Visiting my Sponsored Child and Avoiding Fried Spiders in Cambodia

Following on from her brilliant Q & A with kids in Cambodia, Julie blogs about her experience there, reflecting on just how different our worlds can be.

If you haven’t already, take a look at her Q & A with the kids. Also, come and find us on Facebook to join the discussion and ask any of your own questions.

I’m here – World Vision Cambodia! After an early pick up from my guest house and an hour down a tarmac highway and then a dirt track. With great anticipation I meet my sponsored child. He’s 13 but looks about nine and is feeling a bit shy. His greeting – hands to the sky in prayer fashion – is of the traditional and respectful variety and is echoed by mum and dad too. Mum tells me that they’ve been looking forward to meeting me so much they couldn’t sleep last night. I’m incredibly humbled.

I still don’t feel quite prepared and I struggle to come up with decent questions. Also joining us are his baby sister and slightly-less-baby sister; my sponsored child is the eldest of five children and the only boy – heaven help him and dad in a few years time! Mum – at 34 – is three years younger than me. Eek!

The family ask me questions about England – our food, our climate, our endless supply of electricity (they have none), and I share the gifts I brought with the family. My sponsored child (and dad) are excited by the prospect of assembling the Meccano set I brought. There’s much talk about it being good practice for being a mechanic – a useful skill in the land of the 125cc motorbike.

Lunch is next, and it’s down another dusty road to get there. I’m reminded of a question earlier that day from a local tuk tuk driver – “is it dusty in your country?” Hmmmm, not really! Cambodians get up at ridiculously early o’clock, so an 11 or 11.30am lunch is the norm. We head to a local restaurant and dig into some tasty all-bits-of-chicken soup, a variety of veggies and more chicken; all with the ubiquitous rice, of course! (I am secretly pleased to have avoided the Cambodian speciality of fried spiders.) My sponsored child serves my rice for me, at which point I have to pull myself together to avoid blubbing! The leftovers are bagged up by mum and dad to take home for later. Their own fish supply has been poor this year, so a meal like this is a rare treat.

The afternoon brings more dusty travel as we look at some of the World Vision projects in the community. First up, the Primary school! By Western standards the school is basic. Forget science labs, there’s no electricity. Visual aids are scarce, but the kids all enthusiastically show their Khmer handwriting on their mini blackboards. The group I see are only about six years old, I think they’re a bit confused by the scarily tall white woman in their midst. I’m equally confused by the squiggle they’ve written on their blackboards. They’re very sweet though, but a bit young to answer all of the questions that sponsors have kindly sent me to ask the children.

Next stop, the mums; who are learning about nutrition. I’m encouraged to address the group. PowerPoint isn’t going to help me here! I make my introductions, taste the rice porridge recipe (very good, it has to be said!) whilst 30 pairs of eyes eagerly watch my every move. I ask the mums about the difference the nutritional food has made. They are enthused, visual aids used by the group mean they’re self-sufficient now with this programme, and newborn babies grow much faster. A real success, and the friendly lady who runs the programme is an absolute delight.

Last but not least, the older kids, who I find under a house. A wise move, as it feels like 90 degrees in the shade. Allegedly this is the cool season! Houses are built on stilts in rural Cambodia – for most it’s where the animals live. In this instance, it’s where the older kids are having a class; all eyes are on the flipchart. Then the eyes are on me – I’m a good six inches taller than the average Cambodian, so I need to duck to fit under there! The kids are good fun, I ask them some of the sponsor questions, adding one of my own about where kids would most like to visit. Surprising answers include Korea. England is top choice. They ask me lots of questions too, mostly of the personal variety – check them out in the Q&A.

And then it’s time to go. I leave the kids with some pens and balloons, say my goodbyes to my slightly shy sponsored child, and then back to the WV office to say goodbyes there.

Reflections

I should sum up with impressions of the day. Apart from using clichés of it being a wonderful experience, and everyone being friendly and helpful (all true), I was really struck by just how far apart our world is from that of our sponsored children, but what a difference we can make. They talk about jumping and skipping and need to put the cow to pasture before starting school, they live with no electricity or running water, and their food supply is dependent on how good the rainy season is. Many of them have never been in a car. In fact, before WV arrived in their community some of them hadn’t even seen a car (unbelievable, but true).

We can’t begin to imagine such a life, as we drive around in our cars, fill up on the plentiful supplies in our supermarkets, and wonder if we can justify upgrading to the iPhone 5. But the kids of Cambodia still have great joy and great hopes – of being doctors, or in the police force, or teachers. They love hearing from their sponsors, and want to hear about our lives too. Who knows, maybe we can help to inspire them to achieve their dreams? I hope so!

If you’ve enjoyed this post let Julie know by posting here or on our Facebook page - it’s also a great place to join the discussion or ask any of your burning questions about Cambodia.