Our day began with a long car ride. We traveled a bit outside the city into a rural village. It was difficult to find the NGO, Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) because the location of the center is hidden for the safety of the victims. This was a humbling experience. The survivors are both men and women. They sew their own compression garments and make the hospital scrubs for the staff. The victims stay there until they are well enough to go back home or someplace else. We met the survivor that makes the compression garments who was featured in the International Zontian magazine. It was because of her story that we wanted to find CASC in order to give a donation to them.
Sara hit it off with one of the social worker there and promised to send him books on PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) which is prevalent with all victims. Annie connected with the other social worker and is going to ask her Zonta group if they can sponsor a girl who is an acid burn victim in order to get her a proper education.
The victims make purses, wallets, eyeglass cases. These are all crocheted and are beautifully done. This enables them to give them some money and a sense of helping themselves. We purchased a number of these bags to bring back to Annie’s Zonta group. Ana and Maddie purchased bags for themselves as well.
We next drove back to the city and went to NADP which is an organization which helps disabled persons. This is where we have purchased many of our Buddha statues in the past. We did the same again and are bringing back a beautiful carved Buddha for ourselves and also some smaller ones for friends.
Upon arriving back at the hotel, we had a short amount of time before heading back out with Maddie’s foster Father. He picked us up and brought us to his home to meet his family. It was wonderful to see them. The joy on their faces when they saw us was heartwarming. They served us many different fruits, several of which we had not had before. Mony brought out all the photos that we had given to them of Maddie and Ana. After catching up on each other’s lives and exchanging email addresses, it was time to leave.
On the way back to the hotel, Mony talked with us about the Khmer Rouge tribunal that is happening. He was 11 years old when Pol Pot came into power. He told us that was not his given name and that it meant political potential. He is very interested in keeping up on the tribunal happenings and gave us a booklet about it. Mony lost many relatives during the Khmer Rouge reign.
When we got to the hotel it was time to eat something and pack our bags as we will be heading out to Siem Reap tomorrow. It will be an early to rise day so we can get on the road. It is a five hour drive so the girls will be working on some of their homework.
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