The Cambodian orphanage is just a 15-minutes' walk from the local hotel. We took a slow stroll to the orphanage and soon found ourselves walking along the river. There were many huts across the river. The huts looked like they had been put together from dried leaves. And could bearly hold together against the elements. How did the locals keep dry and warm during the recent monsoon?
It was quite easy to locate the orphanage. A guard was stationed at the entrance and all visitors had to sign in at the register.
The matron took us around the orphanage.
Quite a few of the younger children were playing with sand in the compound.
They were busy bouncing around, filling various containers with sand. They looked carefree. And absorbed with the activity, like how our children looked at our beaches back home.
A little girl followed us around the compound. She looked 7-ish.
"This girl was sent to us by the government last month. She was found at the Thai-Cambodian border as she was being traffic-ed over for child prostitution," The matron said.
There was something in the girl's eye. A certain hardness. May be she had gone through certain experience too tough for a girl her age to understand.
After she became a little more familar with us, she clinged on to us. And refused to let go.
A little boy sat quietly on a table top. He was very still. Just looking straight into the space in front of him. He had long beautiful lashes that must be at least one centimetre long. Yes, no kidding, it's that long!
"He is running a fever. So we place a wet towel over his head to cool his body temperature.
This little boy is 2 years old. He's here with his older siblings. All four of them. His mum died of HIV. His dad is critically ill in the hospital.
We just sent all the four children for HIV test and results showed that all four have not been infected."
Every child here has a sad history. And tears just welled up in our eyes. We couldn't bear to hear any more stories.
We resolved in our hearts to do what we could for these little ones.
