Cambodia - February 2011
Charlotte, Marine, Claire and Clairo, four of the members of the Hong Kong Delegation for Children of the Mekong went to Cambodia in February of this year so as to visit the educational centres and schools sponsored by the Charity, meet the people in charge of the different programmes and get a better feel for the needs of the country in terms of school buildings and children still needing to be sponsored.
During our week there, we were able to meet a number of sponsored children by families in Hong Kong, deliver letters and presents to them and understand just how hard the teams work in this emerging country.
Monday 14th Feb
No sooner had we landed in Phnom Penh than the mini bus and driver whisked us off for a 7 hour drive up to Sisophon, in the north of the country. Martin Maindiau, a former voluntary “bamboo” is based up in Sisophon and is now the salaried Director for Cambodia of all the Charity’s installations. His life is dedicated to bettering the lives of the children.
There are about 150 children at the Centre in Sisophon of which 60 are boarders. The children have extra lessons after regular school hours which are sponsored by Children of the Mekong. These lessons include English, Maths, Khmer language, personal development and computing. They also have access to the library and the many books on offer there.
 |
| The flag ceremony at the end of the school day |
When the « Bamboos » (young volunteers from Children of the Mekong) visit the schools to find children requiring sponsorship, the 2 questions they ask are “who comes to school on a bike?” and “does your family have a tractor?”. The choice is then made amongst those that have neither bikes nor tractors, those amongst the poorest of the poor and who work well at school.
We visited an English lesson – with 58 pupils in the class ! But the amazing thing that struck us was the way they were calm, attentive and disciplined. In another lesson, we counted 64 pupils…working peacefully.
These students are the future elite of Cambodia but all come from extremely poor families, from a country that is rising up out of the ashes from the tragic period of the Khmers Rouges. History books tell you the Khmers reigned from 1974 – 1979. Witnesses confirmed that the last of the Khmer rebels were put down in 1999, a mere 12 years ago. And what we see, confirms this reality.
The Association « Room to Read » has supplied many of the books for the Centre and allows the pupils to come and practice their reading and feed their natural curiosity for the outside world.
 |
Tuesday 15th
Vianney, the young volunteer Bamboo accompanies us to Banteay Chmar, a 2 hour dirt-track bumpy ride, through dust-ridden fields and villages. The dust covers everything – the vegetation, the houses, the people…absolutely everything, including the recently harvested rice fields. His role is to supervise the works in progress and report back to Martin.
Our first stop is the recently-opened kindergarten in Banteay Chmar where the children welcome us with songs and poems in their Khmer language as we distribute balloons and lollipops! They are proud to show us what they know and welcome us warmly into their classrooms. What a chance they have in a country where children officially go to school from the age of 6. These little 3 – 5 year olds, thanks to Children of the Mekong, have a great head-start in life. The sooner we build more schools, the greater education these youngsters will have and be able to contribute to the future of their country.
Our next stop is the « Soieries du Mékong », the silk making workshop sponsored by Children of the Mekong and opened in 2001. For centuries, women in this part of Cambodia have worked in the silk industry as weavers or colorists but all these industries were eradicated under the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. Children of the Mékong and “Soieries du Mékong” are now working hand in hand to re-introduce the industry and help bring jobs to the area. A total of 95 people are now working at the Silk workshops of which 70 are weavers.
We naturally stocked up on scarves and shawls for our future sales back in Hong Kong as this is one of our important fund raising areas.
Our next stop was the temple, or rather the ruins of the Temple at Banteay Chmar.
Dating back to the 12 & 13th centuries, these ruins which one day must have been truly majestic seem to be totally abandoned. But as we scramble among the fallen walls and rocks, we notice a small team of 10 people laboriously trying to put the pieces of this giant puzzle back together again. They have their work load cut out for a life time.
Suddenly we hear “ooohs” and “aaahhhs”, but each time, as we raise our heads, little shadows dart behind the nearest available rocks. And then two little boys appear, absolutely beautiful with cheeky little grins across their faces beaming at us. We wonder what they’re doing in the middle of the afternoon playing in the temple ruins rather than being at school.
A 2 hour drive back to Sisophon but this time, our hearts are a little lighter as we ponder on the children we met in the school, the enthusiasm at the Silk workshops and the beauty of the little wild boys amongst the temple ruins.
