I have recently returned from my latest trip to Cambodia, and on this occasion I spent all my time in Phnom Penh, rather than dashing around the country being a tourist as I usually do. I was determined to spend as much time with the children as possible, as last time Carrie and I were in Phnom Penh most of the children had gone to visit their families in the countryside, so it had been a year and a half or more since I had last seen them all.
Well, they have certainly grown and grown up in that time! Some of the older children are now attending High School as you will know from my last posting, but I was unprepared to be driven around in the minibus by a couple of the older boys! Of course it is even easier to see how fast some of the younger children are growing up, I noticed real change in many of them, both in appearance and attitude.
The most significant news though involves the youngest children in the centre. First of all, Decem, the boy who was left outside the restaurant as a newborn nearly 2 years ago (he was named after the month they found him) is now a healthy, happy, independent and strong-willed toddler. It is great to see him doing so well, and to see all the other children look after him like a real little brother. The photo below shows a little of the spirit he has - he was trying to pick up the big xylophone-type instrument which he had been ‘playing’ with a musician earlier (he was holding the musician’s hands as he played).
The other ‘new’ children were a complete surprise to me. Over the past year or so I had heard mention of ‘the twins’, but it was never made clear to me whether these twins were living at the centre, and were part of the NCCLA. During this visit I was finally introduced to them, and I can report they are indeed living at the centre and part of the NCCLA. They are pretty identical, and their names are Molika and Malina (phonetic spellings as I am not sure how their names are actually written), and here they are in the foreground, with some of their 'brothers and sisters', and a few of the people who help out at the centre:
They too were left outside the restaurant about a year and a half ago. It is estimated they were about a year and a half old then, so they’re now around 3. They are very small for their age, smaller than Decem, which is thought to be due to them being malnourished for the first years of their lives, and it seems twins are often smaller when they are born as well. They are very sweet, and Molika in particular knows quite a few English words already - if you show her pictures she can say what they are in English.
And besides the exciting news about the 'new' (well, new to us) arrivals at the NCCLA, there was also some exciting news from Neth and Thavy, who run the centre - Thavy is due to give birth to their first child in December! I had long wondered whether they would ever have their own children, considering they were already looking after 30 of them - I guess that question has been answered!
In talking with Thavy we came up with several possible future funding opportunities, including expansion of the boys' dormitories, and modifications to the girls' dorms. I will be in touch again as and when we send any money over to cover those projects.
In the meantime, I would like to thank you all again for your continued support!
Best wishes,
Alan.
