Today I spent the entire day and evening with the children living at "Children Center for Happiness" in Phnom Penh. There are 80 children here ranging in age from 3-18. We arrived about 12:30 in the afternoon and brought only foam art craft project.
I thought for the first visit we should only bring one activity and assess the situation. Max and I purchased these together. Sarah thought they were really cool so I thought it would be fun. There were colorful foam pieces that when dipped in water stuck together. They spent over two hours making all kinds of sculptures. Some made flowers, others made necklaces, robots, furniture, even a snail. The creativity was amazing and both the boys and the girls loved it. While kids were still creating with the foam, some of the children asked me to read to them and others wanted me to hear how well they read. One girl named Rak Smey read in such beautiful English. She read me the entire story Rapunzel. The smallest child there name PovNiivath climbed into my lap as I was reading to a little boy. While I was reading, she fell fast asleep. :) The other children showed me to her room where I laid her down to nap.
Each small bedroom holds eight or nine children. Each child has a very small space of their own. They have wooden bunk beds, only some of the beds have mattresses. The room reminded me of something you find in a summer camp, but much smaller. All the children were amazingly happy.
The orphanage has two internet computers and the children kept asking me if I knew singers such as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. When they get computer access, they go on you-tube and were so hip to American culture.
The second part of the day, we took 24 of the teenagers on a "field trip." Kate's school which a private school here in Cambodia was having a rock concert. It was hosted on by the school's Parent Group (think, PTA). They agreed to sell us the tickets at half price so we could bring the children from the orphanage. Kate, her boyfriend Dusty, a friend of Kate's, whom she met here, Kara, and I loaded these 24 teens into 4 tuk tuks and we took them to the concert. There was a DJ and then the rock band played. These boys and girls were so gracious and polite. They loved every minute of it. They have never seen this kind of a live music performance. Very similar to schools at home, the PTA had raffles. I used some of the money given to me for the children to buy the 24 tickets; one for each. THREE of "our" kids won. A boy won a box of chocolate (very expensive here), one of the the two girls won $20 cash (the average monthly wage for a Cambodian is about 50 dollars!), and the other girl won a "self defense" class at the school. I was beyond excited for them and of course I cried. What was most amazing to me was how the children that did not win the raffle congratulated their housemates and it was genuine. The funniest part was that they really had no idea what a raffle was, they only knew that their name was called and they got a prize.
[**I have the most amazing photos of the day. I was able to upload them onto Kate's computer but can not seem to get them onto the blog. I have been attempting this for an hour now. :( I will try again tomorrow or maybe facebook them.]
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