Change of address

Magna, Children at risk.
House 3, Street 75
Sangkat sras Chork,
Khan Daun Penh
Phnom Penh

Week 23

Our luxurious new room

Beds!

Pao (translation-chubby)

Sothy and Sayha

Nary and Srey leap

Srey mom

We’ve been living in GH2, now the group home, for two weeks, its lovely but quite a change from GH1. Mostly due to our 5am starts. The young children are all up at 5 ready to be showered and fed so we, rather bleary eyed help with this. The children all have nits which seem to be thriving at the moment. The caregivers don’t really see it as a problem but the expats do, so we have been trying to encourage hair to be tied up and we are trying to get hold of knit combs. Most mornings I spend my time brushing and tying up hair.  Another big change is the lack of water and electricity, for a huge majority of the time we don’t have one or the other and sometimes we don’t have either. We have been told that although this is because we are further outside of the city now, it is also the case that as peak tourism season ends, as it is doing now, water and power cuts become more frequent.  Almost every mid day recently when there is no electricity to feed the fan I decide I can’t hack it and I’m getting the next plane home to lovely cold England, I change my mind pretty quickly though.

Since being in the new group home we have discovered lots of nicknames of the younger children. The most entertaining being Dannet’s nickname, pi roy ha (250). Apparently his mother was told by their relatives that magna had payed the family $250 when they took him in. The children seem to respond much better to their nicknames, apparently when Dannet and Somnang (Che leang- big eyes) went to school the teacher though there was something wrong with them as they didn’t know their own names. Bun Sathya had a bit of a sad week this week as his father died. We were slightly surprised when he came back from a family visit with his head shaved and wearing a black ribbon, the symbols of mourning (I didn’t hesitate to show my disgust at the new hair cut, ignorant of its meaning) as the files say both his parents are dead, but apparently magna suspects a few of the children’s relatives have lied about parents being alive.

We have had a couple of trips out recently. The first was with a couple of the older children to a promotional thai trade fair, at Key’s suggestion. It seemed a very strange place to take the kids as there was just a large amount of stuff that the children didn’t have the money to buy. But they really enjoyed it and when we got back all the children that hadn’t gone were asking to. I think they just like getting out of the orphanage.  We managed to make it fun, by trying all the free tasters we could find. The Children couldn’t believe they were allowed to try food without paying and were extremely reluctant at first but they got into it by the end. We had a trip to a large and extremely impressive playground with the younger half of the children. They loved it! I really enjoyed myself as well. We had a mid morning snack of bread bananas and a big dollop of condensed milk (very popular in Cambodia) which was really tasty before using the last of or energy in the playground. The children were clearly exhausted as they spent the very noisy, bumpy tuk tuk journey home fast asleep, whilst I and the ma watched in great amusement as they fell off their seats.

We have had the rather exciting job of preparing for the wedding recently. An ex magna teacher took us to buy material and then to the tailor who took our measurements so she could create our outfits. We were rather shocked by how much it was going to cost us, but apparently we are paying no more than the Cambodians do, and I am pleased about where the money is going after seeing the tailor’s house. We picked up the outfits today after making a few adjustments and I am very impressed It is a work of art and must have taken great skill.  I’m not sure I really like my outfit though; Cambodian traditional dress isn’t really my style.

Week 21

Bedroom at GH1

My favourite orphanage meal

We've had quite an eventful couple of weeks. We had a visit from our project trust desk officer, it was really strange having people from back home in the orphanage but it was lovely having the visit especially as they bought us two tasty dinners and brought us chocolate magazines and newspapers. I've never enjoyed reading a newspaper so much, it's so nice to be back in the know, there is a Cambodian  newspaper in English but  it's not the same.

We also had a couple of visits from huge swarms of flying ants that seemed to hatch into our room. The swarm was so big their wings banging together made me think it was raining and you could hardly see through them. It was disgusting and when they finally flew off we were left with a thin layer of dead ones covering the room.

This week we had a visit from a Slovakian donor. Everyone was slightly stressed about it and the morning had a strong feel of a a school open morning. We were all rushing around trying to look and make the children look as busy as possible and stopping them doing the various strange things children do e.g. I caught one of the older! children drinking from the bucket of water used to flush the squat toilet!

The children, caregivers and Beth and I went to a concert at one of the children's schools this week. According to Soklin the band were superstars!
There were approximately 40 Khmer dancers on the stage. Khmer dancing is very slow walking in a circle twiddling their wrists and hands very elegantly. It seems to me that Khmer dancing is predominantly to show of the women's beautiful hairstyles, makeup and outfits. It was really fun though and I spent my time deciding which hairstyle and outfit I would like because.......we've been invited to a wedding!!!

