Be You Love You Fundraising
April 8, 2016
Nepal Project
May 13, 2016

Cambodia Project

THE LINGERING GLANCES

This trip gave me an opportunity to discover a deep understanding of life, of dreams seemingly simple but is actually the heaven of bliss. Painted by the hands of tiny hearts is this paradise that exists in life.I set foot in Cambodia on a sweltering hot day where heavy sheets of dust settle on the streets like a thick blanket. I wonder if it has ever rained here. Arriving on invitation from a local NGO, my destination was not a crowded tourist attraction teeming with people, but instead, a school for underprivileged children tucked away down a small alley in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. Little did I know that the school’s dispiriting façade would house children that would touch my heart. They welcomed me with warm gazes, soft smiles, and voices in fluent English.Children from as young as 3-4 to adolescents from 16-17 years old attending in the school all receive support from the organization. Every morning, they come to this school, excited to work on their assignments and learn English. Around noon, they attend their usual classes at a public school in the area before returning home to help their families. The family of these children live under rather difficult circumstances, with the majority of their houses built on landfills. During rainy seasons, the boundary between the homes and the trash is indistinguishable. The place they called home becomes a murky river littered with scraps and pieces of waste. Flood waters rise as high as a meter, and the only way of commute is by swimming through the piles of dirt and trash. A child told me that the short amount of time spent at school every day is the greatest happiness of her life, and in her cute innocent eyes, this tiny school is her great big castle. I wondered about what it was like to be her age in these circumstances, and if I had ever possessed as zealous a love for school as her. The things we take for granted…

Written by : Ms.Cac Lam

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