The former secondary school teacher from Stranocum has spent the last seven years running a restaurant in Siem Reap alongside genocide survivor Tevy Moung, where they teach women from impoverished villages catering, finance management and English and Khmer literacy. He sees his role primarily as supporting Tevy’s lead. He has “no financial interest in it” but has gained a “powerful sense of purpose”.
“The main focus is very much about empowering women. We help these young women from the villages who have no skills, no background and when they came to us first, they were actually frightened to speak to foreigners,” he says. “Just last week, Tevy and I took one girl aside and we had to explain to her that she’s grown into a remarkable young woman, and she didn’t understand what we were talking about because they’re never told that at home.
“I wrote her skills out on a piece of paper and Tevy spoke to her and explained how much she has grown as a human being and as someone who can work. “We don’t come at it with a sense of pity. These people don’t need pity, they just need an opportunity.
They need that dignity and self-respect that any human being is entitled to. We treat them well, and we train them and give them these skills.” Currently, 13 women are employed with Tevy’s Place and they are actively recruiting three more.
They take a holistic approach to improving the lives of their staff, in a State that doesn’t always see them as a priorit.