Im March 2008, I spent a month travelling around Cambodia. I spent a week volunteering in an Orphanage in Phnom Penh called, the 'Centre for Children's Happiness.'
The Centre for Children's Happiness (CCH) was started in October 2002. It provides a home and education to 140 children. The children are either orphans or belong to parents who cannot take care of them due to illness or disability. Most of the children previously worked as garbage pickers at the Steung Mean Chey landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I also had a chance to visit the Steung Mean Chey landfill, to see where most of the children came from. It was an experience I'll never forget. Part of my journal that I wrote in after I visited the site:
The first thing I noticed as we got near the site, was all the garbage trucks, and then the smell. The smell was putrid, and my driver stopped near the dump site to see if we were at the right place. I will never forget being attacked by swarms of flies, as I was sitting by myself next to the 100 acre dump site. Nearly 2,000 people - 600 children, live and work at the dumpsite. I could see shacks in the distance where the people live - literally on top of the garbage.
Kids, and adults pick garbage to exchange for money. They make a little over a dollar a day.. This is as poor as Cambodia can get.
Ms. Osanai MIEKO, JHP President, is a founder of CCH, along with Mr. Mech Sokha, the current CCH Director. Ms. Mieko is also God Mother of Mech Sokha, and is a grandmother of Hope and Compassion to all CCH children. She has supported Sokha in the past to receive good quality English training and to sponsor him to study about Rural Social Leadership in the Philippines and to receive a degree in construction engineering in Phnom Penh.
Sokha is himself an orphan. He was the sole survivor in his family of the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975 to 197. I had a chance encounter meeting with him one day as I was leaving the orphanage. He is a very busy man, so it was really great to put the name to the face - and meet the inspiration.
The guesthouse that I stayed in told me about this specific orphanage. One of the guys that works there offered to take me and a friend to the Centre by tuk tuk. He said that we would stop at a market to pick up some food items and school supplies that we wanted to bring for the children.
The traffic and views on the way were pretty eye opening.
Funny thing about Cambodia is you will see an old scummy building, next to a brand new highrise. Here is one of the older run down buildings.
The traffic was pretty insane for the most part. Notice only the first person on the bike is wearing a helmet.
I took a video from the back of the tuk tuk. Not the best quality..wind sounds along. You can get an idea of the traffic.
The kids were so glad to see us when we arrived. They were very talented, and decided to give us a show of Khmer style dance. I couldn't believe how talented they were.
At the end, all of the children got on stage, and sung cute songs.
Here they all are. I was trying not to cry.
I made a video of quite a few of the dances if anyone is interested in seeing them.
The Coconut Khmer Dance was one of my favorites. They use real coconuts.
Here is the gun dance where the boys make guns out of bamboo.
This is really good. The girls and the boys dance together.
After the dance, we went out side where they have a small area to play in. There is a swing there, with a volleyball net. They really wanted to pose for the camera.
The girls
That's me in the back in the green. Someone chopped my head off.
The lady on the left of me, is like the Gran of the group. She takes care of them so well. While I was there, they were getting a head lice check.
The guy on the left is rung. He was our tuk tuk driver. He was a really nice guy to take us here, and show us the place. My friend Jon in the green. The little boy in red is the youngest child at the orphanage.
Jon decided to get them to play soccer (football). It was fun to watch. I took a video of the event.