A couple of the children and I had a rather traumatic experience this week. Cambodian roads are known to be dangerous and you frequently see minor accidents. On the way to Gh2 we drove past a horrible accident, a middle aged woman was literally sprawled in the middle of the road in a small puddle of bright bright red blood. No effort had been made to protect her from view and there was just one policeman guiding the traffic around her, it was horrible it made me feel quite sick. A couple of the kids and I welled up so we had a cuddle. It shut the children up though which was a relief as they had been winding each other up a treat before hand. I am now a strong advocate of helmets!

Last weekend I had a very dodgy tummy. It was horrible, I spent Friday either sitting on the loo or with my head hanging over the loo, I even had to give both a go at one point. And then spent a big chunk of sunday night and Monday sitting on the loo. I brought a massive pack of tummy medicines with me which prove to be  useless against what ever I had.

We've had some very bad news, Phearun, the only teacher left of 4 is leaving. Magna staff seem to have almost halved recently. Phearun has been working here for a long time so is very well bonded with the children, who will be extremely sad to see him go. He is also very good and therefore hard to replace. It's also worrying for Beth and I as we not sure he will be replaced very quickly leaving us solely responsible for the children's education outside of school which we do not have the skills or language for. It is Phearun's brother's wedding which we are going to.

We are still having problems with the budget, we haven't had the educational budget approved since we arrived so no educational materials at the orphanage. A source of much frustration for us and Phearun. I discovered the first two Harry Potter books have been translated into Khmer so I have persuaded dad to pay for them, hopefully if the children enjoy them they can be persuaded to try to read the other in English.

The past two weeks have been dominated by meetings about the move and preparations for the move. The house looks amazing the kids all have colourful bunk beds with colourful sheets and we have decorated the house with posters and pictures by the kids, it has also been furnished and we have created a small library. Im very impressed with how homely it looks now, probably due to the way we have decorated and arranged it, the house has quite a western feel now. The kids haven't managed to move school yet so some of the children are still living in gh1 until next week. After 5 months of waiting Beth and I were not going to wait another week so we moved yesterday. Out new room is luxury, we have separate beds with real mattresses and sheets (though not proper cotton) , a bathroom with a toilet that you don't have to hurl yourself of to decrease the pain of your bum cheek being caught in a crack, more space, a powerful fan. It is absolutely lush. It is amazing what a difference such minor things make. Only problem is the frequent power and water cuts. I had to wash outside under a hose coming from the water butt last night. Takhmao is a really nice place to live, it is more rural and prettier with a nice cheap food Market I'm very happy to be here.

Rachana is doing well her behaviour has improved a little she didn't protest last time she had to sit on the naughty spot and apologised without being asked to, she has also learnt to count to 4 I was very proud of her and gave her a sticker which she then went and showed off along with her new skill to the caregivers. Sothy, I'm still struggling along with, I find it painfully frustrating working with him due his complete incapability, i have much respect for people that have the patience to work with children with severe disabilities full time. I haven't given up on him though!  We are very excited to have met a woman setting up a school for blind and deaf children so hopefully we can get him going to school soon.

Week 19

This week hasn't been quite as exciting as last, we've been getting behavior reports done for the kids. We spoke to key to find out if there is anything we have missed in our reports and we found out some interesting things. For example one of the girls who is ten years old has been wetting the bed about 5 nights out of 7 due to laziness. Apparently she wakes up and the mas wake her up sometimes during the night to use the toilet but puts off getting up and then wets the bed. Key also told that she was ugly! this seemed a bit harsh but I think what she meant was lazy with hygiene e.g. not brushing her hair or washing frequently enough.

I have been trying to do some work with Rachana and since giving her a big telling off after which i didn't think she'd talk to me again, and doing some activities with her, hopefully making her feel a bit special, she has been quite sweet and I am becoming very fond of her. I haven't done much educational activities with her however as I need to gather a huge amount of energy and patience for that. I had a bit of a scary experience this week when using the 'supernanny' technique, Bros was kicking up (literally) a huge fuss about being made to sit on a spot on the floor, when suddenly 3 kids came running up to me each holding a separate stick to give me I assumed to use on Bros! I didn't, and he gave in to sitting for 5 minutes.

