Sign at the entrance | The Aloha Learning Centre where there are 3 classrooms for English, Japanese and Computer. The meeting room (which is temporarily the office) is also here. | Pond which overflows when it pours | Sunrise Library (the size of 2 bedrooms) where the children read, play and draw every afternoon | The chidren’s quarters | The guesthouse. I live on the 2nd floor as I’ve asked for a fan room (it’s cheaper) but I suffer the consequences every night heh. Gradually getting used to the heat though. | Garden outside guesthouse (probably the prettiest place in the entire compound) | my room! A painting of Angkor Wat hangs on the wall above | The toilet did come with basic toiletries like soap and shampoo, which I’m grateful for.
To be honest, although I’ve not seen other orphanages in Cambodia, I think FLOW is very fortunate to have partnerships and support from the Rotary Club in Hawaii and Worldmate group in Japan. That is why some of the buildings like the library and classrooms have been donated. They also have a room full of computers donated by the Japanese. I think they’re very lucky and I hope the donations and money from the guesthouse are all used in the most appropriate ways to benefit the kids directly. Not that I’m seeing anything fishy going on but I’ve read about so many orphanages being run as tourist traps and lining the owner’s own pockets that I think it’s easy to get carried away sometimes. But judging from what I see so far, I think the kids and staff are quite happy here.
