N.F.O.

Let Fencing Commence!

Sunday Morning, 20 November, and we're sitting in our thankfully air-conditioned guest-house bedroom, relaxing after a busy, satisfying and fun week here at New Futures Orphanage (NFO) in Takeo once again.
Since we got really 'stuck in' on Tuesday, we've been working almost all day every day as part of a team busily erecting a wooden picket-style fence all around the fish-pond within the orphanage compound. Andy has paired up with a young, hard-working German lad, Thomas, and they, and another 4 or 6 pairs of volunteers at any time, have been doing all the digging of holes and concreting-in of posts, and the sawing and hammering up of the hundreds of thin fencing panels. Meanwhile, another team of volunteers, about 10-12 of us including me, have been doing the job of sanding down the very rough timber panels, prior to their erection, to prevent splinters and get them ready for painting once erected. In the four days we've been here so far, we've managed to install about 40 metres of fencing along two sides of the pond. A number of us have pooled together to buy the raw materials - sand, cement, paint, timber fencing posts and panels. Timber over here seems ludicrously expensive by our standards - and crap quality, too! Not sure of the reason for this, though we know there's much concern about the massive (often illegal) logging and resultant deforestation in many of the smaller countries of SE Asia - maybe it's related to satisfying the hugh and insatiable demand of their very powerful and rapidly-developing neighbour, China. The timber we're buying comes in 4 to 5-metre lengths, which Andy and Thomas have taken charge of sawing into one-metre lengths, and is delivered here by horse and cart as we need it -  whereas the horse looked fairly healthy for over here, the cart-driver looked damned near ready for the knacker's yard!

Sanding School

Celebrating the First 40 Metres

Samnung Assists Thomas

There's one little 5- or 6-year old boy here, Samnung, who's been desperate to be involved in all this work alongside the adults, and who takes it very seriously indeed - unlike some of the others kids, who like to 'dabble' for a while before wandering off, to find something more exciting to do. Samnung's behaviour reminds us of young Forest, our 6-year-old neighbour in The Quad, who's also always been keen to get involved in a very serious way, in any grown-up work - especially in what Sandra might call "manny-type work". Both Samnung and Forest seem to have an almost innate sense of what needs doing, how to do it, and how to use the appropriate tools in the right way. Both of them, too, have real 'staying power' when it comes to seeing the job through. Absolutey fascinating to see! Perhaps the two of them should get together in a few years' time, to set up their own international construction business?!

In between sessions of sanding, I've also been taking two 45-minute classes each day - an English 'Intermediate' class for six or seven 10-14 year-olds, and, at the specific request of some the children, a French 'Beginners' class (just as well - mine is pretty rusty!) for eight very keen 12-15 year-olds. It would be good to see more of the kind of dedication to task which Samnung has displayed in the fence-building by those children who come to the classes - most of whom seem to have the concentration span of a gnat!   The French classes seem more popular than the English ones - mainly, I think, because they're unusual here in the orphanage.   Of course, I do need to remember that the children are volunteers, not conscripts, in these classes, as they are over and above anything they do in school.   However, it's quite difficult to keep their attention, and to stop them shouting out to other children in the play area, or to other volunteers who turn up to look in at what we're doing - and to stop them pulling each other's shirts or pigtails (now then, where else does that seem a familiar behaviour set...?).  

The most bizarre distraction activity I've experienced so far was on Wednesday when, just as the English class was assembled and I was about to begin, a young lad called Potich suddenly leapt onto the low fence surrounding the classroom and dived from there straight into the pond, swimming under water for several metres and coming up again, the other side of the pond, clutching a huge cat-fish!   After everyone had gathered round to admire his catch, and he'd taken it round to the women who do the cooking here, Potich came back, dripping, and took his seat in the classroom as if this interruption were nothing of note.

Catfish Landed

There have, of course, also been many opportunities for us simply to play with, or talk with, some of the younger children. The number of children in residence is slightly down on last year - 44 at the moment, compared with 54 last year - because one or two have been returned to live with their extended families, and no less than 7 of the older ones are now, thanks to many sponsors from all around the world, studying at universities or vocational colleges, mainly in the capital, Phnom Penh.

What's the Time, Mr Wolf?

