Saturday, November 29, 2014

Hello Everyone,

We hope all is well with you and yours. We are now back in Cambodia. We took a few days to catch up on some rest and have been connecting with our contacts here in Siem Reap and have the ball rolling for most of the projects that we will be working on this year.

Dance performance "Wishing Dance" for good luck
Our first connection was with Samnang House, home for girls. Before we arrived we received an email from the director, You Vath, saying that the number of girls had increased from 14 to 22. We were a little concerned how this would work with space and costs. When we pulled up to the gates all the girls came pouring out to meet and hug us. Of all the places that we work this is the one that really has our hearts engaged the most. We have been involved with many of these girls from before we opened the girl's home eight years ago as we worked with them at the street children's shelter where they lived. We sat and caught up with everyone about how they were doing at school and at home. More and more every year their english skills improve as they move on through their different levels of education. Their commitment to improving their lives is inspiring and they work very hard. From two years to twenty years old these kids have formed a caring and tight knit family and are very inclusive of one another, even the new children. Later in the day the older girls put on a dance performance for us with a "wishing dance" for good luck. Part of the program at Samnang house is to keep the children engaged in their cultural hertage.
  
The next day we returned to meet with You Vath to discuss the business end of running Samnang House. As always there are bikes to repair or replace as they are driven rain or shine, seven days a week and time takes it toll on them; so we will repair some and condemn others. There are issues with water at the house that will be looked at but in general all is going smoothly.

Then we discussed the eight new girls that had recently arrived. We asked with trepidation how they came to be here, as we know from past experience that their stories are the furthest thing from fairytale lives one could imagine. They had come from a variety of very extreme situations, facing poverty, abandonment, abuse from family members, or no access to education in rural areas.

Beautiful faces of some of the girls
Two of the children had been sold and were destined to be trafficked over the border to Thailand, to face a hellish life that one can only imagine. As luck was on their side word reached You Vath and the wheels were put in motion. The police intervened with the transaction in another province and the children were rescued and brought to Samnang House. The two have now settled in and you would never know from their smiles and demeanor the difficult road they have travelled to be here. They are still quiet and a bit underweight however You Vath and the others are helping heal their emotional wounds and they are coming out of their shells.



A new life at Samnang House
So the safety net that K.I.D.S provides, thanks to your support, is bulging a little bit at Samnang House however as the kids compassionately make concessions in their living space to support the new children we will make adjustments in budgets and allocations to support them and keep them safe.

All the Best        
Til Next Time     
Adrianne and Rick