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Orphanage Visit

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Class in the orphanage
One Thursday a couple of weeks ago we all headed off in a van for the day, to visit an orphanage in Takeo province, south of the capital. We headed off at around 7am for a drive of an hour or so... two and a half hours later we got there - perhaps the estimate was a little optimistic. On the way, it was lovely to see the countryside once again and all the green rice paddies.

We eventually arrived at the orphanage/school, and we were introduced to the children, who were ever-so-friendly - so much so that we basically had to peel them off us when it came time to leave. Some of the children here were orphans, while for others their families couldn't afford to look after them. These children were really excited to see us and all came out as soon as they could to talk to us. Tobi and Tavi were pounced apon, much to their disapproval! When we asked some of these children their age we were amazed to discover that they were a lot older than they looked. This apparently stunted growht may be explained by malnutrition (or, just as likely, it could be because here in Cambodia it is standard practice to inflate one's age by several years). We all had a wonderful time with them and they didn't want us to leave.


Houses in the village
From there we were led out into a nearby village to see where some of the children came from. Out there was a far cry from the noise, busy-ness, and materialism of Phnom Penh. We had a look at the village and met some of the residents and before long the children had arrived on their bikes to see us and show us where they lived. We tried to talk to them in our stunted Khmer and they in their limited english... or with the aid of a English picture book.
These people live in such humble abodes, they have what they need to survive, but nothing more.

Miriam trying to master the art of a silk loom








On the way back we pulled in for a gawk at a silk weaving factory. Factory... umm... well shed really... with dozens of hand-operated looms, where workers carried out the mind-blowing task of aligning and weaving patterns in silk cloth, thread by tedious thread. Apparently it takes them about a week to produce a 4m length (by about 1.2m wide), which makes for a fairly expensive fabric - enough to make one skirt will set you back $US50-100 at the markets in Phnom Penh.


So that was our trip out to Takeo province.

Comments

Anonymous said…
how awesome is the countryside!!! good on ya's.

Ming Jonno Swar
26 September 2010 at 10:58 am
Anonymous said…
REALLY GOOD to be getting all these blogs...we know how hard it is to find the time to write them regularly but we are all enjoying reading them back home! Well done everyone - keep up the good work!
Lynne and Borng Thom
26 September 2010 at 7:20 pm
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