We've been doing a bit more play therapy type activities with Sothy this week. I find it so hard and slightly frustrating, he is just so incapable of anything really. I tried making a 3D picture with him but he seemed much more interested in stacking paint pots, getting as close to me as possible, giving me hugs, which makes painting pretty hard. It sounds sweet and I feel awful saying it but hugging gets old quickly especially in 30 degree heat!

I have been given a couple of cookery lessons by the mas recently, they have taught me to make sweet chilli sauce, cucumber stir fry and morning glory stir fry. I think it will be really useful for university as the ingredients are cheap, simple and it is very quick to make. It has made me aware of how much garlic and sugar they put in food, it's crazy amounts!

We had a dinner with our project trust officer last night and they are coming to visit our project on Tuesday which is exciting.
I'm off to the local hairdresser to get a $2 dollar hair cut now :)

lots of love

Week 18

Sok Sabaye!
I've been back at work  for just over a week now after having the best New Year ever in Thailand. We spent a week on a Thai island and then a week in North east Thailand at one of the project trust projects.
It was fab holiday but I wasn't in the slightest bit sad to be returning to work.

This week has been very exciting. The orphanage is making many changes at the moment so our week has been filled with preparations and meetings which have been very interesting and slightly exhausting. We are all moving out of the GH1 building and into GH2 which is very exciting but does mean that some caregivers are being laid off. The office is also moving building.
After the move to GH2 the old children ( 16-19) are stopping the extra English lessons that they have in Phnom Penh, and starting extra English lessons with us every week day evening.
With the move we will have a new schedule with increased activities for everyone including the caregivers who we are encouraging to start cookery lessons and trips out of the home with the kids. We were creating the new schedule this week.
The budget has been a bit of a problem, for example at the moment GH1 doesn't have any shampoo or washing powder so we have been trying to plan further ahead. I'm not sure whether this will improve anything, we haven''t received any money for educational materials since being here which is very annoying. The children's pocket money is being reduced at the moment as currently the children have to pay the teachers money for 'extras' which Magna is going to try and avoid.

Rachana a mischievous child who we believe to have learning and behavioral disabilities, was expelled from school this week. It is due mainly to her biting other children which causes extra worry due to her HIV status, but also due to general inability to concentrate and misbehavior. Including snatching other children's and the teachers materials and toys. Beth and I are especially worried as we don't want her to turn into another Sothy (the disabled child) spending her day wondering around the house with nothing to do. So we are going to do more one on one work with her and try to set up a consistent disciplinary plan to improve her behavior so we can get her back to school. We are trying trying to introduce the 'Super nanny' technique to the Group home. This consists of staying sitting under a red dot for 5 mins, explaining why and making her apologies. Currently she is either ignored, shouted at, or locked in a bathroom occasionally with a smack.

We took Sothy and Raksmey (his brother) swimming this week. They and I loved it. When we arrived they hardly got through the door before they had whipped of their clothes, much to my embarrassment. Sothy spent almost the whole time in the water giggling, I tried to teach Raksmey to swim but he found jumping into the pool far more fun. The session didn't last long as they are extremely skinny so were shivering rather violently by the time we got out.

We are already well over a third of the way through the year! Time has gone so quickly but I am now thoroughly settled and have my bearings on the work. I think and hope I am over the majority of my homesickness which is lovely. I am so so happy and would definitely recommend a year away for a gap year :)

Week 14

Poor Bethany has been ill again this week. We went to the doctor on Wednesday and she was diagnosed with asthmatic bronchitis, just in time for the Christmas party. She couldn't really join in as much as she would have liked, but I had great fun shopping for and running the party.

 I went food shopping with the group home manager, Key, which I really enjoyed, I love shopping with the Cambodians because they introduce you to lots of exciting new places and food. She bought me some delicious sticky sweet rice with coconut and we went home via her house to pick some mangos as it is now the season. For the children we found fizzy orange juice and a Cambodian version of pizza with no cheese but a kind of cheesy salad dressing squirted on top. We have been learning the vocab for pizza and orange juice so the children were very excited to be finally trying them. We had intended this to be their lunch, but silly me, how can that be considered a meal, we didn't eat rice! So they had a second lunch half an hour later. The children manage to eat so much yet stay so so skinny it's crazy. We think the ARV treatment is partly responsible.  In the very early morning of the party I felt very much Cambodian. The mister (father) of the group home I live in, and I, picked up 62 pizzas on a moto, more of my bum was hanging off the back of the Moto than was on and my muscles the next day were like rock. The amount of people, furniture and food the Cambodians manage to squeeze onto the moto scooters is amazing. I saw a huge wicker basket of small pigs on a moto the other day!

