Happy Khmer New Year!
At exactly 7.26am today (don't ask us why at that time!) it became the Khmer New Year.
What better way to celebrate it than to go and have a party at an orphanage!!! We had wanted to spend a day at an orphanage since we met Kerry (an Aussie) in Shinnoukville who runs one out here. Sadly she was on holiday so we couldn't visit hers but we spent ages phoning, emailing and generally driving around looking for one that was open. We found one. The Cambodian Development Project was set up one year ago by Samnang Sean, a local in his early 30s. He has no government backing so is reliant on tourists finding him and giving donations. An older Australian guy had also found the place and paid for everyone to have a lavish meal today consisting of rice, chicken, sweet and sour sauce, cucumber and cans of pop. We bought sweets, books and a massive, laminanted atlas of the world.
At exactly 7.26am today (don't ask us why at that time!) it became the Khmer New Year.
What better way to celebrate it than to go and have a party at an orphanage!!! We had wanted to spend a day at an orphanage since we met Kerry (an Aussie) in Shinnoukville who runs one out here. Sadly she was on holiday so we couldn't visit hers but we spent ages phoning, emailing and generally driving around looking for one that was open. We found one. The Cambodian Development Project was set up one year ago by Samnang Sean, a local in his early 30s. He has no government backing so is reliant on tourists finding him and giving donations. An older Australian guy had also found the place and paid for everyone to have a lavish meal today consisting of rice, chicken, sweet and sour sauce, cucumber and cans of pop. We bought sweets, books and a massive, laminanted atlas of the world.
The day was fantastic. There are 21 children there ranging from 2 years to 15 years. Not all are orphans. Many come from very poor families where their families have loads of kids and simply cannot afford to keep them.
The orphanage has a school in it where three times a week the kids learn English with an Englisah teacher. They also go to state school in the mornings. It has a large room which is a play room and has tables dragged into it at meal times for everyone to sit down. At the back there are teo large dorm rooms. One where the boys sleep and one for the girls. They are very basic and although have beds, they have very thin mats on top. Electricity is supplied by a generator and cooking done outside in a giant pot on a fire made from coals. There is one tap to use for food, washing and anything else.
We spent the day playing with the kids, hide and seek, connect 4, Tim read them the books we bought. Then music was played and we spent ages dancing!! It was fantastic but very tiring and we were sad but exhausted when it was time to come away.
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