We started New Year's day by watching fireworks out of our hotel room window. Talk about a perfect view! Now this is the way to watch fireworks. The girls had fallen aslepp but we woke them up so that they could watch them.
After breakfast we began our day by picking up fresh French bread to take to Maddie’s orphanage. From there we went to the Russian market to pick up the girl’s necklaces that we had made with their Cambodian name on them in the Khmer language. Maddie’s necklace was done but they made a mistake on Ana’s so we would need to go back again later to pick it up.
On the way to the orphanage, we stopped at the market in Kandal province to pick up three 50 lb. bags of rice and two stalks of bananas to bring with us to the orphanage. When we got back into the van, all we could smell was the 122 loaves of bread we had gotten earlier.
As we pulled up to the orphanage, we saw elephant statues at the old entrance. What we learned was that this section of the orphanage is now abandoned. It is where Maddie was put into my arms 9 ½ years ago. The new director of the orphanage came to meet us. There are 129 children there now but the older children were gone when we were there. We chatted for a while and learned that Horn Srey Mom, my sponsored daughter, was no longer at the orphanage. She left the orphanage as she no longer wanted to study and wished to help her Mother who had just gotten remarried. We also learned that Horn Raksmey, my sponsored son, was at the orphanage. He is now 20 years old and has had some time in at the University. He is a computer teacher for the orphanage. He had written to me in the past and said that he had wanted to be a teacher. I am very proud of him for achieving his goal of becoming a teacher and for giving back his time with the orphanage. As you will be able to tell from the photos, he is a very handsome young man.
We brought the bread, rice and bananas from the van and the director spoke to the children. They were lined up in rows according to height. They came row by row up to the front and got the bananas and bread. The kids were very excited. There was one little girl in particular that was just adorable.
As we toured the orphanage, we got to see that they had added another well. Improvements had been made by the Hungarian Baptist group. The eating area is open with one large table that they sit on while eating and several regular sized tables with benches as well. There is a small gas powered stove in the kitchen. The living quarters consist of anywhere from two to four beds with two dressers to a room. The beds are similar to a camp cot with a much thinner mattress than what we have at camp. The children grow vegetables in their gardens and fruit is hanging from the trees. We got to see jack fruit, papaya and tapioca on the trees.
I took Maddie over to the area where she used to be at so that she could see it. It is sad that Ana doesn’t have this same opportunity as her orphanage is closed. We asked her if she wanted us to drive there even though it was closed and she did not want to do that.
After we left the orphanage, we headed back into town to have lunch. We went back to the Russian market to get Ana’s necklace. It was not there yet. The vendor gave Maddie an new bracelet and Ana a pair of earrings since it was not done when they said it would be. We headed back over to the restaurant to wait as the heat in the market was overwhelming. Yoen went back about 20 minutes later and picked up the necklace.
It was time to get ready to go swimming after all of this. We picked up Yoen’s family and headed to the store to get swimming suits for the boys. Hong opted not to get one but Har and Hai were very excited. We headed to the hotel to take a dip. The kids had a blast and Yoen enjoyed swimming too. Ana and Maddie were trying to teach the boys how to swim. They got them to float on their backs. We think Ana is a natural as a swimming teacher. They were all having so much fun together. After swimming we had dinner together. It was the first time for Navy and the boys to be at a buffet. The food was good but the company was the best of all. We raised our glasses and toasted in Khmer to the New Year and wished for good health for everyone.
All of us have gained family during this stay. Yoen, Navy, Hong, Har and Hai are such a wonderful addition to our family. We feel truly blessed to have them in our lives. We will be staying in touch with them once we return to the states via Skype. It will enable us to also keep up with our Khmer and them with their English.
We have had a wonderful and very memorable New Year’s day.
P.S. – Maddie lost a tooth today. I wonder if the tooth fairy gives reils here instead of dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment