September 2007 trip report

Dale spent a week in Cambodia visiting the Riverkids Alexandra project, and it was pretty awesome! There's so much going on and planned, and interesting people to meet.

1. Prahok, the Cambodian fish paste stuff is just as vile and weird looking as people have said, but chicken stir-fried with slivers of ginger is so good that it makes up for a mouthful of prahok soup spluttered out.

2. Heli K, a Swedish primary school teacher, will hopefully be taking over our kindergarten program, the way Joline did for Get Ready. We've got a basic program up and running, but it needs to be adapted to Khmer culture, the needs of the slum community and with lots of emphasis on training teachers and parents.

3. The Get Ready and the Volunteer curriculums are all done! I'm putting them online under a creative commons copyright, and we'll start revising them, but it is pretty awesome to see the lesson plans in action - the volunteers did this big seascape with the kids' fish made from aluminum foil swimming along.

4. In mid-November, the first group of Get Ready girls will graduate. Four are going to repeat because they're still not ready for further training, either academically or emotionally. The other nine will be placed into jobs and training. We took their files and over lunch, worked out some possibilities and started talking with the girls about them. One wants to be a cook, two in hairdressing, two will go back to high school with part-time jobs and - oh it was just so great to see real plausible futures for these girls. Choices. A chance.

5. We've just gotten on top of all the files for the kids, and now we're trying to expand the records and services to families. It's a lot to handle, but the team is doing so well.

6. I met lots of great people, but who sticks in my head are the construction worker guy from the slums who gives impromptu literacy classes to some of the kids, the local NGO that does breakdancing with kids at risk, and the mother who shifted from being just plain 'ol awful from terrible stress to reaching out gently to her daughter when we visited the brother in prison.

7. We need to build a classroom! We can't fit a container into the space we have, so instead we're going to build a very basic wooden frame with a big concrete patio underneath for the sewing machines, group meetings and *g* breakdancing. If we ever have to move, it'll be relatively cheap to pull it down and put it up again, and it's cheaper overall than a container.

8. We started talking about a drop-in non-formal class for the kids-at-risk whose parents won't enroll them part-time or full-time at school. Not sure if/when that will happen, but there's a definite need, and it'd be a good way to build ties with more kids.

9. We also spoke with one group about a survey/research project. It's a big thing, and I'm really on the fence about doing the work. I know it needs to be done at some point, but is now the right time?

10. It is definitely the right time for weekly boarding! We have about 10 kids who need somewhere safe to stay the night. Up till now, we've arranged occasional sleepovers with staff or other families, but it's not enough. One family has acrimoniously split up, and two of the kids can't attend class for fear of the dad. We made some complicated arrangements to get babies and toddlers looked after (a primary role for older kids is childcare - they look after the babies so mum and dad can work, which can mean as with one family, a 5 and 6 year old swapping morning and afternoon care for a one year old) so some kids can come board away from abusive homes. They'll be able to go home on weekends, or even every other day, but they will have a safe shelter and routine. Plus regular meals! We've got the supplies, now it's just a question of getting another housemother for Steven's House, as we'd like that housemother to be the weekly boarding housemother. She rocks and the kids know her and trust her already.

11. The Riverkids Shop is reopening and by Christmas, it will be so gorgeous! We're encouraging the Get Ready kids to make hand-embroidered ornaments because some of them do such beautiful work, and we're getting a few other Christmas things from parents.

12. We went to the State School that the grade school kids will start at in October. It's a shambly old building, but filled with smiling kids and in the library we visited, there were posters, kids' craft and books all arranged around to be read. I last registered kids two years ago, and things have already changed. The registration has to go through the Ministry of Education, and they didn't want anything outright, but we offered to give them things for their library. What we'll probably do is double-up the books and posters we get and give half to their library.

14. Agreed on funding for ten at-risk boys and girls in Kompong Speu, our first out-reach project. On paper, it's cost-effective, and shows a lot of promise, but it's a little scary funding something that we're not directly in control of,even if we have full access. The same people doing that, SSF, are the ones helping a sibling pair and an HIV+ woman and her family that are being funded privately by some friends of Riverkids. Those people aren't at risk for trafficking, so Riverkids can't work with them, but they are in need. One neat thing was meeting the young man who starts university. He's from a rural family and basically studied and studied on his own to pass high school and dream of going further. I wish him the best, and will meet him in about two months to see how he's settling into university. He's going to volunteer at Riverkids on weekends as well.

15. We will start our second Get Ready group as soon as we get another GR assistant for the group. It has to be someone enthusiastic and warm and organised. We've got five girls short-listed for that group, a lot more we hope to get but haven't managed to convince the parents yet. Once the first batch are working/training, it's going to be a lot easier for them to see there is a way out, another choice besides selling your daughter to sex work.

16. Sometimes the way out just isn't there - I read about Cambodian graduates who couldn't find work, met a young woman trained by a local NGO who'd lost her garment factory job, and other people who'd lost their job for just not being good enough or professional. A lot of it is soft skills. And then there's finding the job. You might have the ability, but if you don't know about the job, well. The Cambodian economy is growing rapidly, but it is tough if you're on the edges.

17. One of our Get Ready girls was approached for a "second wife" job - US$100 plus an apartment! She was pressured to take it, but with her grandma's support, she said no. Unfortunately, her grandma is not doing so well, but we'll be here.