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.

Great Contribution From Riverkids

Riverkids was originally set up to prevent child trafficking through providing education the vulnerable children and young teenagers at the community level. This is the mission statement of the Foundation.

However during the organizations work it regularly comes across other issues that need our attention. While preventing trafficking continues to be our fundamental purpose we also now deal with other problems that the community faces.
The following Social Issues crop up time and time again:
Seriously ill members of the Riverkids Community who have no money for treatment
Births of babies to poor members of the district
The passing away of individuals

Riverkids has dealt with a few such cases in the recent past.
The following is one such case:
A 92 year old lady Mut Rum passed away 2 weeks ago in a rented room in the Community. She had been living there with her daughter Nup May (50) and Nup’s husband Norng Buna (61). Nup is the main earner of the house. She washes clothes for a living but the money is small. Nup’s main customers are her neighbors. Norng her husband is disabled and because of this he can not work .This puts a huge strain on Nup to provide for her family. When her mother died Nup did not have the money to pay for the funeral and came to Riverkids seeking assistance. The family also faced other problems. The Landlord of the room initially refused to allow the funeral ceremony to be held at the woman’s’ room. With much talk from Riverkids staff and from the Local Authority the Landlord was persuaded to let the funeral go ahead at the room as the woman wished.

Riverkids does not have the budget to pay for funerals but we could not stand back and do nothing. This woman was a human being and like all human beings she deserved to be buried with dignity and respect. This is not always the case in Cambodia with poor people not being treated properly when they die. The Riverkids Foundation is very sad at this. For this reason in this case we contributed $100 to the dead woman’s family to pay for the hearse, the cremation fee and other funeral expenses.

Riverkids would like to thank all our generous donors who have given to these worthy causes. We very much appreciate your donations and hope that you continue to give generously because cases like these will continue to happen and your support is vital to us.

SIA Cabin Crew Donates to Riverkids

The members of the Riverkids staff are constantly out and about meeting with the Community. For this reason footwear is very important to the staff. The roads and laneways of the community are covered with glass, nails and water which provide problems for the staff. Because of this fact flip-flops are not suitable. Similarly because of the hot temperatures shoes are also ineffective and uncomfortable. The best type of footwear seems to be a sandal.

Recently Mr. William from the Singapore International Airline Cabin Crew donated 7 pairs of sandals to the male members of the Riverkids staff. These sandals have proved hugely popular with one staff member commenting that they were “very comfortable”. Another said that “Before this a few of the staff who wore flip-flops had cut their feet on glass” Riverkids very much appreciates this kind gift from Mr. William and would like to take the time to thank him.
Mr. William was the first member of SIA Cabin Crew to get in touch with Mr. Jimmy and Dale Edmond, the Founders of Riverkids. The first event that SIA Cabin Crew organized was a funfair for the children at the Riverkids Centre. This took place on the 11th of July 2007. For this Mr. William was able to get other members of the SIA Cabin Crew to help out for the day. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and one that will not be forgotten by the children for a longtime. Since then many other SIA Cabin Crew employees have visited the Centre. They are always welcome because they are so generous with both their time and money. Donations have included clothes, school supplies, food and indeed the children’s personal favorite, candy.

One such regular SIA regular visitor is Evon. Evon is an extremely happy and fun person. She always gives plenty of her time to play and participate with the children. Most of these kids are very vulnerable and have had hard lives even at their tender age. Evon makes each of them feel so special that the children have even taken to calling her Sister Evon. Whenever the children see her it brings a warm smile to their faces. However the opposite is true whenever she leaves but they are already anticipating what treats she will bring them the next time she visits. Riverkids staff really looks forward to each of her trips and indeed all of the SIA Cabin Crew who have given so kindly to the Foundation. We would again like to offer our sincere thanks to you one of our regular donators.

Midwife Spport

About a week ago a delegation from the Norwegian Association for Private Initiative in Cambodia (NAPINI) visited the Riverkids Centre. The group very kindly donated $100, shoes, toys and some clothes. The Foundation would like to thank them for this very generous donation. A member of staff also gave them a tour of the Riverkids Community. Here they meet a mother who recently gave birth to a baby girl.