Back at the centre, we meet up with the children whose sponsors in Hong Kong gave us letters and gifts for them. And for Marine from the delegation, a very moving moment as she comes face to face for the first time with her “godson”. A whole new future is now possible thanks to Marine’s generous support and the gratitude can be seen in the eyes of his grandmother.
 |
 | |
| Children whose sponsors are currently based in Hong Kong |
We visit the centre with some of the children who show us their classrooms and dormitories. Everything is neat, tidy and clean. The children are all happy to meet us and show us the mat they sleep on (no beds!).
As we pass the classes, we can hear them reciting poems, multiplication tables and conversations in English. And for the elder children, chemisty lessons or language lessons in the language lab. It’s extremely encouraging.
 | ||
| A young artist shows around the Art Class and some of his works |
“Snow White” was also given money from her sponsor and decided to buy pots and pans, bowls, a sieve and other kitchen ustensils to help make her parents daily life a little easier. She lives so close to the school that a bicycle would be of little use to her her. We are touched by her generosity.
Chanta, Charlotte’s « godchild » is keen to take us to her village to see her mother. On leaving the main road, we are once again on one of these typical dusty tracks with plastic bags and rubbish littering both sides of the road. Biodegradable is not something they understand yet in Cambodia. The poverty becomes more and more apparent, houses become cabins which in turn become shacks. As we arrive in the village, several women and children come to greet us and we are shocked by how dirty they are and their hair uncombed.
Thanks to the generosity of “Little Mercerie”, a small Hong Kong based children’s clothes company run by 2 French girls, we are able to re-clothe the very young children – who are literally transformed into little princes and princesses. Other mothers and children flock to the village centre, but they don’t ask for anything or beg. The elder children look on as we clothe their younger brothers and sisters and we are saddened not to have anything their size to give them. They accept with the kind of resignation that we have seen on the faces of other Cambodians and we are deeply affected by our own powerlessness to be able to do anything to help them.
Chanta, Charlotte and the grandmother come back to see us. Chanta’s mother is once again in hospital but we are unable to understand what is wrong with her. Her grandmother grabs our hands and thanks us profusely for the help and support for Chanta and the village. All of us are deeply affected by the very apparent poverty of the village and realise that our “drop of water” is so minimal in an ocean of poverty.
Cambodian women at the Sisophon market
What secrets behind thes old lady’s smile?
And what did this one see or hear during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror?
What is she thinking about? What does she remember?
The young people’s contagious joy will have the last word.
Hope will triumph
Those who lived through that time of hatred will find peace of mind
Thursday 17th
Time to leave Sisphon and say « goodbye » to all these children who encourage us to believe in a better tomorrow for Cambodia. After saying our goodbyes, we head south to Batambang, about 1h30 drive on the road towards Phnom Penh. Upon arriving, we are pleasantly surprised by the “normal” feel to the town which has shops, hotels, petrol stations, banks and seems rich in comparison to Sisophon and Bantey Chmar. We are, however, light years away from a Western definition of rich.
We briefly visit a pagoda where several monks come up to us to find out who we are and what we’re doing here. When they discover that we’re with an NGO, their next question is “have you got a job for someone like me?” NGOs represent security here in a country either through sponsorships, aid or by providing jobs.
Vianney, who has been with us on our visits since Monday, lives in Batambang and shows us around the house he shares with 6 Children of the Mekong students and another bamboo volunteer. We have a quick look around the wooden house which is indeed very basic and suddenly realise just how courageous and generous these young volunteers are giving up a year or two of their lives to come and live with and like the local people. The photo of his kitchen speaks for itself.
That evening, we meet up with Lo Chay, responsible for the NGO « 1001 Fontaines » in Cambodia. As a
child, Lo was one of the top Children of the Mekong students and is now a water
engineer whose life is devoted to ensuring that Cambodia’s children will “no
longer have to drink pond water”. The
water fountain in Sisophon was installed by “1001 Fontaines”.
The following morning, we set out for Phnom Penh, a 5 hour drive, and feel
reassured upon arriving and seeing the Capital that there are, after all,
financial resources in this country even if they don’t yet reach those most in
need. The country still largely depends on the generosity of
NGOs and foreign investors (the Chinese are involved in road construction, the
Australians with the railways.)
