Lakeside Orphanage, Phnom Penh

It's very easy to get caught up in the expat lifestyle in Phnom Penh, everything is very accessible, there are a lot of nice bars and restaurants and some excellent shops. Even though a lot of people working here are working with charities or government agencies when you're not at work you can pretty much ignore the realities of life here. Not necessarily a conscious decision but you just get on with seeing friends and generally having a good time. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, most of these people are dedicating their lives to working in a country like this for the very purpose of improving society or the environment, it's just something that happens.

I guess what i am saying is that if you want to it's very easy to also get involved in voluntary work or just to help support some of the many events that are set up by NGOs and charities. I was taken to a small orphanage by the lakeside here in Phnom Penh a couple of weeks ago and it really made me realise that it would be so easy for me to spend a small amount of time there every week and be able to help out with English classes or just generally entertaining the kids. I'm leading a good lifestyle here and i feel that i ought to be putting a little back.

So this weekend the kids put on a traditional dance show, Silke, who has been teaching English there for a few weeks, is leaving so we all went down to watch. They have dance lessons every day and really take the whole thing very seriously. It was so nice to watch as they obviously really enjoy themselves when they are performing and i think they really liked have an audience to watch them. I will print some of the photos and laminate them so that they can put them up on the wall or at least keep copies for themselves.

This orphanage isn't very big but has about 30 kids living there, they range from about 4 - 14 but they all look a lot younger as many of them haven't really had particularly good nutrition or healthcare growing up. They will stay at the orphanage until they are 16 and then they are expected to go out and fend for themselves. Most of the kids there have lost their parents due to HIV/AIDs and many were just brought in by members of their communities and left. It's run by an ederly couple who also live in this small building with their parents and their small baby. It's hard to imagine all the kids lined up on mats at night sleeping.

Silke will be coming back in July and we are planning to take the kids on a field trip to the Phnom Tamao Zoo a lot of them won't have done anything like that before so it'd be great if we can pull that off.