Current projects:
1) New Cambodian Children’s Life Association (NCCLA)
This project continues to be run to the highest of standards. The dedication to the project shown by the project’s director Neth and his wife Thavy, as well as their employees, remains exemplary. All the children seem happy and healthy, and they are all doing very well at Cambodian State School. One of the older girls, Channa, is 3rd in her school and was recently rewarded with a $20 prize and schoolbooks.
Since my last visit three new children have joined the orphanage.
The first is a 9 or 10 year old girl called Thida who was being physically abused whilst in the care of her alcoholic uncle, after her mother and father died of AIDS. She was removed from this situation by a Westerner who knew about the NCCLA. We found her to be unsurprisingly more shy and timid than the other children, but she seemed to interact well with the other children and by the end of our time there seemed to have taken us into her trust as well. The photo below shows Thida (front middle) with Srey Nak (left) and Srey Rath (right).
The second new child is a 4 or 5 year old boy called Rap. There was a photo of him on my previous blog about the last trip to Cambodia in April 2007, before he properly joined the NCCLA. He has been living at the Centre for about 9 months now and has settled in completely. He plays happily with the other children, and is part of the dance performances at the restaurant. He seems very happy to be at the NCCLA. This photo shows him looking rather sleepy after an afternoon spent at Phnom Penh Water Park.
The third and final new child is a 3 month old baby boy– I don’t know his name as yet. He was found outside the restaurant one morning by Thavy. Neth and Thavy have decided to raise him as theirs. He is not living at the Centre yet, and I am not sure if he will in the future, so he may never be part of the NCCLA project, but I thought you might like to see a photo of him. This one shows Nary, who works at the Veiyo Tonle restaurant and also helps out at the orphanage, holding the new arrival.
In general the news about NCCLA is positive, though they have had a recent setback. At the end of January, Neth was approached by the owner of a bar which has recently opened a couple of doors down from Thavy’s parents’ house. The bar owner asked if Neth would move the NCCLA minibus, donated by an American supporter, from in front of Thavy’s parents’ house, where it is always parked. Neth explained that he had nowhere else to park it, and it was left at that. One week later the minibus was set alight. No one witnessed the arson attack, and no one has been arrested, though the matter was reported to the police. The photo below shows the extent of the damage done to the minibus.
The minibus has been repaired at a cost of approximately $1500. This money could of course have been better spent on the children. As such we have decided to make a donation of $2000 to the NCCLA to cover the repairs to the minibus, and to cover some of the day to day running costs of the Centre.
I also discussed with Neth the possibility of funding the rental of an apartment somewhere near the Centre for some of the older children to share when they get to perhaps 16 or 17. This would allow them to gain some independence and learn new life skills such as cooking and cleaning whilst still enjoying the support network of the NCCLA around them. Neth was enthusiastic about this proposal, so this is something we will be looking into more in the near future.
2) Cambodian Handicraft Association for Landmine and Polio Disabled (CHA)
We made a $860 donation to the CHA in October 2007, to finance the move of their premises in Siem Reap province from one site to another about 1km away.
However, so far only some of the money has been spent, as ‘bureaucratic’ problems have led to a delay in the new site being ready to build the premises on. One of the buildings on the current site had been dismantled and partly re-built on the new site, before the Siem Reap Culture department, known as Apsara Authority, decided that the correct clearance had not been given, and told CHA to apply for this clearance via the deputy Prime Minister’s office. Kim Tha, Director of CHA, has made the application but still awaits approval for building work to recommence.
This is a problem as the building that has been dismantled contained the dormitory for the disabled workers, as well as a sewing workshop. The photo below shows the current site, with the shop and weaving workshop still standing on the left, but the dormitory and sewing workshop dismantled and ready to move to the right of it. The pile of rubble in the foreground of the picture came from the old foundations of the dormitory building, which will be used to lay new foundations at the new site.
As the CHA workers have nowhere to work or sleep they have had to be sent home until the new premises are ready.
It is widely understood that if the correct person had been bribed in the first place this could have been avoided, but neither Kim Tha nor his associates knew who to bribe. They sought permission for the move from all the local authorities they were told to approach, but were unaware of the need to ‘pass money under the table’ to ensure everyone would be happy.
Whilst the building works on the new site were stopped, an organisation calling themselves ‘Intervention Siem Reap’ visited the site and ‘confiscated’ the wooden structure that had been erected, and the concrete posts supporting the wooden structure. Any concrete posts that could not be removed were smashed. Again, it is believed this organisation expected to receive bribe money, but took the building materials instead. Kim Tha does not expect to get them back.
It is hoped that the building works will be on track again in the not too distant future. Kim Tha has requested help from an acquaintance in the Apsara Authority, and I will try to elicit the help of a contact at the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), Sam Sotha, who has close links with the deputy Prime Minister. Once building work recommences, I will contact Kim Tha to see if they need any further financial support from CFF to replace the materials that were stolen from them.
Potential Future Projects:
Lighthouse Orphanage, Phnom Penh
During our stay in Phnom Penh, we befriended a tuk-tuk driver, who offered to take us to an orphanage he tries to support. As such, on our last day, we were driven out to the Lighthouse Orphanage, in one of the poorer areas of Phnom Penh. The photo below shows the entrance to the orphanage.
This orphanage houses 72 children, has very little outside support, and no regular support from Western charities or individuals. Due to these factors, it is a long way behind the NCCLA in terms of organisation and in terms of the well-being of the children. The children we saw were a lot more unkempt than any of the NCCLA children, and one of the children was mildly mentally disabled. It was also clear that not all the children were regularly attending school.
We spoke at some length to Mr Lee, the person running the orphanage, all the while trying to ascertain whether this was a legitimate project, or whether it might be a money-making scheme, which is certainly not unknown in Cambodia. Both of us were fairly certain that Mr Lee was legitimate, and really did have the best interests of the children at heart.
If, after conducting all possible checks on the veracity of the Lighthouse Orphanage we did decide to support this project, which I am keen to do, I feel we should start off doing this in a structured way. Mr Lee suggested a couple of ways in which we could help them:
1) Pay their monthly electricity bill, which is approximately $100 (this may seem a lot, but I can confirm that electricity costs are very high in Cambodia)
2) Buy them a tuk-tuk to take the children to school, and to be used as a general means of transport. This would cost approximately $1000.
I hope to be returning to Cambodia in September, and will try and get more reassurances that this is indeed a viable project for us to support. In the meantime I will stay in contact with Mr Lee by email to try and get more of a sense as to the legitimacy of this project.
I hope this brings you all up to date with the projects the CFF supports. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments regarding any of the above.
Many thanks for your interest in the CFF,
Alan.
