james tan

The Left Behind Children - Kampot, Cambodia (I)

 

the adventure

 

"We have got to help these gorgeous children!" 

 

I first found out about the Hope Centre from a friend. Located on a rustic farm in an obscure and poor rural community, about 30 mins' drive from the beautiful and laidback riverside town of Kampot, the Hope Centre was not easy to find. Kampot, with residues of French colonioal influence, was famous for producing and exporting Kampot Pepper all over the world.

 

The Hope Centre was run by Chang How, a relatively young man of Vietnamese-Cambodian heritage. In the surrounding villages, he had observed that there were easily more than 100 school-going children whose parents had more or less abandoned them. These kids had been left in the care of aged grandparents, uncles and even neighbours. No one was ensuring that they were eating properly or going to school regularly.

 

So, Chang How decided to set up the Hope Centre on the farm for these "left behind" children. With very limited funds available, the Hope Centre could only aspire to feed each child with one good, hearty meal every morning. Nonetheless, the Hope Centre became a conducive, safe and fun communal space where many of these "left behind" children could return after each school day to play with each other, and learn useful skills and values.

 

The children were mostly filthy and dressed in worn clothes. Initially shy, they quickly warmed up to our team as we befriended them. Soon, they were eagerly showing us around their rural "playground", and we were exploring the beautifully rugged countryside together on bikes and a tuk-tuk! Every day became an amazing experience of discovery and friendship-building!