These girls are survivors of brutal sex crimes. Some were rescued from trafficking, where adults sold their tiny bodies daily to the highest bidder. Some were auctioned by their parents to locals who believe sex with a virgin can shield them from HIV. Others lived in homes where mom, desperate for extra income, allowed ravenous men to visit them and their sisters regularly.

I can’t express the rage, the heartbreak, I feel at the thought of what men could do to these beautiful girls. It wrenches me, beyond what I’ve ever experienced, to comprehend the human capacity for evil.

And in the midst of this, hope.

The shelter at Hagar, which these girls now call home, reaches out to the poorest and most destitute women and girls in Cambodia. Our visit there this week was nothing shy of riveting. This children’s shelter is only one facet of their remarkable programs and business initiatives. The girls receive holistic counseling and intensive schooling, positioning them towards a promising future. For as dark as their pasts are, these girls will end up leagues ahead of their Cambodian peers with the care they now receive. Today, they are the blessed ones.