School

The kids have been attending school for the past five years at the Atlanta Center in Phnom Penh, one of many private schools in the City. Their principal subjects are English, computer skills, and the local Khmer language. Some of the children, after having developed some self-confidence in the private school, elected to go to Cambodia Public School in addition to the Atlanta Center. We weren't sure how it would work to enter a 13-14 year old into the 1st or 2nd grade but it seemed successful and some of the kids have since tested up a couple of grades and are now more on line with their peers.


Street Life

Prior to sending them to school, these children lived and slept on the streets of Phnom Penh looking for handouts from the tourist traffic along the riverside near the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers. Most of the children live with a mother but very few have a father alive or present to support them. After being told that these mothers wanted their children on the street to earn the family income instead of attending school, we found the opposite to be true. The mothers have been grateful and supportive. One of the most difficult tasks of this whole experience is to inform new children and their hopeful parent that we cannot afford to take more children to school.


Housing

While maintaining these children in school it soon became apparent that they cannot live on the street and still attend school without shelter so we have provided a rental subsidy for five families which includes about 15 of the children. The apartments are located in some very run down structures but they are dry during the monsoon season and they provide a means of locking up their possessions which were constanty stolen on the street....especially shoes.


Family Finances

Part of our effort to support the children was to assist the family in their efforts to obtain some income. We purchased large plastic ice coolers from which the mothers could sell drinking water and soda as well as snacks to the foot traffic on the riverside especially during holidays and festivals. For the children we assisted them with books to sell to tourists. They can purchase the knock-off editions of travel guides at local shops and re-sell to the tourists at a small profit.


Transportation

For the early months of this effort our Land Rover and the jeep served as the school bus. Later, Zachry International, the contractor building the new US Embassy in Phnom Penh, provided a van service to and from school for the kids. This was an enormous help in getting the kids back and forth. Today they currently rely on walking, cyclo, and moto-taxis to get to school.


Medical Care

Zachry International also paid for a considerable amount of dental care for these children. A local Cambodian dentist, Monica Suorn, offered her services at a reasonable cost to help these kids. A local Vietnamese doctor, Chau Van Nguuyen, was especially generous with his services to help the kids with numerous health and injury issues. We provide minimal care to meet the routine health and dental problems.