Cambodia Children's Sanctuary

The children continued to fall victim to the flu due to changes in the weather. Some of them suffered from severe headaches but Sok assured us they have recovered. Sok was also sick with the “big flu fever”.  The damp conditions from persistent  flooding brought “cooler” weather to Cambodia.  Sok used the term loosely, stating, “Is not cooler liked U.S.  Is smaller cool in the Cambodia”.

The annual Pchum Ben Water Festival held in October was cancelled this year, oddly enough,  because of too MUCH water – in all the wrong places.  Travel to the temples for celebration and worship was impossible due to severe flooding which affected the whole of Asia. The Cambodian government claimed that after they distributed the foreign aid to the flood victims and families, there was no money remaining to fund the cultural celebration…

This may not be the best idea he’s ever had…

Or this guy…

Sok expressed his fears that the flooding would devastate the future economy of Cambodia. The country’s two main sources of revenue, agriculture and tourism, suffered the greatest hit.

“We can saying very much bad year for us in the Cambodia . Many people in the Cambodia are not happiness because the rain a lot making destroy rice farmer . Would be rice more expensive in the Cambodia next year .  A lot people dies in this time by big flooding water … tourist they can not visiting the temple many day… A Lot big the problem for the poorless people in the Cambodia crying for helping them with rice and good food good water… very much upsad about the Cambodia about this time .”

The government once again lived up to its questionable reputation, lacking compassion for its own people especially in times of need:

“Too bad for us poorless people in the Cambodia can getting nothing from our government. He making big corruption can not seeing how is sad in the Cambodia poorlees people need them helping.”

At least these kids are making the best of it!!!

Sok taught the kids to fashion book covers for their school books.

Sok bought a new motorbike for the tuk-tuk so the younger children plus Daro and Jai, our two handicapped kids, could get to and from school each day.

The older children graduated to good old fashioned bicycles.

Ron Kakthai all ready for her first day of high school!

Sok bearing fruit!

It would appear that the uniquely Cambodian “Fermented Fish Cheese” is being prepared below. This infamous dish is Internationally renown for being THE stinkiest cheese ever. Eat your heart out Stilton…

Can you spot the two peas in a pod? Or corns on the cobb?

The rainy season brought flooding and fever this month.

Sok took good care of the children and brought the sick ones to the hospital. He also continued lessons even when school was cancelled.

Jva agreed that hospital visits are never something to look forward to…

Sok kept school in session despite flood waters.

The Sanctuary had several visitors in September including Graeme Thom and his family (long-time supporters from Australia), a couple names Sarah and Drew who volunteered their time and compassion, and Jason Coyle and his wife who are expecting a baby soon!

You can see what big fans of Graeme the kids are!!!

Sok would like to express his gratitude to Sarah and Drew:

“Sarah and Drew sharing a lot compassion and happy with the children in the orphanage in the Cambodia – spending time for playing game, dancing, sing song. The best spending time for helping children with education. All the children are lucky for they come visiting us. thank for teaching them good English lesion at the orphanage center big day time all the time. They felling the orphanage center is her home town but she leave of by happiness and sad.”

Jason celebrated his birthday at the orphanage and Sok threw him a Cambodia Birthday Bash.

Sok is never one to hold back when it comes to throwing a party!!!

Life in pictures:

Tell me what child does NOT like watermelon?!!

Happy Days!

It appears that these guys may have ignored the warning that the food needed time to cool…

Pretty girls!!!

Sweet Daro  :)

How could you say “No” to those faces?

How ’bout them apples???

Kids:1 ——- Apples:0

I Bet Cheat Chem didn’t realize she was being photographed here.

Everybody loves snack time!!!

No day is complete without a game of “Bollyball” as Sok calls it.

The team captains have been selected:

The “Big Boys and Girls” prepared for High School which will begin soon.

In order to enroll them in High School, Sok had to return to the original “homes” of the children to determine official birthdays from any remaining relations. Needless to say, Sok had his work cut out for him this month.

SO grown up!!!

A big “Hello” from all the children from the Sanctuary!!!

The rainy season continued and the floods worsened in parts of the country.

Sok commented on the effects the weather had on the children’s health:

“We getting same our children getting sickness a lot big the raining season flu fever raining cold .  Bed the weather now in the Cambodia now but is ok hoped will be better sooner.”

The children began their week-long holidays from school with a celebration.

The nurses from Double X Effect visited recently.  They treated our kids and, in return, our kids entertained them.

I wouldn’t say that Sok was overly disappointed to pose for this picture…would you?

There was even some crowd participation involved!

As you can see from Sok’s photos, there were three tree’s worth of nurses trying to crowd into one tree’s worth of shade.

