Hello Everyone,
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| Mobile Health Clinic |
We hope all is well and the New Year is off to a good start. We thought we would write and give you a quick update on the progress of the Mobile Health Clinic and the addition to the Girl’s Home. The clinic is progressing very well; the welding of the steel floatation is now finished as is the wooden platform and railings around the perimeter. Work has also begun on the prefabricated building that will be brought down to the port, assembled and bolted down to the deck. The Lake Clinic staff are very happy to have this clinic built and we are working closely with them to identify their needs regarding the function of the clinic. In speaking with the doctors, nurses and midwives they are looking forward to having a permanent facility where they can treat those in need and stay in a comfortable place while working in this isolated area. We are planning to tow the clinic to its location on the Stung Sen River in a few weeks, about a 24 hour trip (no doubt an adventure), not sure how were getting back???
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| Addition to the Girl's Home |
The addition to the Girl’s Home is coming along with the foundations and first floor support columns complete and the forming of the second floor and support beams well under way. These projects are providing work and training for many Khmer (Cambodian) people. With the construction of the Girl’s Home, the building of the clinic and work on an addition to the building we live, which starts early and goes 7 days a week, life seems to be one big cloud of dust and noise.
We took the girl’s out and bought them some new, higher quality bikes as the ones we purchased two years ago have seen many kilometres and the constant repairs were starting to add up each month. We have connected with the girl’ several times now and they are progressing well in their studies and with their English. It is hard to believe how the girl’s are growing. The older ones seemed so small a few years ago and now several of them are teenagers. We have known many of them for years and it is hard to believe that they once lived such difficult and tragic lives. They are now healthy, bright eyed, happy and keen to study and learn. We believe that this model of small groups of abandoned children and youth coming together to live as a family is so much better than living in large orphanages and the closeness of the girls is wonderful to see, they are truly a family.
After retrieving Srey Poan from the border we told her mom that we would assist her and the remaining children somehow. So we went to the market and purchased a bicycle, fish paste and various other sundries so she could make Khmer soup and transport it to sell at local market for a profit. We also purchased two bags of organic fertiliser to give the current juvenile rice crop a good start; as you recall in our last email the family lost their first rice crop to the floods a couple of months ago. With this leg up the family will hopefully be able to tide themselves over until the current rice crop matures. They were very grateful for the assistance.
We have attached photos of the clinic platform awaiting the building, the some of girl's the house mother and cook in front of the formwork of the girl's home.
We thank you for your kind messages and best wishes and will continue to keep you posted.
Warmest regards,
Rick and Adrianne