NAPINI was looking for ideas for ways to help Riverkids. Sophon suggested to them that maybe they could donate the money to supply a trained midwife.
The midwife would work on health related matters in the Community.
This is very important for the following reasons:
Little or no knowledge and information on Birth planning
Hygiene for children is a big problem
Poor and dirty environment in which the people live
Lack of a supply of Clean Water

The duties of the new Midwife would include the following:
Organize small group workshops catering towards healthcare
Assist pregnant women in the community
Provide Multivitamins to the children.
Teach the community how to improve their environment and reduce the spread of diseases.

The impact of such schemes would have huge beneficial effects.
They would reduce illnesses in the children and the Community as a whole.
The healthcare of mothers and new babies would dramatically improve.
Also with a better environment would become a better quality of life which can only be good for the Community?
Mrs. Irene, the general Manager of NAPINI replied to Sophon‘s request,

It was nice to see you last week. Thank you for taking the time to show us around and to inform about your good work. One of my friends that came with me, Mrs. Hege Valen, and her family would like to sponsor a full time nurse (USD 200 per month). The nurse will need to do training (two weeks?) at our maternity clinic in Takhmau and also out in the villages where we examine the pregnant women and teach them about pregnancy, general healthcare and hygiene, nutrition, childcare etc. Your nurse can get copies of the teaching material we are using.

American Dentists at Riverkids

On Friday the 6th of March the Children of the Riverkids Community has their 6 monthly dental check-up. There were over 150 kids assessed from The Alexandra, Blum, Churten House and Family House. This event was coordinated by Kim Lay of the Cambodia Volunteer Services. In total 9 persons, 5 dentists and 4 volunteers were involved. All of these participants are part of the Kids International Dental Service USA and are giving their time free of charge. The team leader is Mr. Robert P Renner .During his time in Cambodia Mr Renner will look at over 2000 children in the Kompongcham and Phnom Penh areas. Asked why he did what he does he commented that “It’s better to give up some of your free time that just to give money and let someone else deal with the problem”
This initiative is very important for these children. The kids who receive the treatment are from very vulnerable families. A child’s teeth are not very high on the list of priorities for their families. Most families struggle to even have enough food to eat so dental treatment is out of the question. Nearly all of the children before they registered with Riverkids had never been to a dentist.

The process for this treatment is as followed:
A Social Worker issues each child from the 4 different projects with a consent form. The children take this home to their parents. This has to be signed by the parents of the child and returned to the Riverkids Foundation. Without this form no dental work would be carried out on the kid.
On the day of treatment all children in alphabetical order are seated in-front of the kindergarten at the Riverkids Centre. The kindergarten area is where the check-ups take place. Firstly the child is seen by the head dentist Mr. Renner. He assesses them and has the final decision on what dental work is to be carried out if any. He marks the work on the consent form. After this the child moves to the next table where fluoride is applied to their teeth. For the lucky ones (the children with good teeth) this is the end of the process. For the others they move to a seated area where they await treatment. Finally each child that needs an extraction or work completed is seen by one of 4 different dentists.

Kids International Dental Services USA has brought a lot of equipment with them to the foundation. Much of this has to do with the sterilization process. The treatment area is kept extremely clean and is regularly swept clean. Used equipment is carefully put into basins of hot water to prevent spread of infection. A new toothbrush is used for each child to apply the fluoride to decrease the risk of the spread of infection from one child to another. Before any work is carried out the child has an injection to numb the area to be worked on. This is administered by one of the dentists. Once the mouth is fully numbed the child is seen. Afterwards the child sits down for 15 to 20 minutes to allow them to recover from the procedure. Here again they are looked after by a volunteer to make sure everything is okay.

Riverkids would like to thank Kids International Dental Services USA and Cambodia Volunteer Services from the bottom of our hearts. Before this if one of the children had a problem with their teeth they were sent to an NGO clinic. Each time a child visited the clinic The Riverkids Foundation had to pay $10. This saved money now however can be put to another use to help in providing the children with a better future. The children can only benefit from this in the long-term.

