I cant believe that I’m more thank half-way through my time
in Cambodia. In a little over a month, I’ll
be back on London. Although I miss my
friends in London, I really wish I could have more time here.
The last few weeks have been great in very different
ways. Thanks to a generous donation from
one of the readers of this blog, the $2700 was secured for bunk beds in the
shelter. We even managed to cut a deal
with the bed makers so that we could mattresses and mosquito nets. Local builders are making the beds, and they
should be ready for delivery on the 29th of July, just in time for
John to help put them together. I cannot thank the wonderful donor enough, and I know that the donation will help to make the shelter feel more like a home.
Yesterday was spent building a chicken coop. A lot of money is spent on food for the girls
in the shelter, and so HCC has tried to find to ways to cut costs and make the
center more self reliable. For the last
few years they have been able to get fish from the lake on the premises, and
this year they will get 50 chickens to raise as well as a vegetable
garden. All of these projects are a
great way to give the girls, and especially the young ones, what it means to
work as a unit and also how to provide for yourself. It was very funny to build this chicken coop
in the Cambodian heat, as it was not at all what I expected. I imagined an English style chicken coop—simple
design, wood, nails, ect. I didn’t even
think that we do it Cambodian style.
When I arrived there was frame built out of what I think is bamboo, and
there were hundreds of palm leaf roof parts.
A few o f my colleagues
immediately climbed high up on the structure to begin tying the palm leaves to
the roof. I myself worked from the
ground. It was really nice to be a part
of the project, and great to learn about the process. The same methods used to build the chicken
coop are used for houses in the countryside (except they are usually built on
stilts). I have to admit, the heat got
the better of me and I didn’t stay the whole day (I’m sure I will hear about it
at work on Monday).
In the last few weeks I have been lucky to go to the shelter
frequently and spend some time with the girls.
In a short time, I’ve come to really enjoy my time there, and especially
with the little ones. It is really
heartbreaking, however, to see just how many young girls are there (and by
young, I mean younger than 10 years old). Apparently in the last 5 years especially, the
girls are getting younger and younger. For those of you who haven’t been reading, the
girls are at the shelter because of at least 1 of the following reasons: Human Trafficking (usually sex trafficking
for prostitution), exploitation (also usually sexual exploitation), abuse (also
usually sexual) or because they are seen as being at high risk for one the
previous situations. The youngest girl
at the shelter is currently 6 years old and was abused by a village member, and
she arrived in the shelter a few days before I landed in Phnom Penh. Many of the girls stay at the shelter for
quite a long time, and there is one case where the now woman has been living
there for 10 years. I don’t know her
story, but have been told that the things that happened to her so terrible,
that she now suffers from very severe mental disabilities. She doesn’t want to spend time with any
people, refuses to sit near anyone, eat with anyone, speak with anyone,
ect. I’ve never seen such dead vacant
eyes in my life, and it is truly heartbreaking to even begin imagining what she
must have gone through.
Work is great, and I am getting some experience in writing
proposals. We are currently trying to
attain funding from the EU for a social enterprise business/training center in
Phnom Penh for the girls. One of the
main criticisms of tertiary education in Cambodia is that it doesn’t provide
transferrable, marketable skills which are useful in the work environment. My colleague, Joe, came up with the idea of
setting up a business in Phnom Penh to give the girls the opportunity to attain
a wide set of skills. Hopefully there
will be more details to come, but we are both heavily buried under this monster
application.
Other than that, John should be here at the end of the month
so that we can to Siem Reap (where the infamous Ankor Wat temple is located)
and Mondulkiri (apparently the most naturally beautiful province in Cambodia—I hope
John and I can take an elephant ride tour through the jungle to all of the
waterfalls). I can only now encourage
you to visit Cambodia and see for yourself what a magical place it is. It’s impossible to put into words what I love
about this place, but there is definitely something in the air, and I already
can’t wait to come back.
Thank you again for reading and for your support.
Love,
X S