There are also about a half-dozen very young children who've been taken in this year - each around 5 or 6 years old - though, sadly for us, little 'Khouy', to whom we lost our hearts last year, is not here at the moment.
You may remember that Khouy was the little boy who'd been found wandering all alone and scavenging to survive in the jungle, resulting in him having a parasite in the gut when he was found. Somehow, Social Services found out that his mother was dead, and his father 'crazy'. Not surprisingly, his behaviour was not at all child-like when we first got to know him, and he was something of a loner, unable to express any kind of emotion, and unable to mix with the other children particularly well. It now appears, from what we've learned, that Khouy had been found guilty (though, in our view, with scant evidence other than denunciations by some of the other children, and by Bunseng, the live-in Cambodian manager) of stealing from children and volunteers. Apparently, too, after several unsuccessful attempts to get him to 'understand and mend his ways', the Social Services here negotiated a deal with an 'uncle' of Khouy's to take him in, at least temporarily. This decision was taken partly as a form of punishment for Khouy himself, but partly also to act as an example to other children. Just this week, however, Neville, the orphanage's Director, has been to visit Khouy in his uncle's village (in which Khouy is living in conditions of much greater poverty, and doubtless much harsher regime altogether, than would be the case in the orphanage), and Khouy has apparently for the first time expressed remorse and a desperate desire to return to NFO. So, Neville is now minded to take him back 'on parole', and we're really hoping that he might return whilst we're still here. Neville says that he and Bunseng had no alternative, having sought help from Social Services, but to accept their way of handling the problem. However, we - and indeed one or two of the other volunteers who have also lost their hearts to this little lad - are seriously worried that he may have been innocent all along, and that this punishment may have compounded the trauma he's experienced in his short and pretty difficult life already.

On a more positive note, however, there are also many successes to report for NFO. Certainly, Neville has continued being seriously successful in fund-raising for the orphanage since we were last here, and in attracting volunteer helpers from all over the world. Indeed, when we first arrived on Monday afternoon, we were rather taken aback at just how many volunteers were here this year. Over 30 volunteers in all, from all four of the UK's member countries, including an Englishman who lives in Croatia, from Germany and America, including an American woman who lives in Montenegro, and many from Australia, including one whose family emigrated there from Serbia - so, quite a good representation from the former Yugoslavia! These numbers are, however, slowly decreasing, as significant numbers of them had planned their visit to coincide with attending the wedding of Nou, the young Cambodian woman who is the administrator here, and who got married last Saturday- to a young English lad who'd been a long-term volunteer here over the past couple of years.

Among the fund-raising successes, NFO has been given money from a charity called CamKids (which we understand is a project supported by the UK's 'pub landlord' comedian, Al Murray) to equip the library with more books and resources, and rent a piece of land next to the orphanage which is being turned into a play park for both the orphanage and the local children in Takeo. Another funder has provided a huge piece of soft-play equipment (the kind which you might see in a 'Whacky Warehouse' or 'Monkey Biscuits' in the UK, as well as for a bouncy castle, which Neville is planning to erect in time for the Christmas festivities (still seems an odd celebration for this Buddhist country, but ah well!). Yet another benefactor has provided sufficient money to supply the orphanage with food for a whole year! Because of this success, we're planning to spend our 'Children in Need' donation this year , together with the money which some of you have already given us for NFO (you know who you are, so please let us know if you DON'T want your money spent this way), partly to pay for the fencing materials, but also to buy rice for distribution to the children in the very poor villages spread around Takeo province where NFO also sponsors some of the village schools.

Fencing Project Co-ordinator Needs Beer!

On the social side of life, Thursday evening we were involved in a celebratory party for the departure of three of the long-term volunteers here - two from the UK and one from Australia. About 20 of us went out to a new local outdoor restaurant (which doubles as a car-wash during the day!), part-owned by Bunseng, the orphanage's live-in manager, and his brother. After a great meal, and lots of beer, accompanied by VERY loud music and a huge outdoor make-shift screen showing music videos, we were all ferried by tuk-tuk to a local Karaoke bar (oh joy!) for a 'lively' finale to the evening! We left to go back to our guest-house at about midnight, but we learned later that most of the others stayed on until about 2 am, and then stayed up partying until about 4 am. (That probably explained why there were so few teams working on the fence project on Friday!).

In closing this blog, we've just heard that next Tuesday  - 22 November - Chris & Simon have organised a benefit evening at the Six Bells Folk 'n' Blues Club in aid of NFO here in Cambodia. And it's to be Skyped-out to us here in our bedroom ('cos it'll be 5 in the morning here while you're all tucking-into your Harveys!). So get along there if you can - it'll be a great fun evening!

Bye for Now!