New Life in a New Home
In Cambodia, you are considered an ‘orphan’ even if you still have one parent alive, mainly because it is next to impossible to be a single parent. There are no childcare options if you have no immediate family, and surviving through subsistence farming is a full-time job. Realistically, if a parent is looking after a young child alone, they are not able to work, which means they are unable to grow enough food to survive.
Prey Veng Town is situated 91 km’s southeast of the capital Phnom Penh and is the capital of Prey Veng Province, one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia. With around 91% of the economy based in agriculture, the province experiences problems related to urban migration, where male family members move to the capital to find work and the women try to support their families through working the fields. The spread of HIV/ AIDs in this area is prevalent due to its proximity to the city and an increase in migrant workers returning to their villages with the disease.
AYAD Sarah Miller has just finished her assignment as a Project Development Officer with the Foundation for Developing Cambodian Communities (FDCC) whose main project is Mekhala House, an orphanage for 45 children. During her time working with the dedicated staff of the FDCC, Sarah has seen the impact of poverty and HIV/AIDs on communities and particularly on orphan children and the changes wrought in these children’s lives when they are given access to good nutrition and education.
One experience Sarah will never forget was going out to the villages to pick up one of the new children who required the support of FDCC. This was a sobering experience for Sarah but one that put everything in perspective in terms of what FDCC do and what opportunities they are offering the children they support. Sarah and her counterpart drove about 40 minutes northeast of Prey Veng Town to a small village which consisted of wooden stilt houses or shacks lining the main road. This area was rice field country with tall palms dotted across the horizon and buffaloes grazing - a very familiar scene in rural Cambodia.
They arrived at the house where the child was living, yet it wasn’t really her house. The wooden stilt house was that of her cousin and she had been living with her mother in the makeshift shack next to the house on her cousin’s property. She was a stunning little girl, smiling ear to ear, confidently “sompeahing” (Khmer greeting) them one by one. Sarah had not expected her to be so warm towards them however, the girl gave every indication that she had been looking forward to the opportunity to go to Mekhala House where she could attend school and have 3 meals a day and her own bed.
The girl’s mother was very ill with HIV/AIDs and her father had died of the same disease 4 years earlier. Already the girl’s brother had been given to her uncle’s family to be brought up and now the mother was unable to look after her daughter any more.
The arrival of Sarah and her counterpart attracted quite a crowd, mostly relatives but also some villagers who stood watching from afar. They sat outside on the wooden slat beds which are always kept under Khmer stilt houses for such gatherings. The mother asked lots of questions and they wondered if she’d got “cold feet”. As you can imagine it is a big decision for a Khmer family to contact an orphanage and ask for help as they have a strong family bond. In this case the mother knew that she could no longer provide the support and care necessary to ensure her daughter a happy future.
The mother asked Sarah to explain how FDCC works and how the organisation is funded which she did through a translator. She asked Sarah whether the children would be adopted out to Australians and was assured that ‘no’, the FDCC does not allow the children to be adopted and they work on the premise of preparing the children to live a sustainable and independent life within Khmer culture. FDCC provides education such as life skills, computer skills, English skills -an education which they hope will bring the children a good job and secure future.
The mother accompanied them back to the orphanage so she could see for herself how the orphanage was run and how happy the children are. Sarah believes this is an important step as it is much harder when a family can’t even picture where their child is living. The other children from Mekhala House were immediately warm to the newcomer and the older children showed great maturity in approaching the mother and speaking to her about their lives at FDCC, soothing her doubts and fears.
The Foundation for Developing Cambodian Communities (FDCC) has been operating in Cambodia for the past 3 years. FDCC’s relationship with the AYAD Program is strengthening with the third AYAD candidate beginning her assignment in early 2009. The benefits that the organisation has gained through this relationship has enabled FDCC to build capacity within its staff base, undergo organisational development programs which have increased the organisation’s professionalism in terms of building a strategic plan, developing and implementing policies and procedures, as well as gaining funding to expand FDCC’s reach across new community development projects in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia.
Throughout Sarah’s year at FDCC in Cambodia she has felt very lucky to be working with such dedicated staff who show great pride in their work and great care for the children that they support. It really does feel like one, very big, happy family. While she has only been involved in a small, grassroots project, Sarah can see the big picture, that the children at the Mekhala House Orphanage are becoming the educated leaders of the future and she has been so touched by her work with the FDCC that she will be returning to the organisation for a further 18 months with the Australian Government’s Volunteering for International Development from Australia (VIDA) Program.