INSIDE EMI 2016 Cover Story - The Priceless Ones by Braden Swab

Fourth Edition

INSIDE EMI CAMBODIA CALLING

The Priceless Ones

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By Braden Swab / EMI Canada / Cambodia

THE PRICELESS ONES AN INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN MCCONAGHY FOUNDER OF RATANAK INTERNATIONAL

In 1989 Brian McConaghy’s life changed forever with one visit to a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. He began the charity now known as Ratanak International in his mid-twenties to bless the people of Cambodia. Earlier this year, EMI Canada sent a project team to Phnom Penh to design a reintegration home for Ratanak’s ministry to victims of sex-trafficking. Brian spoke with Braden Swab about this project and his 25-year journey in Cambodia.

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Those the world would say are worthless, God says they are and so I'm privileged to be called 'dad' by them.

priceless

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BS: What are some challenges unique to Cambodia?

BM: One of the keys is the actual genocide in the 1970s. It was so thorough.

It's the only time an entire country has been turned into a concentration camp.

The borders were sealed and the entire population was subjected to slave labor, brutality, and execution. That has left a profound mark on this society in terms of the sheer percentage of people who died, and the execution of all those who were educated. So one of the challenges is simply having the resources to rebuild and develop. Those trained people, the engineers, the architects – they're all gone, they're all killed.

BS: What has Ratanak International been involved in over the past 25 years and where does that name come from?

BM: Ratanak is the name of a little girl who died in Cambodia in 1989. And I was just over the border from her, in UN warehouses full of medication. We couldn't transport any of it into Cambodia because there was an embargo. So Ratanak died on the wrong side of the border. It just so frustrated me that I figured I would dedicate whatever I do in memory of her.

Originally, during the civil war and before the UN came in, we were involved in medical assistance. All the doctors had been executed, so there were no medical programs. I was involved in immunization drives, building clinics and hospitals, and the development of ambulance programs.

All that primary health care work needed to be done because there were no services in the country. Then we moved into agricultural development, and literacy development, among other things.

In 2004, I ended up with a Canadian paedophile's police file in Canada and had to investigate it in Cambodia. And that opened that whole ugly world to me. So I didn't get into child exploitation and human

trafficking issues with young women until then, but now this is the centrepiece of our work at Ratanak.

BS: How was God equipping you for this ministry to victims of sex-trafficking before you even got involved in it?

BM: I now view over 22 years of forensic police work as the training I needed to cope with the work involving young women and children who have been sexually assaulted. It's brutal stuff. Psychologically it's very, very difficult to witness those rape videos in order to try and find the victims. If I hadn't done over two decades of Royal Canadian Mounted Police work, I'm not sure I could handle that at all.

In addition, in the police I was trained in public presentation and linear and forensic thinking, which has proved to be incredibly useful. I never realized initially that this experience would help to solve crimes here and protect children.

BS: What does success look like in the Ratanak Achievement Program?

BM: We are privileged to work with many young lives, but it's really not a numbers game – not in work this hard. These are human beings that have been bought and sold, traded, and abused to the point where they don't actually think of themselves as human the way you and I do. Our job is to transition them from the world of abuse and brothels and trafficking to create healthy people that can integrate into real society. And we've seen that many times. We've got several thriving now in university, which is absolutely fantastic...

In Zephaniah, at the end of chapter three, God says, “I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have been put to shame. I will gather you, I will bring you home.” That is exactly what we are doing through the Ratanak Achievement Program.

The locations and identities of all the young women in the Ratanak Achievement Program are protected.

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But success is to first get these young women to the stage where they can recognize that there's a God who made them and that they are profoundly valuable.

The term I always use is that they are “to die for.” If they can grasp that they are “to die for”, we have the basis of rehabilitation right there. So to give them that hope and an opportunity to become wonderful young women of dignity, of education, with hopes and dreams for the future – that's success.

BS: How will EMI's involvement in this project affect the women who come through the program?

BM: So often something like engineering seems abstract, far away from those lives, but it's not. In a sensitive program like this, it's vital to have the right building. When it's built, will be a safe home and a shelter from the storm. The fact that it's welldesigned for them has a direct impact on their psychology and their understanding of who God is. Because this is provided by God for them: A safe place to realign their lives. So the role of EMI in creating that space is not abstract for those lives. It is absolutely central in recreating normal life for them.

BS: Why is introducing these young women to Christ so important to their recovery?

BM: I think with good therapies and medical intervention, we can get these lives sort of cobbled together to be somewhat functional. But if you want life to be genuinely restored – if you want to see joy in a life that has been completely shattered by modern slavery and abuse – that's something only Christ does. There's no therapeutic process that will give you joy and a hope for life if you've been abused and sexually assaulted potentially thousands of times. But that's what Jesus does. So we simply can't do this as a secular program.

This is about God's restoration of lives. And He says, “You are valuable no matter what.

You are to die for.”

Level 5: Rooftop Terrace

Level 4: Short-Term Housing and Meeting Room

Level 3: Short-Term Housing, Offices Level 2: Short-Term Housing, Rec Room, Counseling Rooms Level 1: Kitchen, Advisor's Offices, Library, Computer Lab

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West Elevation

This is about God's of lives.

And He says,"You are valuable no matter what.

You are to die for."

Restoration

*http://inside.emiworld.org/features/webfeature_10049.php

CANADA BS: Personally speaking, what is your favorite part of this work?

BM: It is the very simple fact that many of these young women refer to me as 'dad'. There is no higher honour for me.

These young people have had everything stripped away from them. But those the world would say are worthless, God says they are priceless, and so I'm privileged to be called 'dad' by them. It is gold, absolute gold, and it encourages me to keep going

PROJECT NO. 10049 FEBRUARY 2016

PROJECT TEAM Project Leader : Braden Swab Project Leader : Greg Young Chris Hardrick Jim Lange Graham Miller Taylor Norris Scott Stober Seo Yun Yang

TEAM DISCIPLINES Engineers

Architects

Interior Designers Below: EMI's architectural design model of the Ratanak reintegration home. This building will be a safe-home for up to 30 young women.

CAMBODIA Phnom Penh

Watch the video* for more from Brian and the Ratanak team.

North Elevation

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