At the party we played team games which both the children and the Mas really enjoyed. We played relay races with; balloons between their legs, balls being passed under chins, raisins being moved from one plate to another with the winning team receiving lolly pops. We played pass the parcel, and had a visit from Santa. The children seemed very happy with their presents, although the Mas kicked up a fuss over the trouser length as it is the cold season, we found this a bit ridiculous so with the help of Key told them there was no way we're traipsing back around the market to exchange 48 presents. They also kept telling us the clothes were too small which was not the case, the children are used to over stretched hand me downs so their clothes are actually mostly too big and the new outfits fit well. So that was all a bit frustrating but the children's delight at their presents made up for the ma's reaction.

I had a really interesting though slightly sad chat with Phearun the main (soon to be the only) magna teacher. He told me about the history and politics of the country, including the problems with corruption.  The government makes it very hard for those such as teachers in the public schools to avoid corruption. The salary of a teacher is $100 dollars a month which is not enough to sustain a family therefore the teachers are forced to charge the students an extra fee, which the police (I expect with the same problem, as they frequently pull people over and demand money), turn a blind eye to. We also spoke about the children. I have been surprise by how little the children's HIV status affects them. They make frequent visits to the hospital to be monitored but it seems they are mostly very healthy. However I think the status has a big effect on them emotionally. Phearun says they are full of fear; he has had children say they are very scared as they know they are going to die young.  He wants us to try and help them tackle their fear in the PSHE sessions. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

Bethany and I had a very nice Christmas weekend, it was sad being away from home but we kept ourselves busy at a couple of parties with other expats which were very fun. I won't be doing another blog for a couple of weeks I'm afraid, as we are leaving for a 2 week holiday in Thailand on Tuesday, I'm very excited. I hope you all had a fab Christmas!

Month 3

The weather at the moment can only be described as divine.  We are in the cold season at the moment and according to the Cambodians ‘the wind is falling down’. We have lovely hot sun with a cool wind and the nights are cooler at the moment which has meant I have been sleeping really well, though the cool weather does make cod showers quite a challenge. I have worked out a method of one limb in the shower at a time.

We took the children to the dentist this week. The children were so brave, not making any fuss despite many of them having baby teeth pulled out and it seemed most of them left the chair bleeding. We were told that is clear through their visits to the dentists how well magna are looking after the children, apparently the condition of their teeth is hugely improved and whilst it previously took a week to get through all the children it now takes a morning. Whilst at the dentist we were surprised to be invited to their Christmas party, so we are looking forward to that, especially as the dentist has some expats volunteering for them.

Much to the children’s excitement the Magna Christmas party is fast approaching so this week we began the rather daunting task of buying Christmas presents for 48 children with a budget of $144. It has taken us two trips and some very sugary drinks but we now have a complete and very big selection of outfits music, pajamas, jewelry, hairclips and toys, all ready and waiting to be wrapped.  We also have a Father Christmas outfit ready for me to wear on the big day.

We had a meeting with our Boss this week and we have some new exciting and rather daunting tasks. We are going to be pretty much solely responsible for activities and education of the young children outside of school, we are going to be doing updates for the children’s sponsors every month. The Magna orphanage in Cambodia is quite new so this is the first set of children they have had, many of the children are now turning into teenagers so we are going to start holding PSHE sessions. This involves teaching topics such as politics, sex education, drug abuse, exploitation of women etc. Denisa wants us to hold these using the teacher to translate. These PSHE sessions are really important as the schools don’t really give the children any of this information. The government includes ex-khmer rouge and the political system is far from democratic therefore the teachers are scared to talk negatively about the government or the Khmer rouge regime. Magna had some problems when the eldest girl started her period and didn’t tell anyone and apparently there are problems in other orphanages with the children having sex with one another due to ignorance. I can’t believe this would ever happen here as there is such a family atmosphere but we are to help discourage them. We have been asked to encourage the children to question and discuss as this is strictly discouraged in the schools.  I’m a little scared but I’m sure it will be ok; I will have to do lots of research. Denisa has told us some slightly scary stories, for example last year they had a couple of people trying to give the orphanage free cakes after some fuss the police were called and apparently the cakes were laced with drugs. They were trying to get the children and caregivers addicted. Apparently this is common outside of the schools.

The oldest boy at Group Home two has taken on the role of Magna hairdresser and has given poor blind unprotesting Sothy a hideous haircut. He has shaved of (very badly) the bottom half of Sothy’s hair the whole way round. It’s awful!