Apparently it is very common at the start of a new year for people to consider changing theit job. Well, I thought it might be a perfect time to write about the life of a street kid who cannot change their job!
Imagine you have spent the night patrolling the streets; with a torch if you are lucky, looking for recyclables. No one uses nice bins here so you will have manually sorted through the detritus left along the streets. You have to share with dogs and rodents too.
Eventually, tired and filthy you go "home" to a shack or a corner of the street with your friends or if you have any, your family.
Sun up, nothing to eat you drag yourself to the drop in centre like we run at CCT where you can have a shower, wash your clothes and attend a lesson. And bliss - after class you get some rice for breakfast!. If you have sick family members or tiny siblings then you probably take the food home for them.
These are the lucky ones. Many do not attend a drop in centre; and most cannot go to school. We do send those who attend our centre to public school and we supply clothes and books. We also give lessons in English (Jan takes these); Khmer, maths and swimming (me). They LOVE swimming! They even enjoy the cold showeres. But often they cannot make it or drop out - they need to be back on the streets trying to make a little money.
This all sounds shocking. But it is the life here and as you can see from the pictures they are still children and love to play. We just try and make their work day a bit more fun!
