We arrived in Phnom Phen at 12 am and were taken to the tatoo guest house. I am rooming with Creek which is no suprise seeing that we are the only two boys on the trip, but we started out right by making sure we were both organized and had everything ready for day 1.
We woke up at 7 and went right to Star Kampuchea which is the organization we are going through. This was an orientation where I got a refresher on the language, rules, culture, and "do's and don't's". It was quick and easy and took up the first half of the day.
The second half of the day we went to the S21 museum which was a high school that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge. 20,000 people went in and only 7 came out, we had the amazing opportunity of meeting one of the two survivers left. All the rest have passed away of old age. The museum was also a refresher, this was very helpful because I could pick up information that I missed durring my last visit. It also reminded me of why the country is in such a poor state, and why there are so many orphans. Then we went to the Killing Fields which is where the prisoners from the S21 were taken to be exicuted. This was my second time visiting the Killing Fields and this time we got the audio tour guide which gave us all the information, which was nice because I learned a lot. I think that it was a very good idea to see these places first because it showed the students right off the bat why things are the way they are. I now feel that my fellow students really get the whole situation.
Today we woke up at 6:30 to make sure we were all ready fot the orphange. The orphanage I attended last year (CHA) only has 20 kids left. Many kids found homes, others were transfered to different ophanages and others we don't know. Having 11 people at an orphange of only 20 is not the most effecient so we decided to head out to the rural areas about 40 minutes away to an orphanage of 40 kids. When we first arived we were immediately greeted with hugs and complaments. I pumped up the soccer ball that I brought and we immediatly started a game of soccer, but this was not on a field, this was on a patch of dirt using bricks and flip flops for goals. This orphange makes a lot of their money off of the plays they do. The orphange was made with a stage which is where the kids live and practice. At lunch they showed us their acts and dances which were amazing. They even had their own music which used the drum which was played by the 16 year old and the xzilaphone which was played by a blind 23 year old. This was one of the coolest things ever to see. He was increadably talented. His story is that he was born with sight but when he was about 1 and a half he got an eye infection and he was taken to the doctors where they gave him drops, the drops caused him to go blind. This does not stop him as he is also amazing at drums and a violin looking instrament. There was another blind boy who is about the same age, he was also born with sight but when he was four he and a friend found a land mine, they were playing with it when it exploded, killing his friend and leaving him blind and with scars covering the front of his body but he is also talented, he speeks very good inglish.
Today was all about getting to know the orphanage and all of the kids. Tomorrow we will start our work whith de-licing and cleaning up the trash which lies all around the orphanage. I am excited to start to improve the living conditions of the kids and to get a first impresion of the work ethics of my fellow students. I was upset to leave today which didn't happen for the first few days last year which is good and bad, I want to be with them, but it also means I am already becoming attached which will just make for a harder goodbye in two weeks.
All of us need to get some rest for the work tomorrow in heat, I drank 2 1/2 leaters today by myself, and 'we weren't even working, going to have to pack more for tomorrow! Everyone is doing great here and there hasn't been any issues (MOM!). Again I thank you all for you kindness and support! I will update again as soon as possible.
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