A visit to the building block

Donna suggested a trip to the building block would give us an understanding of where some of our kids have come from. Just a short drive by tuk tuk from the oppulence of the Royal Palace we set off with Sok, Sejit and Tevin. I felt quite comfortable until Donna mentioned that this area is home to gangs,prostitutes,drug addicts and is incredibly dangerous!!!

We made our way through alley ways crowded with rubbish, and bustling with the locals going about their daily routines,women cooking on makeshift stoves, men sitting around a table playing cards and old women laying on straw mats in the dingy narrow corridors.

 We picked up three of our children who were having a day visit with their grandma's, the shrieks and laughter when they saw us all melted our hearts. Grandma showed us her home which was a tiny room packed with their few belongings - six people sleep in this room which is barely bigger than a walk in wardrobe! The building has five or six levels each level is reached by climbing concrete stairs with a rickety wrought iron hand rail.Walking through the dark corridors  was unnerving and despite the fact that we were with three other Cambodians still a scary experience. We climbed to the roof of the building which is where the children play - how any of them don't fall off and get killed is unbelievable.

Tevin our beautiful kinder teacher broke down as she showed us where her house used to be until the authorities came in and forcibly removed all the residents, by using bulldozers to flatten the houses and tear gas to subdue the residents. Many people died trying to defend their homes - the rest of the  people were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. To see all of this and hear so many stories of hardship - makes me realise how incredibly lucky we are in the westeren world - we don't know the meaning of the word hardship!

Wow

Hello everyone, I;m sorry i've not written a blog for a while as i've been busy. On day one we had a big warm welcome from our tuk tuk driver Sokhorn. It took for ever to get eight pieces of luggage on a 6 seater tuk tuk. Any way we managed. We drove for maybe 10-15 mins and loads of people were waving and laughing at the weird Foreigners. It was the good way to see some Awesome Parts of Phonm Phen. When we arrived at the Hotel we had a great welcome from Charkrya mum and dad's sponsor child. We went out and had a lovley lunch. Later on we met puthsak mum and dad's other Sponsor Child. Later we went dancing. The Next day Puthsak took us Sight seeing which was FANTASIC!!! It was a load of fun. We went to The Royal Palce, The Genocide Musuem (That wasn't my cup of tea and did make me quite sad) We went inside a Buddist temple and met a munk. Then we came home and waited to meet donna. Along the way we met up with Synoeun. Then we saw Donna and her Foster child Bora. Bora and i had lots of fun and went for a swim and had loads of fun when we went out for dinner. After dinner we went to the CKF center where the older CKF students are. There were only a few people there. There was Sagit, Sok, Sophia,Bora, Tevin, Put Set, Charkrya and Kimlong. We all sat in the Living room and shared our storys. They were all sad story's. Then Yesterday in the morning Donna took us to the Building blocks ( Slum area). We met the most amazing children ever. I met Parkway,Power, Jet, and another little boy that donna sponsors but i can't think of the name. We had so much fun. they took mee to the top of the building and we played. Then i went to see tevin as she was crying and it was because her house was knocked down. She said she dosen't come up here much because it makes her to sad. Today we are going to the Sang Sy centre which im so excited about. I will let you no all about it Isabella Martin

Is it really only day 3?

Our days have been so full it's hard to believe we have only been here for three days!

On Friday night Synoeun & Chakrya wanted to take us dancing! A regular pastime for the youngsters is to meet in a local park where huge groups of teens all get together to dance for exercise - a mixture of traditional music, line dancing and hip hop.... we were the only westerners there and it was an awesome sight to see Bella up there dancing with all the kids - so refreshing to see kids having such innocent fun.

Yesterday was spent around Phnom Penh with Puthsak, a day full of contrast. We started off with a visit to the Russian Market, which was hot, bustling, lots of narrow aisles, strange smells and full of Khmer market sellers calling to encourage us to buy their wares.
Then off to the genocide museum which was a very somber experience, but a place we felt we should visit to give us an understanding of the history in Cambodia - There are no words to convey the horror these poor people endured, thousands were tortured and killed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's. A very eerie place which was a former school.

Next stop was to a buddhist temple - which was empty except for one monk - Puthsak explained how Buddhists give thanks to the gods and the protocol required on entering the temple - Such an awesome experience for me to share this with him - I can now cross this off my list of 50 things to do this year!

After stopping for lunch we went for a fish foot massage! Sitting with our feet dangling into a pool full of fish was such a funny experience - we all got the giggles as it tickled like mad, while the fish were happily chomping away on our feet! Once you get over the initial feeling of being tickled it's very relaxing and your feet feel amazing afterwards, so much cheaper than a pedicure, I might just invest in a fish tank when I get home - another thing to cross off my list ! Actually with so many new experiences I may complete the list in ten days!

On to the Royal Palace which is stunning - but hard to stomach so much oppulence when you see so much poverty on the outside.

We met Donna & Bora for dinner and went off to a traditional Khmer restaurant - superb food and good company, Stewart, Bora and the girls spent most of the time having thumb wars - Bora has exceptionally strong thumbs for a young kid and pretty much beat all of the others!

We decided to pick up some ice cream and head back to CKF to meet all of the older kids who live and study there - to say we were given a warm welcome is an understatement! -so many hugs from everyone I don't think I have ever received a warmer or more genuine welcome - it was beautiful.

