We've moved online!

Our blog is now hosted at our main website, Riverkids Project.

We left this up as a lot of websites are linked to older posts, but all the content was copied over to the new blog. Thank you so much for your support, and we hope you enjoy reading about our work in the Cambodian slums with children at high risk for trafficking and exploitation. 

I give up – take my baby.

Two women came to us last week to say that they were giving up their babies. Exhausted, abandoned by their families and trapped in abusive work, they saw no hope except to give up their babies.

They could have gone to traffickers and sold their babies for several months’ income. They could have just left their babies somewhere and walked away. They could have done either of those things months ago.

Instead, they came to Riverkids to ask if we would take the babies for them. One we’d been working with already, the other had heard of us from the community.

Read the rest at: I give up – take my baby.

Monday Mix: Missing child, smart money, weddings, ballet and grim news about rape

Read more links and news about Cambodia, NGOs and child trafficking at Monday Mix, on our website news blog!

One of our volunteers, Jane Boyle, wrote about us at Pay It Forward. Sadly, the little boy she wrote about (his name has been changed), has been missing for over a month now when his mother took him from school and fled. We’re following up with relatives, and are hopeful that both of them will come back, but it’s been tough on the staff and children who were close to him. Such a sweet serious kid, and always kind to the other children in Weekly Boarding.

Children in Riverkids celebrating Khmer New Year!

The Khmer New Year just flew pass and staff in Riverkids, Cambodia have just returned from their hometowns. Ever wonder what the kids in Riverkids were doing or how they celebrated the New Year?

A week before everyone went back to their hometowns to reunite with their families, the kids from Railway II, Blum and Alexandra projects gathered at the Family House. Staff and volunteers danced, played games with the kids and handed out toys, snacks and drinks for them to enjoy.

We and our donors want the kids under our care to be happy, not denied; studying and not loitering; playing safely and not working dangerously.

We’re fortunate. Our children who are mostly from dysfunctional families had been able to do all that because of the generous support from our donors. The smiles on their faces that day simply showed how happy they were despite their circumstances.

Thank you donors, for putting gifts in their hands and big smiles on their faces.

Contributed by: Sophon

Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/world/14microfinance.html?pagewanted=1

Competition and greed might be the main culprits for the atrocious rates. When did an organisation cross from “let’s help the poor get out of poverty” to “how to make more money”? What drives the microfinance institution? How did an organisation lose the essence of its existence and digress to fight for the top lending position? Check. At the end of the day, what kind of question did the top guy ask his employee? Was it, “how many people did you help today?” or “how much interest did you make for the company today, have you hit your KPI!?”

We do a 10% flat which is shockingly low, but we are lending in a way that is barely lending - it's so screened and supervised, because failure has such a high emotional impact on them. It's certainly not to make a profit, every loan is an immediate loss from risk and the work to supervise and help.

Oh, did anyone say, “No harm charging high interest rates, it’s win-win anyway”? Well then, should it be named “microfinance” in the first place?

Help Sokie and her family go further

A slightly-built tall woman with a quick smile, Sokie* is one of our housemothers. She's particularly calm and capable with our teenagers and weekly boarders, gently guiding them to work together in the houses on their chores.

Sokie's husband went to jail recently. They have five children, three at school, and the eldest with another NGO, and the youngest little boy recently arrived. It wasn't an easy birth, and Sokie had to take more leave and had unexpected medical costs.

We were able to help through our community nurse and food boxes, but Sokie ended up like so many families living on the razor edge of poverty, borrowing money.

In March 2010, she shared her difficulties with us. The little bit she had borrowed was already rising rapidly and she didn't know how she could make the repayments.

We made an emergency loan of US$50 under our Community Loans program, and she was able to repay the loan in full, and repay the Riverkids loan at a regular and much lower interest rate. Our Community Loans program means she'll also get basic financial skills training and lots of support to make her payments.

In April 2010, Sokie made her first repayment - without having to choose between feeding her children or repaying debt.


Sokie's life is hard. Limited by education - Sokie is barely literate - and skills, she has to support five young children.

Sokie has the courage not to give up. She works hard, at her job and at riasing her children. She has patience and hope, rare traits in the slum.

And although Sokie does not have family to help, or even her children's father, she has friends and Riverkids.

Sokie didn't give up when life got incredibly hard. She didn't sell her newborn or push her teenager into trafficked labor.

Her children are still too young to work legally, but her oldest son works as a street garbage collector after school. Sokie has hopes that she will somehow be able to keep all of them in school, to give them the chances she didn't get. Her household income isn't enough for food and rent, let alone anything extra like new clothes once a year or medical care.

What does Sokie need? Help and a loan. For her youngest children, another food box ($30 a month, US$360 for a year) would stretch her family budget so her son can concentrate on school, and not worry about his little brothers and sisters go hungry.

Soon, we hope to work with Sokie and her daughter who is graduating from vocational training at another NGO, to start a small business together with a $100 loan, so they'll have real stability.

We're so proud of how far Sokie's come.

Help us bring her and her children towards a bright future, not just for her, but the other families in the communities.

US$360: Twelve months of food boxes to keep Sokie's son at school and off the streets, and all the children healthy and safe.

