My name is Sela, and I’m 46. When I was eight, I had to leave school to work on our family’s paddy rice farm and care for our chickens.

My country, Cambodia, has endured a long history of hardship, occupation, and the Khmer Rouge genocide, causing the mass displacement of our people. I was still a child when nearly 2 million of my people were killed. Our culture, economy and marketable skills were lost, leaving many, especially women like me, vulnerable.

The scars still affect us more than 50 years later as we continue to rebuild. Agriculture provides income for many women, yet farming is seen as a man’s responsibility. Women’s options are further limited as foreign entities own many factories, and there is a lack of technical schools. In my village, I’ve witnessed countless women forced to leave their children behind, crossing the borders into Thailand or Vietnam in search of work. Migration makes them vulnerable to labor, sex, and child trafficking.