From left to right: Katy, Emma, Me, Lauren, Sam, Emina.

Today was our final day as a full group and the rest, except for Emma leave for home tomorrow. Leaving us two to take on Mrs. Leng and her abundance of rice and crazy meals, and a big house on our own. It also means one of the orphanages is volunteer-less as we have no new volunteers coming to Pursat (I honestly am shocked at the placement of people, because I know for a fact there are people in Siem Reap who feel as though they are not needed, but there are many children who need help in the smaller towns too).

I haven’t seen the worst of this world, but everyday I see worse than I’ve ever seen before. I’m based in a town where the streets are full of rubbish, the sewer system is almost non-existent and there are few cars owned by people. But it has a hidden beauty interwoven underneath the dirty streets. I work in an orphanage where the children have two sets of clothes on rotation, and a single pair of very worn out shoes, their clothes smell and aren’t really all that clean. But none of this seems to bother them. I think about the money we throw way on clothing alone and how far that money could go here almost makes me sick to the stomach.

Today one of the girls (pictured riding the bike with me on the back) mum came to the orphanage. Drugged up and drunk she stumbled on in and walked straight past my class to where Leang was. Apparently at first she was being normal, and then she started yelling at her daughter in front of all the children and getting quiet aggressive. The director’s husband had to literally drag this lady out until she was far enough away and and all the kids stared on in fear and uncertainty. This is a regular occurrence for this orphanage and Leang’s reason for being there. She doesn’t have much, but she always has a big smile and an open heart. Borin- the director, began to explain to me how she has rescued these children, and that there are times when she doesn’t have enough money to buy enough food for the, all. This is her life, and it has been for the last 12 years. Everyday I am made to realise how trivial the western worlds problems are, and how fortunate I am to have a loving family and all the opportunities I have had. But everyday I want to do more than before for these children, because this world is not fair in the slightest.

I just finished reading “Half the Sky” and passed it onto a fellow volunteer on route to Nepal for more volunteering. In the front of the book I wrote “please pass this on” in hope that more people’s eyes can be opened. I would strongly recommend anyone with a half decent heart to read this book and take a step make a make even the smallest of changes to help. I haven’t had my eyes opened more widely than I have in the last two weeks, and hopefully more people’s will too!

This is a house on the walk to school, it has a pet monkey. The children yell “Cher (which is teacher in Khmer I think) monkey!”… “Monkey I spell M,O,N,K,E,Y”. I’m absolute terrified of it still and still don’t like that they have it as a pet on a chain!

The kids take me home from school each day like this and the novelty never gets old!

In the afternoons these children turn into little rascals! But I have the most fantastic class and have a pile of pictures from all of them, each and everyday.

Today I got my hair braided whilst I read story books to the children, they drew me lots of pictures to “stick up at home in Australia”. It then started to pour so we waited a little longer and the orphanage, when it stopped, two of the boys took my bike the bigger one on the bike seat, the smaller on in front and me on the silver metal “satchel holder (? You know the part you’d usually attach a baby seat to?) legs either side just off the ground. They rode so fast cause it was raining again, and I couldn’t stop laughing the whole way because it was so fun. Oh, and they all made fun of how small my feet are, and that they all had bigger feet than mine…thanks for that one mum! But it’s moments like this afternoon that make all the challenges and draining nature of volunteering worth the while, seeing the cheshire cat grins plaster from ear to ear at the end of the day.