Liketytrip

After a very relaxing christmas day by the pool and discovering the hidden wonders of Angkor we took the fast boat to Phnom Penh.

Our first after noon was spent visiting the horrifying museum, S-21; Originally a school and then converted into an interrogation and torture base by the Khmer Rouge during the 1970’s.

The following day we had arranged to visit a very special place in Phnom Penh introduced to us by an American (Marc Gold) whilst in Nepal. The Centre For Children’s Happiness (CCH) is essentially an orphanage and was set up in 2002 by Mech Sokha. Mr Sokha, himself orphaned by the Khmer Rouge and having struggled in his early life has chosen to give something back to the children of Phnom Penn.

With the support of the 100 Friends Project and other charities around the world the Centre for Children’s Happiness regularly visits the nearby Steung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump and carefully assesses nearly 1000 children who live there for selection to join the orphanage and be given a new start to life.

The Steung Meanchey Municipal Waste Dump is 100 acres in size with around 2000 residence in one of 3 settlements on the dump itself. All these people rummage day and night, 365 days a year collecting recyclable materials such as paper, cans and bottles to sell for recycling. An adult will get maybe $1.5 a day and the children maybe half that. The infrastructure to theses settlements is pretty sophisticated given the circumstances. Small stalls are set up selling some fruit, some sugar water and other essentials however the poverty here is extreme and disease is rampant, particularly in the monsoon when the place becomes a lake of stagnant water. Many of these families and children come to Phnom Penh from the countryside after reaping no reward from hard labors farming rice and seeking a new fortune in the city. Sadly there is no “Phnom Penh Dream” here and many end up moving out to the dump and off the streets to avoid begging.

One mother I spoke to was spending the day looking exhausted and sitting in front of one of the small food stalls with her 2 year old baby (which looked about 6 months old). She’s hoping that someone might be able to buy her something, maybe a bag of water or an orange. Two kids found some soft foam to jump on; for a split second they were kids being kids before the reality of their situation hits home and they’re back to sticking their metal spick through a coke can. Later I saw that same pile of foam going up in flames, ignited by the heat of the sun, pumping black smoke into the air. The people here think nothing of it, they simply don’t know it’s bad for them to inhale it.

The whole dump simmers as small bits of garbage set fire and a cloud of methane is permanently hanging about 4-5 feet above the ground. As I walked around with Prak Sokha, (one of the teachers and our guide for the day) he told me stories of how some kids may return home with thier $1 or $2 earnings for the day, intended for the family to eat that night, only to find one the gangsters or even the landowners demanding payment. They may loose every cent they’ve earned that day.

From time to time the children might attend school however this cost c25 a day considerably reduces their earnings. Whilst poverty is always going to be a relative figure everywhere in the world, in Phnom Penh $1 or $2 really does not get you very far and living for today is the only way these people can survive.

The Centre for Children’s Happiness is not big, with only 48 children at the moment it is only capable of helping just a small proportion of the orphaned children from the dump and is always trying to find funding to help more. Many of the children have been living on the dump for a number of years, some born there. They’ve not had the luxury of a staple diet and they suffer from underdevelopment; a 14 year old child may look 7 or 8. Mr Sokha visits the dump twice a week to look for appropriate candidates to be taken off the dump; children with no guardian or parents. It’s a tough job as there is a whole social system to the settlements here. Gangsters offer protection to some for a fee of course, others are driven to prostitution in the city amongst other horrors so there is plenty of time given to investigating who really needs the protection which this orphanage can offer. In some cases Mr Sokha and his team will visit the country side to meet and interview the real family and friends of children.

Back at the orphanage there are a million reasons to feel hopeful and the amazing staff, local Cambodians along with support from a number of charities are building a new future for these amazing children. Keo Manin a 14 year old girl who lost both her parents to HIV tell me about here dreams to be a doctor and then one day a surgeon. Whilst we sat on the step of the forecourt she’s tells me all about the scholarship she is applying for in the UK and when she’s 18 hopes to head to Oxford or Cambridge. The odds are pretty good; many other children have been on similar adventures to universities in the US, Canada, Japan and Malaysia, all these opportunities coming from the new lease of life they’re given here. Chin Sayorn, a 14 year old boy is study IT and learning basic skills to type letters for other locals on one of the many PC’s they have set-up at the orphanage. He’s also been leaning the piano and now plays the base guitar too.

Mr Sokha is creating an environment for these kids to build their own future. Basic skills like computing, hairdressing and cooking are taught to everyone. Another of the boys has also just got his driving license and with the supervision of one of the staff is picking up tourists from the local airport and taking them to the airport. A step forward to maybe managing their own tour operating business one day.Our experience here was sobering, yet full of hope too and we hope that by promoting the CCH on Liketytrip we can ask you to help where possible and donate a little to the 100 Friends Project who are always looking to sponsor another child at the orphanage. The cost of educating, feeding and most importantly giving love and protection to a child is only $800 a year (£400) and Mr Sokha told us that there are 2 brothers they are currently looking to take out of the dump in the next couple of months if they can find that sponsorship.

The orphanage is place of joy and hope for these children and it lifts your heart to see what Mech and his team are doing. The Cambodian people have been battered for decades, even centuries by everyone around them. They’ve fallen victim to other peoples wars, like Vietnam; the Khmer rouge devastated a generation leaving millions with not a lot to live for and the reminisce of these past atrocities are all round them still today as mine fields all over the country side. Somehow these resilient, happy, bubbly people have survived – they fight on today as they have for decades before.

The Centre of Children’s Happiness is just one or hundreds of NGOs who without their intervention would leave many more children on the streets and suffering from disease, malnutrition, prostitution and people trafficking.

We’ve made a little film to accompany this post (one take run around) so please take a minute to watch it and please, please donate if you can. To learn more about either the 100 Friends Project or the Centre for Children’s Happiness then please visit their sites. If you wish to donate then click the “donate” button on the home page of the 100 Friends Project website I’ve also included for download a document which outlines the goals and objectives of the CCH.

CCH – an overview

Finally, A very big thank you to Mr Sokha and in particular the children of the CCH for looking after us for the day and letting us talk to them about their dreams for the future.

Check out the pics