I had a wonderful afternoon with the housemothers at our Girls Recovery Shelter. Eight of them and they would rate as the top eight mothers in the world (excluding my own!).

I was there to make the difficult announcement that we have to move the shelter to a new place 9 kilometers away. This will be a huge job and most of the mothers have rented small rooms close to the current shelter so they can be close to work.

The attitude in that room was amazing. They all said, "No problem, we can see this will be best for the girls. I will find another room to rent for myself".

Compassion gripped my heart as I went to the shelters and projects of Hagar. I was immensely moved by the stories of the clients that Hagar is helping. But more than the clients, I was amazed by the people, the staff who are working with them, day in and day out.

In late August, Hagar’s Values and Activities team held a camp for Hagar’s Community Based care program. Over 130 young people came for the camp - a range of students from Hagar’s programs.

The goal of the camp was to teach these young leaders about developing strong values and giving back to the community.

Students led most of the activities! They made grafts, played games, held worship sessions and had team building activities.

Recognizing the dual importance of both soft and hard skills training, Hagar Cambodia established Career Pathways in September 2007 as an evolution of Hagar's vocational training program at the women's shelter. The program's diverse creative training curriculum equips students who have had little education and employment experience to explore their career options and achieve their dreams, while providing employers with an energetic, motivated and job-ready workforce.  Nine classes and 162 graduates later, Career Pathways has become what many employers consider Cambodia's premiere training program.

On June 17, Career Pathways welcomed over 133 graduates, business partners and partner organizations to its Annual Alumni Workshop.