Our cook at CKF is this little chubby lady named Sok she just kept squeezing us all so tight and running in for a hug every chance she got it was so funny and so delightful. We sat around eating our ice cream while everyone told us their  individual stories - so touching. These amazing people who have horrendous tales of poverty and hardship, stories that are so sad it breaks your heart to hear what they have been through - yet to see the hope and dreams they have for a brighter future is so  inspiring. Such a humbling experience for us - we have so much and take so much for granted, yet they appreciate the smallest things.

Arriving in Phnom Penh

Trying to get 8 big bags, 4 pieces of hand luggage, numerous other items anf four bodies into a tuk tuk was so hilarious! Our driver Sokhorn was in fits of laughter as were lots of Khmer people as we set off on our journey to the hotel! People were openly pointing and laughing at us and we were in fits of laughter ourselves - a moment we will never forget!

Phnom Penh is a vibrant bustling place, with happy smiling people, tuk tuk and cars driving in all directions - there appear to be no road rules here - it's chatoic and so much fun! A mix of french & khmer influence in the architecture - I would never have believed you could fit 4 people on a motorbike at once but it seems to be the norm here.

Our first day couldn't have been any better, arriving at the hotel we received a surpirse welcome from Chakrya who had come to meet us - that was so exciting she is a beautiful girl and full of fun and laughter.

We went off to "Friends" restaurant which is an initiative set up to help street kids and homeless people for lunch and had a beautiful meal. Back to the hotel where we met Puthsak our beautiful boy and Vuthy and spent time relaxing in the tropical heat.

Our first evening was spent with Chakrya and Synoeun who took us off to a local park, where the khmer kids hold dance sessions every night - a sight to be seen heaps of kids all doing a group dance and one little western girl our Bella having a great time trying to learn the steps! Then off to the night market for a stroll, street vendors selling their wares - and Stewart who hates shopping being the first one to snap up a bargain!

We couldn't have asked for a more awesome first day and a warmer welcome!

Mission Cambodia

We were so busy trying to get a blog up and running before we left that we didn't actually mention what we will be doing in Cambodia!

Being a board member of the Cambodian Kids Foundation & Bella being a volunteer we thought it would be awesome to go over and visit the projects that we and all the other board members work so hard to raise money for. You can check out our projects and see all the info on the fantastic work the foundation is doing in Cambodia at www.cambodiankidsfoundation.com

We are honored to work with the foundation and it is so exciting to see the  project ideas that we discuss at our board meetings come to life so quickly! Our Kimyeng Centre being one of our latest projects is now delivering free kinder to the children at Soksan Village and our health clinic opened up only a couple of weeks ago.

So we will be starting our trip with a couple of days in Phnom Penh visiting CKF and meeting up with Puthsak & Chakrya - we are so excited to finally meet them! Taking in the sights before we head off to Khompong Thom which is approx 5 hours drive.
Spending two days at Soksan Village we will get to see the Saing Sy school that we built last year, and the Kimyeng Centre that we finished just a month or so ago - can't wait to see all the kids at our new kinder. Hopefully Sara and I will be helping out in our brand new health centre while Bella spends time with the kids. We have bags and bags of goodies to take over for the kinder and school, it was so exciting shopping for all the kids!

We are planning a quick side trip to Angkor, back to Phnom Penh for a night before we head off to Kep for some rest and relaxation with our sponsor kids and will be throwing in a visit to a new project which is looking after HIV families in the Kep province.
This is going to be an awesome trip with so many new experiences and we will try to update daily with photos and let you know how we are all coping with being totally thrown from our usual comfort zone!

Off to Cambodia tonight YAY

Hi everyone,
Last night was great fun and thank you to everyone who made a donation.

I'm off to Cambodia tonight at 3:30 in the morning but at least we will get there early in the morning. Our Plans are to hopefully hit the ground running which is my kind of Holiday experience. I'm so happy that people are interested in our Amazing Foundation and i will get to learn just how important our work is.

Thank you all for Coming to Aileene's fundrasier. A big Congratulatious to Aileene.

1 DAY TO GO!!

Hi everyone

I day to go until Cambodia and im very excited.
Tonight i have a speech at a restrunt full of Adults and im a bit nervous but i no ill do fine as i did three over the weekend. Hope a raise some money tonight.

Isabella Martin

Trying to Pack!! and only 2 sleeps to go...

I thought I had the packing under control and managed to pack 40 kilos worth of goodies to take over to Cambodia ( basic  items ranging from toothbrushes, face washers,soap - to exciting things for the kinder and school - books for the kids, art supplies bubble machines - the list goes on and on and the shopping was sooo exciting!
Then we received a call from the Soccer Federation of Victoria who advised that they had managed to secure us some old soccer kit for our kids - woohoo this is awesome news as our poor kids have nothing! and are desperately wanting to train for selection into the homeless world cup.

Andy very kindly went to pick up the gear today from the city and Nathan has gone to pick up the parcel from Andy!! so I  am waiting patiently to see how many more times I have to re- pack so that we can take the whole lot over with us. Huge thanks to Stewie who arranged this for us. Can't wait to get to Cambodia and upload photos of the kids with their kit on!!

Only two sleeps to go until we leave - we are so excited and can't wait to meet our sponsor kids and all the other beautiful children - this is going to be a life changing experience! Bring it on I'm ready for a new challenge x

On Friday 25th March Stewart, Bella, Sara and myself are heading off to Cambodia for 9 nights .....