What if we told you that you could help 52 at-risk Cambodian youth break the cycle of poverty and build meaningful futures? George Wright pays a visit to an innovative new project—spearheaded by Friends-International and The Intrepid Foundation—that aims to do just that.

In 2006, Ouch Sopheak found himself sleeping rough on the streets of Phnom Penh. He was 14 years old.

Orphaned after his mother and father had passed away when he was young, Ouch briefly moved back to the notorious Stung Meanchey dumpsite—a landfill that people literally lived on—in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, where he was born. Despite lodging with relatives, he was soon forced to leave as the family couldn’t afford to provide for him.

Fast forward to 2018, and I meet Ouch, now 25, in the leafy grounds of Phnom Penh’s Romdeng restaurant. Not too long ago, he spent a stint living homeless just a stone’s throw from here. “When I left home, I stayed on the streets for two or three days, I was just walking around,” he says.