Our destination is the Dr Merieux Centre, a superb
modern building opened in 2010 that welcomes the students supported by Children
of the Mékong.
The Centre Mérieux gives students sponsored by Children of the Mekong the
possibility of having extra language lessons (Khmer or English), philosophy,
culture, managing finances, relationships & morality. The students have their evening meal at the
Centre and their breafast at their boarding house.
It is with a certain amount of apprehension but also a lot of pleasure that
we are reunited with Vibol, Kila, Ritty, Pisès and Mongrath, the 5 students
that came to visit us in Hong Kong in December when they left their country for
the first time, had their first passports, took the plane for the first time….many
many “firsts” including a glass of wine, a piece of French cheese, a hot shower
and a real bed! In Cambodia, they are used
to sleeping on floor mats and only now, as we see them again, do we truly take
in the culture shock that must have been theirs during their 3 day tour of Hong
Kong. The joy of seeing them again
outways any shyness and we are able to stay and share their dinner with them
before returning to our hotel.
Friday 18th
Friday is Claire’s « big day », the day she has been waiting for
– the day she finally meets Pheak Tra, the child she and her family sponsor.
Mongrath agrees to come along as interpreter as well as Constance, the bamboo
for that particular programme. Kep is
about 2 hours south of Phnom Penh, but the road is busy and the journey seems
to take ages. The countryside is
certainly a lot greener than in the north.
We finally arrive at the Centre for handicapped
children, financed by the Hong Kong Delegation in 2010. DYCFE is a very small Cambodian NGO which
welcomes up to 200 local handicapped children to the centre for extra maths,
English and Khmer lessons as well as providing psychological support to the
children’s families. The Director,
himself physically handicapped with two half arms, welcomes us warmly with his
wife and the fresh coconut juice is a welcome relief after the dusty
journey.
In order to reach the village where Pheak Tra and his family live, it is
necessary to go by motorbike as there are no real roads to get there ;
just miles of cross-country paths cutting through rice paddies (hopefully all
de-mined by now !). Just before
leaving, the Director tells us that November 2010 was the first month that
no-one had died from an anti-personal mine since 1975. After ½ hour on the bikes, Claire, Constance,
the Director and his handicapped assistant arrive in the village. Pheak Tra’s mother is warm and welcoming, as
is the grand-mother, but Pheak Tra seems concerned and very emotional.
Thankfully Mongrath is there to take him by the shoulder and reassure him in
his own Khmer language.
Pheak Tra suffers from a club foot, but has already endured a number of
operations to equalize the length of both his legs. The whole family (uncles, aunts, cousins) and
most of the village seem to have joined resources to provide a succulent
banquet meal but the whole occasion is just too much for Pheak Tra who has
tears silently running down his face.
Pheak Tra is 14 but is in the equivalent of 9th Grade – which is not
something particularly surprising in Cambodia.
In the satchel he receives from Claire is a Khmer dictionary, a
calculator, reading books, pens and pencils so as to encourage him to work hard
at school. Pheak Tra’s father is
currently in hospital with dysentery and malaria – the family’s concer for him
is evident, but their pride in preparing such a delicious, copious meal seems
to enable them to momentarily forget their worries.
It’s all hands on deck for everyone there with the preparing, cooking and
serving and the Director of DYCFE says that he has rarely seen such a huge
effort put in to welcoming a sponsor. Even the Village Elder turns up for
the occasion.
After emotional goodbyes and tears from everyone concerned and still not a
single word from Pheak Tra it’s time to head back to Phnom Penh and meet up
with the rest of the Delegation.
Back in Phnom Penh, our last evening is spent with Pisès, Mongrath, Ritty,
Vibol and Kila. We are proud of all they
have accomplished since they first started school to be where they are today;
studying at university or technical colleges with great expectations for their
future lives and the roles they will play in the reconstruction of their
country. Real friendships have developed from our two brief encounters (Hong
Kong in December and Phnom Penh in February) but thanks to the modern age of
computers, it will be easy to stay in contact.
They are now ambassadors for Children
of the Mekong and we know that we can count of them to encourage younger
friends and family members to go to school and get a good education. This is the essential stepping stone for all
children in South East Asia if they want a brighter future for themselves and
their country.