By night the classroom  transformed into “Club Sok”.

Complete with a Karaoke Contest which little Daro must have won based purely on his enthusiasm!!

The nurses also went to Tonle Sap Lake to help the pitiful kids who live on house boats.

Sok said this of Kim and the Double X Effect’s visit to the orphanage and surrounding areas:

“Kim she comes visiting in the orphanage center – all her team is good people they working a lot with the Cambodia people. We know how much that they team working  a lot for the Cambodia . A Lot love and wished from the Cambodia.”

Many thanks to Kim and the Double X Effect team for volunteering their time and efforts to our cause.

The weather was hot and dry and several of the children were taken ill.

Sok sent some pictures of the school term closing ceremonies. Four of our boys will be attending high school next year. University is pretty cheap in Cambodia but Sok is convinced the kids would do better pursuing a trade. We have 4 years to try to convince him otherwise.

Sok has the kids busy during the short summer break. They are doing arts and crafts at the orphanage. They are also taking school supplies to some of the remote villages. Public school is free in Cambodia but parents must provide uniforms, school supplies, lunch, and transportation.  School supplies are outrageously expensive for some reason. This means a lot of the kids cannot attend.

Some stylish summer clothes!

Everybody loves meal time!

The nurses from the DoubleXeffect (mostly Atlanta, Carolina area) are visiting this week and Sok is taking them to the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake to see if they can help the kids who live on boats ( along with the family livestock! ). It is like Noah’s ark if, instead of lumber, Noah had to fashion his boat out of discarded trash. These kids are the most pitiful we saw in Cambodia. Some of our kids came from the lake. But we are sure the ladies will help tremendously.

Sok was very grateful for all of the volunteers that have spent time teaching the children English and said they have benefited greatly from this. He said “they gave a lot knowledge and educational teaching a lot – help our children  find the best way out – good in the future from they had come visiting us.” A special thanks to Laura Heaven, Sungsu Jesse Lee, and all the other volunteers for spending time teaching the children.

The government honored the Sanctuary for taking in handicapped children. All of our kids were able to attend a formal luncheon. They looked very mannered in their school uniforms. Sray Mom (our house mother) looked particularly nice. Sok said there were “a lot of big boos people from the royal government” attending.

Several of the older boys are taking the high school entrance exam, hoping to enroll a year early.

A team of 30 nurses mainly from the greater Atlanta area (www.doublexeffect.org) visited Siem Reap in July to provide medical attention to the poorest kids in the rural areas. They helped at the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake (Sok refers to them as the “bloating villas”). You can see the floating villages in the “before” section of our website (http://cambodiachildrenssanctuary.org/before.htm). Several of our kids lived there before being rescued.

The nurses promised to give our children a good tune-up

John Coyle (brother of our generous benefactor, Jason Coyle) also paid the Sanctuary a visit this month. Sok’s recent “bolly-ball” related contingency involving 1-3 missing teeth has in no way hindered his love of the sport, as he was clearly unable to resist a game with his new visitor.  “John he liked playing bailey ball – he plying very much good then me playing”. Take it easy out there, Sok!!!

Let the games begin.

Cheerleaders packed the sidelines.

Game over.

Post-game feast!

Finished just in time for the rain to hit.

Shelter from the storm!!!

Sok has had to deal with the government recently which is usually a bad thing. Apparently, the orphanage received some special recognition because we take in handicapped kids. Sok said:

“We had 26 orphanage center . we the first orphanage had children handicap . We so happiness about this . I know all them they don’t need to caring handicap children is very much difficulty . but happiness a lot from we doing !”

Rainy season has begun and the kids are starting to get sick, as they do annually this time of year.

We have had a steady stream of visitors from around the world. Usually they come by to share something with the kids like a dance or a song. And Sok always makes sure they eat. It looks from the photos like Sok may even be serving wine to visitors now…

Good friends Jen and Wayne spent the week with them as they traveled through Cambodia!!! (They may have been recipients of the wine mentioned above…)

Sok tells us not to worry about his health. He has been diagnosed with “bad blood” but says he has had it since he was a “yang boy” so he knows how to take care of himself.

Thank you for your kind support.

Sok had a bit of an accident playing “Bally Boll” but assured us he will get it taken care of.

He wrote of his accident:

“Ooh my godness . I had big accident broken my teeth when I had plying bally boll I lost my two teeth , Is very much bad for me , I had looking 60 year old man”

The Cambodian New Year festivities began!

The children were treated to nearly new clothes and school supplies.

Some appeared more excited than others…

A hose-party with plenty of brightly colored Fanta kept the kids both cool and hyper.

Special guest musicians provided entertainment!

