Kosal became monk

I have been informed today that Kosal has become a monk yesterday. We do not know the motives for his choice. He has the last month been in his home village for the summer vacation. We have received the message from his mother, she survives in Phnom Penh by selling fruits on the streets. His parents are both in Phnom Penh and lives as homeless while his siblings live in the village.

 

Kosal has never shown interest in becoming a monk, he may seeks status, attention or is under pressure by his parents or other Family members..... not easy to know.

In any case, life as a monk is limited in Cambodia, so we'll see how long he "holds out".

 

Chanty is fit for fight

It's a huge pleasure to announce that Chanty is completely healthy after her hospitalization with meningitis.
Thanks Borins rapid response we managed to save her life from the terrible disease.
Fortunately, she is so old and independent today that she can control her medicine without Borin in daily basis.

I gave her some extra money in connection with her hospitalization, and today she has been out to buy some new clothes, two shirts and a pair of jeans as you can see in the pictures.

She still have summer holiday and starts on the second last year of high school after the holidays. She is a diligent student that suits school and get satisfactory results.
 

 

Sophals home village

Sophal comes from a village about 40 km south of Siem Reap where we are right now.

His mother died in childbirth when he was one year old, his father remarried, the four siblings were spread in all directions and Sophal live in the temple in Phnom Penh supported by our project.

Every summer Sophal visit his home village where his grandmother, aunt and uncle still live, as rice farmers.

As we are going back to Denmark tomorrow we decided to take him to the village today and meet his family for the first time. Only his aunt was at home with her 10-month-old baby.

It was hard to leave him under these conditions after a nice holiday in Siem Reap with us.

One learn much more about life seeing the conditions that our children have.

Sophal with his aunt and her baby

Rice inside the container

Rice container

Rice container with the rice fields in the background

Summer report - August 2015

We arrived in Cambodia on Sunday, and it's not an encouraging sight which greeted us at the airport.
Since Borin graduated as a doctor, got a job in Siem Reap (city of Ankor Wat) and moved from the temple the situation for kids has deteriorated sharply. Without Borins protection have other adults moved into their room, as a result the kids have lost their status and rights, the right to their furniture and room and must sleep on the floor again.
Sopal came to the airport limping because of an ankle injury after a kick, with inflammation of both eyes and skin fungus in the face so our trip went quickly to a pharmacy.

Chanty was sick, vomited, had both headache and fever, Borin was concerned that she had meningitis and has done everything he could through his contacts with other doctors to get her into the best hospital in Phnom Penh without payment . She was hospitalized Monday morning and is still hospitalized, but it is going better with her.

Kosal look good physically, but was very sad as he failed in school and will not be allowed to move up from sixth to seventh grade, he must do 6. grade again.

Cheng has to turn well after he was moved from the temple to Borin in Siem Reap at the end of April. We hope that he has overcome the crisis caused by the physical violence which he has suffered for many years in the temple and that he can continue his studies in Siem Reap after the summer vacation.

All in all a little miserable situation, sad to think that they need to survive under these conditions while we almost don't like to stay in the temple for more than few hours.

The next days we will focus on having good time and keep our fingers crossed that they come  through and manage school so they can get an education.

A visit from Denmark

The kids had a visit from Denmark today and were invited for pizza and ice cream :-)

To the left Choun, the student who looks after the kids

Borin visit the kids in the temple today

After Borin left Phnom Penh because of his new job in Siem Reap, the children miss an adult supervision. Therefore, since we have received an additional donation, Borin and I have chosen to spend the donation on hiring a student, Chuon, to keep an eye on the children and help them with the daily issues/challanges. Chetra live in the temple as he can not afford to rent a room in Phnom Penh.
Today Borin came to Phnom Penh to visit the kids (a bus trip of 7 hours each way) and he sent me some photos and video explaining why Chheng doesn't have hair.

from the left: Chuon, Kosal, Chheng, Chanty and Sophal