KIDS & Angkor Hospital for Children

Dear Friends,

We hope you are enjoying your summer. K.I.D.S. has assisted Angkor Hospital For Children (AHC) in many ways for over twenty years. When we first visited the hospital, they needed laundry sheds, so we offered to build the sheds over the outdoor clotheslines. In the early days, all the hospital's laundry was done by hand and hung out to dry.

In the rainy season, drying the bedding, scrubs, and other items was very challenging. The two sheds significantly improved the ability of the staff to keep up with the demands of the dirty laundry. Unlike hospitals in our world, families have to buy food and cook in the facilities provided at the hospital to feed their children while they stay at AHC. In addition to renovating the kitchen, we built a garden so the poorest families could harvest vegetables to feed their children. We have done many other projects there over the years, including renovating the microbiology lab so the hospital could identify many diseases onsite to shorten diagnosis to treatment time.

We recently received an email from Angkor Hospital For Children (AHC), which we have included below. We want to share it with all of you who have kindly helped so many children and families through K.I.D.S. throughout the years.

Dear Kids,

Hi! I'm Dr Neary, AHC's neonatologist. I care for newborn babies. We see miracles every day in our neonatal unit. Every day, the smallest babies are fighting to live. Even when all odds are against them. Today, I want to introduce Chan — one of these miracle babies.

Panha was only 7 months pregnant when she felt something wrong. But as a struggling single mother, she worried about the cost of treatment. Panha decided to travel to Siem Reap, where she knew she could find free care. But midway through her journey, Chan was born. Weighing just 1.6 kilograms, Chan was in critical condition.

The local clinic transferred them to AHC. We immediately placed Chan in an incubator and gave him a feeding tube. He was barely hanging on. While Chan fought to live, our medical social work team supported Panha with food and financial assistance. A month later, Chan had grown strong, stable and healthy. He could finally go home.

Miracles are made every day here at AHC. And we owe it all to supporters like you, KIDS, who never stop caring.

All the best,
Dr. Say Sopheakneary
AHC neonatologist

Thanks for making miracles come true.

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick
Co-founders

Bikes for Better Futures

Dear Friends,

We hope all is well with you and yours. Here in Canada it is summer time, which everyone looks forward to. In Cambodia it is the rainy season, which can be a challenging time for people there, especially when you live in the countryside, where most people live. The school year takes a break from mid-March to mid-May, so the students have to get to school during the rainy season, which can be difficult. As many students have to travel long distances to school, walking one to two hours, having a bicycle makes the world of difference.

One of K.I.D.S goals is to help young people get to school by purchasing as many bicycles as we can each year.

Where we live bikes are used mainly for pleasure and exercise; in Cambodia a bicycle can make the difference of getting an education or not. The families also need bicycles to help them get to the market to buy food or transport clean drinking water home. Needless to say the children and families are happy to get bicycles and often two children can ride on one bike to school. Providing bikes we all help break the poverty cycle by making it easier for students to get to school.

We work with one of our K.I.D.S. great managers to purchase and deliver the bikes, which are very simple bicycles but last a long time. Needless to say the children and families are happy to get them. A bike is only $60.00, so we have been able to provide hundreds of children with bikes.

Thank you for your support and for helping students continue their education and makin their lives so much easier

Until next time,
Adrianne and Rick
Co-founders