When Elliot Costello visited an orphanage in Cambodia in 2013, his life changed in a way he never thought possible.
What he didn’t know, however, was that a meeting would take place which would also change the lives of thousands of others…
It all started in 2013 when Elliot Costello, a social entrepreneur from Australia, met a little girl named Thea.
Thea was a 10-year-old girl who sadly had ended up in an orphanage after being rescued from a terrible situation. She had suffered two years of physical and sexual abuse, and the violence against her had left a deep mark. Unfortunately, we would never have heard of this brave little girl without Elliot.
But let’s take it from the beginning…
After her birth, Thea’s life was good. The Cambodian girl grew up like any other child, cared for and loved by her mother and father and mom. Tragically, though, fate had other plans for her. One day her father suddenly passed away, and his death was devastating in more ways than one. In addition to being a traumatic, emotional event, Thea’s father had been his family’s sole breadwinner. When he passed away, the family was left in a financial crisis.
Things got so bad that Thea’s mother could no longer care for her daughter, and she made the difficult decision to send Thea instead to an orphanage. Unfortunately, the little girl’s life there would become a living hell.
According to Polished Man, Thea was physically and sexually assaulted daily for two years by the orphanage’s director.