Goutte d’eau – a child support network (GEcsn) was founded in 1996 in Switzerland. In 1997, the foundation created its 1st project – a home for vulnerable and marginalized street children in Neak Loeung (southeast Cambodia) – at the request of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSVY) and UNICEF.
In 1999, after the opening of the border between Cambodia and Thailand, GEcsn opened at the request of the MoSVY a second project for street children in Poipet, a border town with Thailand (northwest Cambodia), which quickly became an innovative project to combat child trafficking. From the beginning of its work in Poipet, GEcsn realized that many children were either leaving the border town with their families to look for better opportunities in Thailand or were falling victims to child traffickers. Living illegally in Thailand, many of them were arrested and deported, which prompted GEcsn to set up a project in collaboration with the Cambodian government and other NGOs – IOM (International Organization for Migration) and UNICEF – to welcome, rehabilitate and reintegrate these children.
From the onset of its work in Poipet, GEcsn noticed that many of the children in its projects had disabilities (often mental) and had been victims of child trafficking because they triggered more pity and were more ‘profitable’ than other children when begging in the streets of large Thai cities such as Bangkok. Since there was no program to welcome these children at the time, GEcsn decided in 2003 to open the 1st project dedicated to welcome them in Cambodia. In 2018, to continue to provide optimal care for these children, DT moved the center to Neak Loeung where the organization had large infrastructures that had become available following the closure of projects for street children that had become obsolete. This new location permitted the development of an outreach project making the center’s care accessible to the large number of children with mental and/or physical disabilities living in the region while allowing them to continue to live with their families.
In 2016, to continue the commitment made to these children once they have become adults, GEcsn created the Kep Farm, an agricultural social enterprise for young adults with mental and/or physical disabilities. The farm offers a sheltered living, training, and working environment adapted to the needs of its residents as well as semi-independent housing (SILA) for the most autonomous of them where they can acquire skills and resources that will ultimately allow some of them to live independently outside the Kep Farm.
GEcsn’s projects quickly became local projects managed by Damnok Toek (Goutte d’eau Cambodge). Today, Damnok Toek (DT) takes care of 700 children and young adults daily and supports 1’700 children and their families in the following areas:
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- Projects for children and young adults with disabilities
- Education and vocational training for children and young adults
- Child protection
- Unsafe migration (fight against trafficking)