January Trip Report 2008

The 22nd of Jan saw me heading up to Phnom Penh wondering again if i'll get lost in the crazy traffic or if the 'Cambodian Mafia' as my dad likes to think will come and get me.

Well, I survived the 7 days in Phnom Penh (and weekend in Kep for a 10 km run with the Education Coordinator) and left for Singapore leaving rather happy with how things are going. I'll jsut be writing things that I can remember off the top of my head. More detailed blog entries wil come a bit later - to whet your appetites.. heh.

1. A Blum house has been found in the new community. It's a HUGE 2 storey space with a small field to the front and side of the building - lots of space for the Grade Schoolers to play once Grade School starts there. We're now waiting for the current occupants to move out and renovate and make sure it's child-safe before letting the children create havoc in there. I had a tour of the place with Heli the kindergarten coordinator and we're really happy with it.


2. The Alexandra Family House is looking much more cheerier than it used to - all thanks to the Raffles Junior College students. They brought the beach to the community in their mural (the beach is about 3-4 hours bus ride away from Phnom Penh).


They also attempted to built a cupboard for the kindergarten which ended up half completed and became a shelf in the weekly boarding room. Well, I still applaude their effort nonetheless (I didn't expect the shelf to be still standing :P ).


3. Post-Hosea consultation, Riverkids Foundation staff have been working towards having better documentation. An administrator, Mr Som Onn, has been hired to make sure everything's in order and organisation with the help of Sofia, our volunteer from Sweden who will be leaving Riverkids in mid-Feb. The once non-existent filing system is now well and kicking and a client database is nearly finished thanks to Mr Chort, our part time IT expert and soon to be accountant.

4. Accounting wise, things are improving as well. Special thanks to Mr Peter Ray who has been dropping by a couple of afternoons each week to go through accounting systems with Mr Chort. The amazing things people can do with Excel.

5. Children wise, there were a couple of health issues. None life threatening but still needs attention. One of the Grade Schoolers had a very bad case of headlice and now her hair is clumped up together into something like a headlice nest. I hadn't the courage to touch the clump but according to the teachers, if you shift her hair about headlice and eggs can be seen. Argh. The main problem here is not the lack of medical treatment in Cambodia but superstitions. The parents refused to have her hair washed with anti-lice lotion or have her hair shave since it's bad luck and according to superstitions, the girls will get sick if anything is done. This is a very frustrating issue we have to deal with. Riverkids staff can't do much since using force to wash/ shave the girl's hair will lead to distrust in the community but the parents won't do anything about it either. Now it's up to the social workers and counsellors to find ways to persuade the parents to do something.


Another boy from kindergarten has a bad case of tonsilitis - at least that's what I think it is. He was sent to the hospital once and the doctors there said that he needed a minor operation but was too young to be operated on. More updates about him in future.


6. The new group of Get Ready Girls are looking good! I joined them for abit of soccer (they created their own soccer rules) during there hour long Life skills lesson and it's nice to see them have fun. More on this next week!

7. The graduated Get Ready Girls have been doing well too! The greatest success is the one girl doing apprenticeship with Smateria now. She's adapted so well there and the people from Smateria are eager to have her hired officially! The girls in Yejj doing the cooking course look well too paying attention to the teaching staff and taking down notes when I dropped by.
They were suffering from typhiod however but they are scheduled to get treatment on Valentine's day. The girls back in Grade School have been helping out in the mornings as kindergarten teachers as well before their school starts. A great help for the kindergarten teacher, especially with 20 hyperactive kids running around. Lastly, the Bright Girls have been continuing their sewing training. Their sewing skills have improved a whole lot and we'll be progressing to teaching them design. They're also making little dolls now which I felt look totally adorable. I dub them the 'Cambodian Heidi' and a visitor was so in loved with it that she bought one and a dress! That's an excellent motivation for the girls to keep training and improving their skills!

8. Microfinancing. 3 mothers and the Bright Girls are now in our microfinancing scheme with 2 making paper flowers, 1 making cigarette wrapper necklaces and the girls doing dresses and dolls. We would like to look into more sustainable ways for them to earn a living since making more paper flowers and cigarette necklace can only bring one this far. I'll be adding a new group in groupswim soon for people to discuss possible markets/ ventures that we can look into for the parents and girls in the microfinancing schemes.

Many more has happened but I'll update more over the next week once the photos are ready!