Blum is officially open!

The new site opened today! We celebrated with a big ceremony with the parents, children, staff of Riverkids, invited guests from other NGOs and the main community leader from the commune of the area. Cambodia Television Network also showed up to film the ceremony.

The new site is in a nearby slum, walking distance from the Alexandra site. It is called Blum after the grandmother of the donors funding the site, Teena and Matt Ingram and their family from Australia. Teena spoke briefly at the ceremony and explained that her grandmother had run a similar community center in the small town where she grew up in Australia and so the family saw it fit to name it after her. I think Blum would be very proud of Teena and her family and the contributions they have made and continue to make to this slum.

Riverkids was able to rent the building for the new site because there was a sad loss in the family who previously occupied it and they therefore offered it to Riverkids for a reasonable price. Some of the walls need repair but that will soon be taken care of. Otherwise it is a great space for starting off a new site and the grade school classes have already begun.

Two nights before the opening, Phnom Penh was pummeled by a rain storm that flooded the roadway into the slum. It also flooded part of the house. The location of the opening was moved because the ground at the original location was a bit too muddy and messy for the crowd. But the relocation turned out perfect after some hard last-minute work by the staff.

The ceremony was very nice. Mr. Sophon, Dale, Teena and the community leader all spoke. My favorite part was the song performances, both in Khmer and English, by the Alexandra kids. I have seen them practicing every day since we arrived from Singapore and they were great!

I did notice a difference in the behavior of the children from Alexandra and those from the Blum site. The Alexandra children were better behaved and not as aggressive with each other as the Blum children. The Blum children seemed to be more attention-starved.

Teena says she also noticed this and even just six months ago some of the Alexandra children were the same way. Just takes a bit of time to get them used to each other and the new techniques for learning. And I imagine when their lives become more stable they are able to relax and enjoy themselves more.

In the afternoon we went back to Alexandra for a cooking class with Teena and the Get Ready girls. It was really fun although the lack of electricity threw a bit of a kink in the plan. But we adapted as usual. We broke into groups and Teena showed everyone first how to make spring rolls. The girls really loved this and everyone was full by the time we were ready to make the second dish, fried bananas. The girls were really excited about frying the bananas as we all circled around the pot of oil heated by a charcoal fire. And afterwards they were so proud of their creations that they passed them around for everyone and anyone to try.

All in all, a very exciting day.

Posted by Ellie Klerlein