical and largely rural, farm-based country, has extreme poverty and Asia's highest prevalence of HIV.

UNICEF statistics report at least 470,000 orphans in Cambodia. Many family members were murdered by the Khmer Rouge communist regime that controlled the country from 1975 to 1978 and did not fully surrender until l999.

The murders of 1 million to 3 million Cambodians occurred during a period of mass genocide. The killings were the subject of a 1984 film, The Killing Fields.

Half the country's population of about 14 million is age 21 or younger, according to the CIA World Factbook.

"One whole generation of Cambodians were slaughtered," Brown said.

Though some peace and political stability took hold during the 1990s, the country's inhabitants continue to suffer.

More than 25 percent of the adult population is illiterate, according to UNICEF. About 60 percent have unsafe drinking water, according to UNICEF.

"The average income is about $1 a day," Brown said. "Cambodia is a country that hasn't changed much since the '70s -- since The Killing Fields."

Legacy of Hope is building a Legacy Children's Village in Battambang, Cambodia. Plans call for three houses to care for 16 children each. Two and a half acres of fruit orchards and a tilapia pond could help fight malnourishment.

"Our kids will be healthy," Lakhina Brown said. "They will eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and they will learn to fish."

"We have property and have started construction," Tim Brown said. "We have compound walls up and the footings and pilings for the school. The overall project costs $500,000 to complete."

Brown said the immediate goal is to raise $280,000 to complete the school and administrative offices.

Legacy of Hope is a nonprofit organization recognized by the Cambodian government as a charity. The group operates a vocational center in Battambang.

"We serve up to 1,000 kids a day and teach English, sewing, computer, Bible and some guitar," Brown said.

But the school is beyond its capacity, so Legacy of Hope members plan on buying property to expand, the Browns said.

However, their first goal is to complete the village. He said most of their children come from Poipet, a dangerous border town.

"This town [Poipet] is like the Las Vegas of Asia," Brown said. "They have five gambling casinos. It's a gateway for child trafficking for Southeast Asians.

"Our goal is to rescue these children before they are sold into child slavery or abducted into child slavery," Brown continued.

Brown said relatives will sell children into slavery or prostitution. Lakhina Brown said they often do it unknowingly.

"It's also done through deception," Lakhina Brown said. "These people are not educated. They come to a poor family and say, 'You have so many children that you can't feed them.' "

She said criminals ask to take one or a few of a family's children and promise that they will get good jobs in the city and send money back home.

"They say that they could work as servers or cooks, but in the end they've conned the family. They are not going to a restaurant to be servers, they are sold to pimps and dealers," she said.

If the children don't obey their captors they are often beaten, electrocuted and murdered, Lakhina Brown said.

Legacy of Hope sponsors medical and sustenance missions to the country.

Tim Brown said the goal is not to westernize the children in their care, but to make them strong Cambodians, so the country's population can begin to fight corruption.

"We want to build them strong from the inside," Lakhina Brown said.

"One of our kids could be the next prime minister of that country," Tim Brown said.

Legacy of Hope would like donations and volunteers. Trips to the country take place at least twice a year.

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