The Orphanage

My alarm went off at 6:15am. I showered, dressed, and had breakfast. Sylvan and I caught a moto-taxi from our guest house to the corner of Monivong and Sihanouk Blvd. The information that I was given said to show up at 8am, walk in, and, without instruction, just start helping. I walked through the gate and into a building. A man inside pointed, motioning for Sylvan and I to go up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was another gate and on the other side of the brightly painted metal gate were seven smiling faces. Seven little children sat, eating crackers, smiling, and shouting and pointing at Sylvan and I. One of the sisters came over and asked us if she could help us. Sylvan quickly replied, "Well how can we help you?"

The kids were excited to see us, and Heng (a one and a half year old mischevious little boy) jumped up immediately and ran right into Sylvan, smiling and laughing the whole way. Heng knew we were there to play with the kids and it was obvious that he was craving attention. An older boy jumped up as well. Sylvan and his new playmates immediately began a good game of hide and seek. The other kids laughed as they watched Sylvan cover his eyes and the two little boys run off. When Sylvan uncovered his eyes, some of the kids would point in the direction the boys had gone and shout things in Khmer.

One of the sisters told me to go get the crying baby and to feed her. I walked back toward the cribs but couldn't find a crying child. She pointed to a skinny little baby girl who was barely wimpering. I picked her up to find her cloth diaper soaked through. The other sisters were busy bathing, feeding, and cleaning and changing didn't seem like the first priority so I held the wet little girl and fed her a cracker. I was surprised to find quite a few teeth in her tiny mouth as she took bit the cracker I held for her. I sat on one of the benches in the small orphanage. Sylvan's buddies hid behind me, then Sylvan thought it would be a good idea to hide underneath me. The kids really got a kick out of that one.

After handing off the baby to one of the sisters for a bath, I walked back into the crib section to find two crying babies. An adorable little boy in blue was climbing out of his crib so I went over to grab him. I tried to put him back in his crib but he clung to me so I held him. All he wanted was to be held. One of the sisters spotten me with Sopiah, gave me a bottle, and motioned to feed him. Sopiah is about a year and a half old and very strong. He drank fast. When he decided that he was finished with the bottle, I held him up to my shoulder and attemted to burp him. He flailed about but I finally got a good burp out of him. I put him down to play with the other kids and walked back to find another crying baby boy, about the same age.

Sameth looked strong as well but, unlike Sopiah, Sameth did not want to be held. He just wanted to use me to get out of his crib. Of course, it worked. So now twelve, or so, little children ran, waddled, and crawled around the orphanage. Heng was a little bigger than Sameth and Sopiah and it was clear the he bullied the other kids. Sameth and Sopiah got fed up with being bullied and found that the man trying to fix the windows was much more interesting than any of their toys. The boys waddled over toward the windows, climbed up and into one of the empty cribs, and then began climbing the iron bars that covered the windows. Sameth looked like a baby tarzan swining on the iron bars with one hand waving around. Sylvan ran over to spot him and make sure he didn't fall. The sisters said it was okay and that Sameth was a climber. After an especially dangerous climb, he returned to the crib and proceeded to trip on a blanket and fall right into the side of the crib. He had pretty nasty bump on his left eye, but he was a little more careful the next time he tried to climb.

Sopiah took a liking to Sylvan and wasn't happy unless he was safely in Sylvan's arms. Sameth was content to climb on his own, Heng, the terror, ran about with the older boy, and I found a bright eyed little, Marie Noelle, sitting on the floor wimpering. I picked her up and held her close to me as I swayed from side to side. Marie Noelle is a beautiful seven month old baby and I was absolutely beaming as I held her. I rocked her to sleep in my arms and proceeded to let her sleep on me for just a while longer before puting her back in her crib.

The orphanage in Phnom Penh is run by the Missionaries of Charity and is home to a dozen or so children. Some seem healthy, others are not so fortunate. We were not allowed to take pictures in the orphanage.