Another wonderful chance to visit our sponsored children in Cambodia: Part 1

World Vision supporters Steve and Carolyne recently joined World Vision UK staff on a trip to Cambodia where they had the opportunity to visit their sponsored children. Here’s Steve’s account of their trip, with some fabulous photographs they took while they were there:

This was our fourth trip to meet our sponsored children in Cambodia, a country that has seen more than its fair share of war and genocide over the past few decades. Although we have been supporters and friends of World Vision for 32 years, sponsoring many children over that time in several countries, we were never able to visit any, until the past few years. Now that our own kids have flown the nest and the mortgage is paid off, we’re able to get more involved with World Vision, especially in Cambodia, a country and people we have both grown very fond of.

We flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia’s second city which is a superb tourist destination in its own right. It is home to the famous temples of Angkor, which date back over one thousand years. After an overnight stay  in Siem Reap, we travelled to the city of Battambang, in the north west of the country, where we were to meet our host, a young man by the name of Dinna. He explained to us that World Vision operates over 50 ADPs (Area Development Programme) in Cambodia; typically each one consists of 4,500 family units, in several villages/communities.

Rural farmers of the community

On our first day, Dinna took us to meet a family in a small community not far from the ADP who World Vision had helped to establish themselves as farmers. We have learned from our visits to Cambodia that the Khmer people don’t want hand outs, but rather a hand up.

Most rural farmers in the North West can only grow rice and or vegetables for half the year, the wet season. Thanks to World Vision, slowly but surely small farmers are gaining access to water, typically a pond (which fills in the wet season), and with a little start up help like seeds and some tools, are up and running. This family had been farming about four acres for two years and was growing morning glory (fast-growing spinach), cucumbers and corn. They also had a pair of breeding pigs and half a dozen piglets. All their surplus produce and pigs were sold at the local market. They, their extended family and their children were now able to lift themselves out of poverty and keep their children in school.

Meeting Sreyroth and her family

Then we were off to see Sreyroth, one of our sponsored children, and her family. Sreyroth is now a bright, confident young woman of 17, a far cry from the skinny little girl we first saw in the famous “World Vision introduction pack” some 13 years ago. The Cambodian culture is quite a formal and conservative one, where people greet each other with a bow, but not this time. It was hugs all round as Sreyroth grabbed Carolyne in a huge bear hug! As well as meeting Sreyroth, there was her little sister, her niece, her mum, dad, big brother and cousin. We spent about an hour catching up with their news, and ours.

Your small donation goes a long way

About 10 years ago, we made a donation to World Vision that was earmarked to support Sreyroth’s village and her family. With relatively little money, World Vision were able to provide a pond to supply a water source for the village during the dry season and to buy two cows for the family. Dad has managed the “cow programme” wisely and over the years has bred and sold cows to earn an income for his family. Two years ago, they bought a motorbike, which made a huge difference to their lives. On this trip he told us that the family was building a new house, using wood, with a galvanized metal roof instead of bamboo and palm fronds. He had traded cows for materials and specialized labour (carpenter).

We also discussed the crops they had been growing (rice, soy beans and corn) and the difficulty of preparing the land for vegetable growing as opposed to rice production. Then it was on to giving the gifts we had brought for the family, including a Khmer/English picture dictionary and some English children’s reading books for Sreyroth to practice her English with. We also brought some toiletries and clothing. By then it was lunch time and we adjourned to the local restaurant.

Sreyroth’s news

After lunch, out of the blue, Dad formally announced that Sreyroth was getting married in about a year, to her cousin, asking what we thought about it and inviting us to the wedding, all without pausing for breath it seemed!

It’s not often we’re speechless, but for a few minutes, we were. In the Cambodian culture, especially the rural areas, it’s common for girls to get married relatively young, in Sreyroth’s case, she will be 18 (Mum & Dad were 17 & 19 respectively, when they wed), nevertheless we were still quite surprised. The whole family were excited by the news and clearly wanted to share their excitement with us. Sreyroth’s fiancé is a career soldier (see picture) in the Cambodian army, so the chances of her moving away are quite high.

All too soon it was time for them to go and for us to return to Battambang. There were hugs all round and promises to write to each other. We haven’t even begun to think about the logistics of attending a spring wedding in Cambodia, next year…

Part 2 of their visit – meeting another of their sponsored children Thyda – is coming on Easter Monday, so make sure you come back for more wonderful stories from Steve and Carolyne. And a huge thanks to them for sharing their experiences with us.

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