Without a clean area to prepare food and wash pots its very hard in Cambodia to stop the children from becomming ill and contracting diseases such as typhoid. The orphanage near the genocide museum looks after 18 children but has never had a proper kitchen. Thanks to generous donations spurred by the Honeycomb Trust in Nottingham and some personal contributions from family and friends we were able to change this within 5 days. Having a knack for stretching money we were also able to build an outdoor washroom where the children are now able to wash their hands and faces, brush their teeth and clean their clothes in the traditional Khmer way. Those 5 days were a flurry of activity with the children pitching in wherever they could. They were so excited.

Unhygenic conditions of the past

Alternative washing practices

Happy to wash the pots now

Thumbs up from the children

Our new washrooms

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou

The field children were delighted and completely taken aback by the donation we provided to build toilets and washrooms. The land they have managed to aquite is rented but of course tehy have to find a means of paying the rent other than begging. Each summer they tour the provinces and put on open air performances to the country folk and some money is rasied this way.

As a Thankyou for our support they put on an open air performance for 45 children from the other 2 orphanages. We never imagined it could be so spectacular. The children were extremely talented, their costumes were so colourful, diverse, imaginative, traditional and cleverly made. There was such a mixture of dance, drama, comedy and song. This was especially great entertainment for the children as they don't have TV, videos or DVD's.

It was an amazing chance for all the children to get together and get to know each other. Maybe they will have some new troop members in the future!!!

It takes years of practice the have Apsara fingers

Tiger tiger

Entranced and excited

A play about a husband who was unfaithful and died of AIDS

Happy to entertain gatecrashing neighbours

Keeping safe from the sun in our real marquay

These 20 children live in a field near the airport in Phnom Penh. We met 2 of them when they were begging in the city for money to eat. They live in an 'orphanage' but they cannot afford to even build a floor in the building yet. They have no regular external support and the building materials they have managed to get so far are from begging at the doors of local companies. The most important thing for them, apart from food, was having somewhere to go to the toilet. The Honeycomb Trust in Ruddington, Nottingham made this achieveable through a generous and life changing donation.

All kids together

In desperate need of toilets

The sleeping area

Snails for dinner

Children from Nottingham, spured on by Millie and Ben and little Tom sent toys to the Cambodian Children. Some of them have never had their own toys before and they really were over the moon.

Thankyou Nottingham for our first toys

We are so excited

I need a flat surface to race my new car

Politely eying the toys up

My new friend

The toilets and the bathroom area should be fully installed and tiled within 2 weeks and we are all looking foward to seeing it. The children are sooooo excited.

We are off to Cambodia on June 30th to help an orphanage purchase and build washing and kitchen facilities. At present they don't even have a sink to wash their hands in let alone one in the hut they use as a 'kitchen' for cleaning pots. This could potentially stop the spread of nasty diseases such as typhoid and make the children's quility of life a whole lot better.

If you would like to see how far a little can go have a look at Cambodian Orphanage blogs around this time last year.

If anyone would like to help donate towards this please contact us.

For those of you that helped with the orphanages in Cambodia you will remember this little lot.

Well my Mum had been given some money from very good friends in England and we knew this was where it would be best used.

Jez and I were amazed to be recognised by the children, after all it was 9 months ago we had last seen them and we had only visited twice. Photographs of us were in the hall way and in between big hugs they took us to them, pointing saying "you, you!". The predicament we were able to get them out of, stopping their imminent eviction, certainly made an impression.

That was then

Before we left Cambodia we designed posters and put them around the backpacker hostels requesting volunteers, financial support and donations of clothes food etc. They clearly had been blessed with help as their clothes were individual and bright, not just seconds of the same line from a factory, they were not so wary of strangers shying away as they had when we first met them. They happily hugged my Mum and John and were excited to show us that they no longer slept on the floor but had proper beds.

This is now

We requested that they money be used for food, ensuring that they were able to eat fruit and vegetables with their rice. It is almost impossible to buy educational toys in Cambodia so Jeni and my Mum had managed to pack their rucksacks with a few. We gave them books, jigsaws and games hoping that the volunteers would be able to make good use of them.

Cambodia has a little peice of my heart and I think it always will. Saying goodbye to my sister, then my mum and this place all at once was a hard one. I'm sure more than one of us will be back.