RICE FOR CAMBODIAN ORPHANS & VULNERABLE CHILDREN
October 2005
Pam and John with orphans at the Sangkheum Center for Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 28 October 2005.
The Five Tonnes of Rice Challenge was a great success, and we thank all of you who participated by donating money to the project. We raised more than enough money to buy five tonnes of rice for orphans and vulnerable children in the Siem Reap region of Cambodia.
In fact, this was the largest donation ever made through our project coordinator, Noelene Henderson. Noelene, originally from Australia, now works for the Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap as their community and charity manager. She helped plan and coordinate the donations in Siem Reap, and ordered the rice before we arrived on site.
This was an important project for two reasons. First, the people of Cambodia really need our help. Second, each food donation keeps children from having to beg on the streets and allows them to attend school. In fact, school attendance is often a requirement for receiving aid from the buddhist monks.
The first thing we did was buy three tonnes of rice and have it delivered to two different orphanages: the first two tonnes went to the Sangkheum Center for Children, and the third tonne went to the Sunrise Children's Village.
Visiting the rice mill was a must, as we had to see the mill itself and pay for the three tonnes already delivered the previous day.
Pam at the rice mill in Siem Reap.
The Sangkheum Center for Children, which received the first two tonnes, is the brainchild of Mr. Riem Sunsoley. Several years ago he decided that he would help his society by providing shelter and education for orphans. Over the years he has acquired land and had several new buildings built to house and train and educate local orphans. The facilities are superb and semi-rural. Children live in groups of about eight per house, with one overseer. During the day they are engaged in training or school-work.
Pam and Mr. Sunsoley in the rice storehouse at the SCC.
Our rice had already been delivered, and we saw some of it stored in a storehouse, and the rest stored in the back of the kitchen/mess hall. It was already being used.
Lunch at the Sangkheum Center.
The Coconut Dance done as a thank you for your rice donation.
SANGKHEUM CENTER FOR CHILDREN Riem Sunsoley, President, P.O. Box 93076, Post Office, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Chey Village, Teuk Vill Commune, Pouk District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. Tel: (855) 12-858-015 www.sangkheum-center.org (SCC) or www.KADO-cambodia.org (KADO)
Our next stop was at Wat Damnak near the old market in Siem Reap to pick up the venerable monk Hoeurn Somnieng. Somnieng runs the Life and Hope Association in Siem Reap: a group of monks responsible for providing food support to orphans and vulnerable children in the community. We had not donated any rice to the Life and Hope Asociation, but had committed the value of one tonne of rice in direct cash donation. Somnieng had already bought nearly a tonne of rice (782 kg), 92 bottles of soy sauce, and 92 cans of fish with the $220 promised. This would be distributed to 46 needy families so that their children could attend school. Each family would get 17 kg of rice, two bottles of soy sauce, and two cans of fish.
When we arrived at Wat (temple) Damnak, some of the rice was being loaded on to a small trailer pulled by a motorbike. It became stuck in the mud and we all had to muck in to free the vehicle. We then all piled in to tuk-tuks (passenger carts pulled behind motorcycles) for the ride to the Wat on the edge of Siem Reap at which the food would be distributed.
More than a half tonne of rice stuck in the mud at Wat Damnak.
We arrived to find nearly one hundred children and at least seventy adults, as well as a line of 46 bags of rice and bottles of soy sauce and tinned fish, behind which were a line of chairs. We were then expected to make speeches about the importance of staying in school, and how this food donation would help the children.
Somnieng asking who went to school that morning.
Pam handing out rice, soy sauce, and tinned fish.
John and Pam handing out food.
In groups of five, their names called out from a computerised list (the monks are very modern), the children would line up in front of the line of rice bags to receive a 17 kg bag of rice which often seemd to weigh nearly as much as the child, and the bottles and tins. Every child managed to carry away the giant rice bag. Food was loaded on to the back of bicycles for the ride back to the homes. In order to qualify for food aid, the monks require that children attend school, and that parents not send them out on to the streets to beg.
The L&HA also runs a small Handicap Village in Siem Reap. Here, families which have one or more members maimed by land-mines or war, and who often cannot work and therefore send their children into the streets to beg, can live together and be aided on the condition that the children go to school. These people really need our help.
The L&HA runs a Handicap Village in Siem Reap.
Children in the Handicap Village.
Having had great recommendations about the work of Somnieng, and having seen the impact the L&HA makes in the community, we decided to give the final one tonne of rice worth of cash to further this work.
LIFE AND HOPE ASSOCIATION Venerable Hoeurn Somnieng, Deputy Director, Wat Damnak Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia. email: somnieng2002@yahoo.com tel: (855) 92-929-962 www.watdamnak.org/lha/ (LHA)
The last tonne of rice was delivered to the Sunrise Children's Village right in Siem Reap. The facility is now run by an Australian organization, and serves a growing community. Their youngest resident is a 17 day-old baby turned over for care after the mother committed suicide. This facility is beside a public school, and houses orphans of all ages. Our rice was being stored on the auditorium stage as this was the highest and driest place with enough room for thirty sacks of rice.
Pam and Darren with the rice at Sunrise Village in Siem Reap.
The girl's dormitory at SCV.
The youngest resident: a 17-day old baby orphaned by suicide.
SUNRISE CHILDREN'S VILLAGES CAMBODIA www.sunrisechildrensvillage.org (SCV) Siem Reap, Cambodia.
In conclusion, we want you to know that your donation went directly to providing rice and other food to orphans and vulnerable children in Cambodia. We bought the rice at the mill, and saw it distributed to the orphanages. We also directly took part in distributing the food aid to vulnerable families. No money was spent on overhead as it all went directly to food aid.
Thank you.
John & Pamela