Mother Gives Birth

On Friday night of the 27th of February one of the mothers from the Riverkids Community gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Only one day before giving birth to a baby, the mother went to Riverkids Office to get the food box and met with Sophon, the Program director of the organization and he told her “to inform me or Soklee when you are going to give birth to the baby”. He also gave his phone number to the mother. The foundation also booked and paid for the hospital where the baby was to be born. The woman attended a clinic for checkups before the birth which in addition was paid for by Riverkids. The baby came so quick that the woman did not have time to get to the hospital and the baby was born at home instead. The mother and the baby were both fine after the birth with no complications. The lady commented after that it was the easiest of all her births and that she “hardly felt a thing”.

The woman already has 4 children ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old. The 3 youngest children are supported by Riverkids. The older 2 of these children study English and other subjects at the Riverkids. The baby is cared for by a minder at the centre. The lady’s husband is not working at the moment. It is unlikely he will get work in the foreseeable future as he has a drug problem. The woman earns money to support her family through collecting and selling cans and rubbish. She was however unable to do this in the last few months of her pregnancy and came to Riverkids seeking help.

There is however a challenging period ahead for both mother and baby. The mother still has no income as she is not yet well enough to work and has to take care of the baby. The husband is still addicted to drugs and will not consider seeking treatment for his problems. Furthermore the woman’s eldest son who is only 14 has started abusing solvents. He has become very troublesome at home. Sophon met with the boy and convinced him to attend a centre run by the Friends-NGO to try to get some help with his addiction. The boy however only stayed at the centre for a few days and then ran away. He is still using solvents and his mother is very worried about him. Riverkids is looking for a generous donor to sponsor this family.
The following is a breakdown of the weekly donation needed:
$
Electricity 02.5.00
Water Supply 02.5.00
Food 08.00
Rice 05.00
Soap & other toiletries 02.00
Total 20.00

The condition for the family receiving this donation would be that the 3 children remain studying at the Riverkids Foundation. In the past the children have been allowed by their mother to beg foreigners for money outside the Riverside restaurants instead of going to school. This will not be tolerated. If it does the aid will be stopped to the family immediately.

Riverkids has set up the project to fill the void left by the community and the Government. A lot of the families do not receive financial support from either. The Foundation is committed to providing a better future for the children of the community. This can only be achieved through the continued support of both existing and also hopefully some new donors.

Donation from Stop Exploitation Now

For the past two year Stop Exploitation Now has been kindly sending donations to the Riverkids Foundation. Stop Exploitation Now is an American NGO that was set up in 2005 and has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington. This NGO focuses its donations mainly in the Southeast Asia region.

Recently Stop Exploitation Now has donated important items such as books, crayons, coloring markers, pens, pencils and soccer balls to the foundation. They have furthermore donated another $40 to buy more books. In addition to this the sponsor has gifted $125 which will be used to pay for water, snacks and uniforms for the children who attend soccer training every Saturday in Phnom Penh. This is a real help because without it some of the children could not attend. The contribution of the teaching aids and books will help a lot because before this there was a shortage of such necessary materials. Following the donation of the books more children are able to have the opportunity to improve their reading skills. Arts and crafts are also taught to some of the children. The markers, pens, pencils and crayons will be of a great benefit to the students here where supplies were short. The kids also like to play games but there was not enough equipment for all of the children. The games help the children to relax and burn off energy between classes and so the extra footballs will be of a great benefit to them.

Most of these children before they started with Riverkids had little or no schooling. What little schooling they had was poor and unvaried. At Riverkids however the children have a wide range of activities such as English, Arts & Crafts and Computers. These help to stimulate their minds and help them to grow both physically and mentally. Learning new things give the children enormous self confidence which can only be good for their future.

On behalf of the kids, the teachers and me, I would like to express our sincere thanks to Molly Jester the President of Stop Exploitation Now for your very generous donation to support the students of Riverkids. Without your support and others like you it would not be possible to continue running the project.