PHNOM PENH—Prak Sokhayouk relished her debut as an actress. Her role on stage? A child sold into prostitution.
"I was surprised, because I never knew to act. I was so excited when I did
it," says the 18-year-old Cambodian girl of the part she played in a series of skits staged before an audience of more than 300 students here in June last year.
For Sokhayouk, this foray onto the stage was rewarding also for the play's message. The skit she took part in—where her boyfriend in the performance sells her to a brothel owner—was part of a programme to raise awareness of Cambodia's children being exploited by the sex industry.
The other skits shed light on child labour, children affected by drugs and
the plight of homeless children.
"We wanted to make children and parents know about this child abuse,"
adds Sokhayouk, the second of five siblings in her family. "Cambodians
need to know what is happening to their children."
Sokhayouk is also key figure in Cambodia's Children's Committee, which consists of 35 members from ages 13 to 18 years from all across the social spectrum, and which campaigns for children's rights.
"CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children) is one area we spend a
lot of time, trying to arrange activities," Sokhayouk explains. "Nearly
everyday we see CSEC stories in the papers, or read about adults raping children."
This second-year university student of management and finance
believes that children—who make up close to half of Cambodia's 12.4 million people—have to take leadership roles to rid their country of child abuse.
Yet at times, efforts like that of Sohayouk's comes up against their peers, who dismiss the exercise as futile. "Some of my friends have said that children cannot do anything. Why bother, they say," she admits.
Sohayouk herself used to think little of such children's activities when she was a secondary school student. "I was drawn more to my books," she says. "My parents dissuaded me from joining the committee too."
But after securing a place at Cambodia's National Institute of Management, Sohayouk felt the urge to work in children's rights.
And since her stage role last year, her parents have been effusive about
her work with the Children's Committee. "They are more interested, more supportive now. They tell me it is important for all children."