*Due to our child protection policy, pseudonyms have been used.

Contributed by: Sinoy

Seeing hope for a better future despite many challenges

When an opportunity arose to travel to Phnom Penh for a week and document Riverkids various projects through photographs, I jumped at the chance.

I first heard about Riverkids through a newspaper article, and when I looked further into the organisation I was impressed with how much it seemed to be achieving on a tight budget.

But to see first-hand the huge smiles on these children’s faces, as well as the clear appreciation of Riverkids’ work in the surrounding community, was inspiring.

So many little things showed me how important Riverkids has become to this area of Phnom Penh - like the pride with which the weekly boarders wear their state school uniforms; the joy on the face of an 11 year-old as he executes a flip in gymnastics class and receives a high-five from the volunteer instructor – and his determination to flip higher next time; the concentration on the faces of a group of young women as they listen to the community nurse’s sex education talk; the waves of greeting to Riverkids staff as they pass through the community on their way to visit a mother with a malnourished baby or a family which is struggling to keep a child at school because they need the money he would otherwise earn scavenging tin cans; the giggles as a group of young girls struggle to balance during a breakdancing class; the urgency in the voice of the HIV-positive and cash-strapped mother, as she explains that the huge hole in her roof means the family cannot sleep when it rains….she was all I could think of that night when a thunderstorm suddenly hit Phnom Penh.

I expected my trip to be confronting and depressing and although in some measure it was both of these, the overwhelming emotion I felt was hope – hope that the children whose families are involved in Riverkids programs may, through access to education, financial, medical and social support, escape the poverty trap and map out a safer future.

I felt privileged to be welcomed into the homes of families with so much less then me, yet who were still ready with a smile and gesture of greeting to a strange Australian wielding a camera.

I felt fortunate to be able to see, in such a short time, so much of what Riverkids staff do – and they certainly do a lot!

And I felt honoured to be alongside a team of staff who are so dedicated to their work and who are making such a difference to so many lives.

Thanks to all the Riverkids staff for their warm welcome, and particularly to Sophea, who made sure my camera captured so many of the different projects undertaken by Riverkids, and to Sopheak and Mel Sakorna who made sure I always crossed the road safely, translated constantly so I understood what was going on, and introduced me to Cambodian iced coffee.

Contributed by: Caroline

Happy Khmer New Year!

The Khmer New Year is round the corner and some of our colleagues had made their way back to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year with their families.

Thida and I have been planning to give the vulnerable children in our Weekly Boarding a surprise during the New Year. We have been storing up some clothes and toys contributed by donors in the storeroom.

This week, we took the clothes and toys out to distribute to 16 children in the Weekly Boarding. Each child gets two to three sets of clothes and the children in Alexandra and Blum Projects got some soft toys. Their smiles and laughter simply told me how happy they were despite the challenges they were going through.

From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank all our donors for their continuous support.

Happy Khmer New Year!!

Contributed by: Pheakdey

It ain't sexy, but it works

I just signed up for health insurance for our staff, and requested a quote for another policy that will allow part-time staff and family members of our staff to get insurance through us, paying for their own policy but getting a lower group rate. We're trying to get insurance coverage for two older staff members, but they will have higher premiums.

Health insurance isn't sexy.

Feeding babies, teaching children, taking a sick woman to a hospital - these are things we can see and imagine ourselves in. These are moments of grace in a world of tragedy, where one person can help another directly.

But - probably because I've chosen to be one of those people! - someone has to do the boring stuff too. To inventory the baby food, to make sure there's stationary and chairs in classrooms and to file medical reports.

And health insurance?

One of our part-time teachers, a sweet and dedicated woman, is in hospital in Vietnam right now. She had no health insurance and Cambodia has no real public healthcare. Her entire family are now in massive debt for the surgery and treatment she will need. Most likely, one of her siblings will give up on university or they will sell their home.

We're holding her job open and keeping her on half-pay as long as we can. Our insurance premiums are US$2,645 this year, less to cover our entire office than her hospital bills so far.

And she has family willing and able to help her.

She's considered lucky.

So health insurance may not be sexy, especially for donations, but it works. It's more than just our staff missing fewer days to illness because they're not terrified of going to see a doctor. It's being able to attract and keep great staff long-term because we have decent wages and health insurance, and having them work hard and long hours in return. It means we do better work, and more of it.

Thank you for understanding why the boring stuff counts too.

Cambodia Office's Focus for April

Meeting everyone at Riverkids, Cambodia.

This month began with a meeting involving all part and full time Riverkids staff in Cambodia, with a focus on Staff Policy and Safe School, presented by Sophal and Ritthy respectively.

On Staff Policy, we touched on self-discipline, responsibility, team spirit, co-operation, staying vigilant, integrity and client confidentiality.

Safe School means that we will work closely with the teachers to create, not an abusive but friendly, happy and conducive environment for children to learn and play in. We also want to ensure that the children have the materials and supplies that they need for school.

It was a fruitful meeting and Sophon took the opportunity to thank all staff for their hard work and commitment. Without everyone working together conscientiously as a team, we would not be able to intervene in a crisis, implement the necessary programs and keep the children safe from trafficking.

Contributed by: Sophea