After a good rest and meeting the other volunteers, all sound as people from France, Turkey, England and America
we cycled over to the orphanage to meet the kids. Almost immediately we were swamped by children and the cries of
'Hello Mummy, what is your name, where are you from?' Overwhelming and amazing, they were so excited to meet us
and learn about us, and then most importantly, to play with us! After being invited to sit and 'eat rice' we spent
the rest of the day playing games, reading, drawing, hanging out on the hammocks, being taught Khmer, generally
spending time with the kids. 49 Children live there, from 4 years to teenagers. Its very basic living in a shared
house and an outdoor cooking area, the main staple being rice. They all go to school at different times, sometimes
for only 2/3 hours a day so there are always kids there to hang out with.At 4pm there is the daily ritual of 'going fishing' which means taking a walk down to the pond for a change of scenery. By the end of the first day I was exhausted, toughest day I've had in ages! Back to the place the volunteers were staying, which was in the midst of being transformed into a restaurant to train the older ones in hospitality and earn money for the orphanage. In the evenings we would all go out to eat or one night Tabs and I cooked up a big meal for everyone, it was great to be in a kitchen and cooking again.
The next 3 days were a similar formula of having breakfast at the market and hanging out with the kids. Really
got to know their personalities and learnt a lot from them. One day we brought fruit along and everyone helped
make fruit salad. Great fun and a variation in their diet too. They also loved our cameras, many a photo was
taken of us and the other children, who love to see themselves on the screen. More volunteers came and went
too, and it was a real social place for us to meet other travellers.
It was very hard to leave and I was surprised how attached we had become over such a short time. It was a
special place to visit to witness the reality of peoples lives here, how much of ours we take for granted
and the complexities of running such a project on minimal resources and funding. The kids were complete angels
and outwardly happy but it's a band aid measure and its a screwed up world that means these kids are here in
the first place.
We wish them and everyone involved in New Futures all the best for the future.
visit the orphanage