CAMBODIA
Our work in Phnom Penh has been operating since the year 2000. We have three projects: Joshua Boys' House, Deborah Girls' House, and a high school sponsorship work. We have seen so many quality graduates emerge from the two houses. Our board is a mix of ages and professions with church leaders, doctors, legal experts, and counsellors - all with experience working with children. This means that we receive different perspectives and strategies along with their passion to execute them. Our board chair, Ros Vibol as well as another member, are both part of the first generation of young people to have graduated from our ministry.
We are proud to report that this is a strongly “Cambodian” team - not Western-led, which means we operate with strong Cambodian methodology. In the video below, some of our young people talk briefly about their aspirations for the future. While for some of them, their English is not perfect, it is better than our Khmer…
MOANA ROAD: Sponsors of Empower Asia Latin America
How we operate:
Unanticipated recent government legislation made it illegal for children under the age of 18 years to live away from their families, hence a number of our young people could no longer stay with us. This meant that we were forced to change the way that we had previously been operating. We had to sensitively and safely organise for about 10 of our young people to return to their villages to live. We had no choice in this. Our Cambodia board did a great job in settling our teenagers back into their villages and transferring them to new schools. During their time there, we support their education. They have been given a warm welcome to return to us in Phnom Penh when they turn 18 years of age. We are seeing this happen now. For us, we are at ease with this change and do not view it problematically. Resulting from this, our work is morphing into a university student-oriented work rather than a high school one. This is similar to what we are doing in Bhutan.
The Cambodia work has a very good track record. Over the years, we have seen many young people develop as good and positive Christian citizens. As a consequence of this, we are now seeing most of our volunteer board positions being filled by our graduates.
SOME OF OUR GRADUATES. Most of them came to us when they were just 12 or 13 years of age. From left to right: Vuthea (35) Medical Doctor, Sararn (36) Civil and Project Engineer, Narin (35) Bank Loans Officer, Bunthoen (36) Dental Technician, Rith (43) Project Coordinator for World Vision, Soky (36) Human Rights Worker.
By late 2025, we will have 11 young people at university and six at high school. They will be living with us in Phnom Penh. There will be at least four students living back in their villages, preparing to return to us. Over the next couple of years, as we become more of a university-student work, we will continuously feed into our homes impoverished young people from the rural countryside who have proven themselves to be academically strong, but commonly from problematic family backgrounds.
The “Deborah House” girls live in our four-storey detached townhouse that we purchased some years ago. Their age range is 17 to 24 years. A number of them will shortly be embarking on university education.
Seng Thavuthea: a graduate of joshua boys’ house
“I was born in the western Cambodian province of Pursat in 1990. I am one of 14 children. As a child, we had very little food; actually, we were malnourished. I was beaten and abused - both physically and sexually. I was one of those boys who walked the streets collecting tin cans and bottles to sell. At school, I did not even have a pencil. Then life changed when I was invited to live at Joshua House in Phnom Penh." “I went from being suicidal to triumphant.”
“For a long time, I had wanted to become a doctor because I did not want people in the poor countryside to die because of a lack of a doctor or money.” Vuthea has seen many people in his village and even in his own family die because of a lack of access to medical treatment, something he has been determined to try to alleviate.
“While at Joshua House, I ended up graduating from medical college in Cambodia and then going on to receive an internship scholarship in France. Now I am a maxillofacial and plastic surgeon. You can read my full story by clicking here.”
I am thankful for the support and advice that I have received from the Joshua House parents and supporters from overseas. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At present the ministry has produced: three doctors, a few engineers, two social workers, many business graduates, two lawyers, accountants and a number of others who are daily making significant social impact.
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Rebekah, Samphor and Ravy. Photo taken in August, 2025. Ravy has just graduated with a Business Administration degree and has now returned to her indigenous tribe that live in the remote hills of Cambodia. She hopes to become a school teacher.
Do you recognise these three girls? This photo was taken in January 2021 when they were all still at school.
statistics with regard to education and health in cambodia
Primary school enrollment reached 99.6% in the 2023-2024 school year. There has also been a significant increase in secondary school enrollment. Lower secondary enrolment in 2013-14 was 55%, while in 2024-25, it had increased to 75%. While in upper secondary, the enrollments have gone from 26% to 44.%.
Higher Education enrollment has also increased, from 10% in 2013 to 19% in 2024.
Global Ranking: The World Population Review ranked Cambodia's education 120th out of 203 countries, the lowest in ASEAN.
Early Childhood Education: According to UNICEF, only 27% of 3-5-year-olds are developmentally on track in literacy and numeracy.
Dropout Rates: 55% of adolescents drop out of school by age 17.
Literacy: While literacy rates are improving, there are still disparities between urban (93%) and rural (84%) populations, particularly among those aged 15 and above.
Although the socio-economic situation in Cambodia is consistently improving, there is still work to be done to improve the quality of healthcare, particularly in rural areas. Infant mortality: year on year is trending down. Currently, there are 18 deaths per 1,000 living births. Life expectancy in Cambodia is projected to reach 71 years in 2025.