By the time Boupha was 10 years old she had already been dealt some of life's most devastating blows.  Two of her sisters died young.  Then, her mother died when she was nine and a year later her father passed away. 

On the cusp of Phnom Penh in a slum of open sewers, tin shacks and debilitating poverty, Boupha and her three remaining siblings eeked out a living with their father's second wife.  Without any education, Boupha was vulnerable.

When Boupha was 17, a woman in the slum offered her an opportunity that was too good to be true.  She would be a waitress in Phnom Penh and make $50 a month - her step mother would even get an advance $30 to help her out. 

Boupha left with the woman only to find out she had been tricked.  Once in Sihaoukville, a coastal town in southern Cambodia, Boupha was sold to a brothel. 

 "I was cheated," she recalls.  "I became very afraid, and worried about what would happen.  I felt like I wanted to end my life. I wanted to run away but could not get out of the house."

One of Boupha's clients decided to help her out.  He took her to the bus station where she hopped on the next bus bound for Phnom Penh.

Boupha got home safely, but the nightmare did not end. The woman who had bought and sold her returned and threatened the family.  She said Boupha and her step mother owed her $700.  Without knowing what to do or who to believe, Boupha returned with the woman to the brothel in Sihanoukville. 

When Boupha's siblings heard what had happened, they convinced their step mother to sell her house.  With a part of the $2000 they got for it, they bought Boupha's freedom. 

But poverty and their homelessness threatened them again as they lived on the streets picking through garbage and selling vegetables. 

When Boupha was 21, she was offered the chance to study basic literacy in her community at a class run by Hagar. 

In no time, Boupha excelled and moved onto vocational training at Hagar's women's shelter.  Again she excelled and became a trainee teacher.  Boupha feels hope for her future as she made a living wage and pursued some of her dreams.

"Everybody in the village is very proud of me, I have done this all by myself.  Because I have a good job, and have been able to open my own business, I have much more confidence and know that I can do even better.