Empowering Teens in Cambodia

The Honors Program strives to build skills of inquiry in our students throughout our courses. Here we highlight students who go into the world and apply these skills, typically through their thesis research or their Leadership Development Experience.

Madison Allred is a Junior in the Geography: Global Studies program, minoring in Business Management and International Development. For her Leadership Development Experience, she helped create a non-profit educational program for teenagers aged 14-18 in Cambodia called Mitt Chhlat.

Mitt Chhlat began as an interdisciplinary team Madison was placed in during her IAS 220 – “Introduction to International Development” class. Her team all had connections to and a passion for helping the people of Cambodia, and they primarily wanted to combat sex trafficking. “I am grateful that the Honors Program has taught me to dig deeper. I could see this horrible problem from the surface, but I knew from my classes that this was a symptom of a much larger problem. There were probably multiple contributing factors, and in order to find an effective solution we needed to discover as many as possible.”

As Madison’s team researched sex trafficking in Cambodia, they found many unexpected connections about what contributed to this societal problem.

“As I was researching the issue, I found that one problem led to another. Sex trafficking is accepted in Khmer [Cambodian] society for many reasons, including: the conflicting social expectations of men and women regarding sexually promiscuity and chastity, the legal status and judicial representation available to women, the effects of poverty on family social structure, the general health knowledge and curriculum structure in schools, Cambodia’s neighboring countries, etc. We even found that the genocide coordinated by the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970’s still had a powerful effect on Cambodian society today and had led to the cultivation of a sex trafficking accepting society.”

Her team ended up focusing on one key factor- sexual health education.

“Our group decided that the way we could be the most effective was by creating and implementing a sexual health education curriculum that combats social stigma. From our research, many Khmer teens were lead into prostitution from a lack of education, and men solicited prostitutes not knowing the possible repercussions. We also are designing our curriculum to combat toxic masculinity and empower women in the rising generation.”

The team of six decided to call their organization Mitt Chhlat, or “Smart Friend” in Khmer. The students sought the mentorship of BYU’s International Development instructor and experienced Human Rights lawyer Natalie Romeri-Lewis, who recently taught a Late Summer Honors program course. With Professor Romeri-Lewis’ expertise and guidance, the team of BYU students were able to successfully raise funds and in May-July 2018, conducted a successful pilot program at an orphanage in Phnom Penh.

Creating Mitt Chhlat and implementing the sexual health curriculum was a perfect fit for Madison’s Leadership Development Experience.

• She impacted the community by creating jobs for local Cambodians who taught the course and will be future administrators of their organization.
• Madison developed leadership qualities by advocating for the adjustment of curriculum to fit local needs, and her Business Management training aided in several behind the scenes aspects of their organization.
• She had to problem solve almost every day as she worked with local stakeholders, several NGO’s, and the Cambodian government.
• Madison also developed leadership by collaborating with an interdisciplinary team comprised of Sociology, Political Science, Geography, Public Health, and Mechanical Engineering majors.

“Honors has given me the intellectual training I required to reach my goals. Without that training, I wouldn’t be able to ask the necessary questions needed to make change in the world.”

Madison is looking forward to expanding her work in Cambodia through her Honors Thesis.