Riverkids 'President Visited

The President of Riverkids Dale Edmonds recently visited Riverkids, Cambodia. This was her first visit to Cambodia for 6 months such is her confidence in the staff.
She was accompanied by some visitors who work as lawyers, social workers and writer from Singapore and Japan.

There were many reasons for her visit but the main one was monitor the project and to see that everything was running smoothly. The visitors wished to know more about the trafficking situation in Cambodia and also if possible to give some ideas and advice to reduce the problem.

One of the first things Sister Dale did when she came was to attend a ceremony for the 3rd group of “Get Ready Girls” to graduate. In total 10 girls completed the course and to show how proud she was of them she took them all for pizza. This was very much appreciated by all of the girls who thanked her profusely.

She set herself and the group a busy schedule as she was only going to be in the country for 2 weeks. The first thing on the list of things to do was to visit some NGOs that deal mainly with human trafficking in Cambodian. Sister Dale felt it was important to get some extra information that could be used to improve the way things are done at the Project.

Next they visited a state school. The reason for this was to see how Cambodian students are taught. They visited a school that has over 1000 students of which 145 are from the Riverkid’s Project.

The group was also eager to see how hard the children that collected the rubbish worked. They were first taken to visit a slum area in the city. Here they were shocked at the conditions that some of the families were living in. Some mothers and their children were living and working in the dump. They also had the chance to observe some children on the streets of Phnom Penh who were looking for anything that could be salvaged to make some money for their families. The visitors were amazed at how hard these children worked even the smallest of children.

Some of the group works with people with drug and alcohol problems at home so they also visited a centre where children were getting treatment for such problems. Another area of the city that they were keen to see was the Svey Park area of Kilometer 11. This area has a lot of problems with prostitutes. They felt that if they were able to talk to some of the girls then maybe they could help them from this desperate situation they find themselves in.

Riverkids would like to thank Sister Dale again for all the time and effort she puts into the project for the vulnerable children to get education and improve their living without child trafficking.

Riverkids is also very grateful for the donors understanding and hope that they continue to support the Foundation in the future. Without them the goal to stop trafficking in Cambodia would not be achievable.