Sok took the kids to the Cambodian Riviera where they rode Cambodian jet skis (they are slower but use less gas).

The kids also visited one of the nearby temples but seem to have been more interested in the guard-monkey.

Jason Coyle and his wife visited the orphanage and also took Sok to Phnom Penh with them for a mini vacation!

Please observe the following sequence featuring “Sok the Magician” and his trusty sidekick             “Fred-Fried-Frog”.

Taking a much needed break!

Not guilty!

In case anyone was wondering which one was the Computer Room, wonder no more.

Sok continued to receive blood transfusions.  He reported that his eye is better but he cannot drink beer.  We are still unsure of his diagnosis.

A Canadian lady visited the orphanage and helped the kids with their English lessons.

On your bikes!!!

Off they go!

Re-thatching the roof?

Laundry day…funny how the boys managed to find something else to do.

We also welcomed Ratana and Nan to the CCS family!

Ratana was a heroin addict Sok found living on the street.  Sok says in the future “he want to be a polish man“.  Our best guess on that was police man, but being Polish is certainly something to aspire to as well!!

Nan was the youngest of 6 children of an abusive father. Being that she was the youngest and most vulnerable her father tended to beat her when he drank rice wine with his friends, which he did on a daily basis. In an attempt to rescue Nan, her mother begged Sok to take her in.  She can finally have the childhood she deserves in a safe and loving environment.

The Turnley family, who visited the orphanage in February sent us some great pictures from their time at the orphange! Enjoy!

Friendly football game!

Ron Kakthai looking so grown up!

Lon Sokpol showing off again.

A brief interruption…

Little Chenda

Som shows everyone how its done!

You can hardly recognize Tiny Two!

Always time for a hand-stand.

Gotta end with a group shot!

We have had two wonderful ladies from Iceland volunteer and an American student, Morgan Pike,  who taught English and computer skills to the children.

They even got some music lessons!

From the photos it appears someone named “Vincent” had a birthday. We either gave him a birthday party or perhaps somehow got his cake.

Sok has apparently had to have a transfusion. His eye is also giving him problems. He says he is receiving medical attention but it is hard to tell from here. We keep encouraging him to get the best help available.

We have adopted two new children: Chenda and Jeva.

Chenda is an 8 year old girl whose father died of Malaria contracted on the Cambodia/Thai border working there as a police officer for the government for many years. When he fell ill, rather than help him back on his feet, the government refused any compensation for treatment leaving Chenda’s father to die. His wife was left to care for their 5 children on her own.

Chenda and her siblings never had the chance to play with the other children because they had to go out and work like adults every day, collectiong glass bottles and cans in order to survive. Sok found Chenda on the side of the road about to collapse trying to carry twice her weight in glass bottles.

Jeva, 9, was abandoned by her parents at such a young age that she has no recollection of them whatsoever. She lived with her grandparents who were very old and poor and could not afford to feed or educate her. Most days she didn’t even have food to eat.

Sok tells us she is extremely bright and excelling in school which she would not otherwise had the opportunity to do.

Daro is learning to ride a bike which he is thrilled about. And we are too!

Too cute for words.

Some of our newest members were excited about their first day of school!!!

Two new children, Chakriya and Kok, joined the CCS family this month.

Chakriya, 9, was very young when her father died of AIDS. He contracted the disease from the women he used to spend his money on rather than buying food for his wife and family.  Chakriya’s mother (also infected with HIV from her husband) was forced to work despite her declining physical condition. Chakriya helped her mother as best she could, collecting cans and bottles for pocket change, and rummaging through garbage cans to find scraps to survive on.

Sok said this of Chakriya’s mother:

“Her mom she cannot get up from the bed. She staying waiting die all time. But she wished before her die that she want seeing her children live good place. Then she can die by happiness”. Sok was able to grant her dying wish.

Kok, aged 7, was born in the same village in the countryside as our housemother, Sreymom, which is how Sok found out about him. His parents abandoned him to find a better life in Thailand where they could make more money. He does not remember them as he was only 3 when they left. Sok was forced to work like a “Big Man” from a very young age. He plowed the rice fields and tended the water buffalo.

“Kok he never have time for playing with his friends at the village – he just happy for working only – he good boy and good listening”.

Because of your compassion these children are no longer robbed of a childhood.

The children continue their after-school computer tutorials.

Kaka continues to reproduce.

The chickens follow suit!

Sreymom prepares dinner.

Our lime trees continue to grow and provide much needed shade!

The children celebrate the Chinese New Year with a party!

Rath patiently awaits her treats!!!

A beautiful end to a beautiful day. Sunset at the Cambodia Children’s Sanctuary.