I paid a visit to the Center for Children’s Happiness at Steung Mean Chey (outskirts of Phnom Penh City). Sokha works as a Khmer teacher out there in CCH. He briefed me about what they do for the rehabilitation of Orphans. The center presently houses 59 children and provides accommodation and education up to the grade of six (sixth standard). After that the fortunate kids to get funding carry on with their education at one of the many International Schools located in Phnom Penh City and its suburbs.
At the time of conversing with him, it costs about USD 900 per year to completely support a kid. There are many Americans, Europeans and Australasia people that support children at CCH. At present, they are looking out for Volunteers that could teach Computers and train their Staff at CCH. I would recommend such an opportunity as it would help you get a feel of a culture other than yours.
Sokha can be contacted at sokha_cch [at] yahoo [dot] com. If you are paying out of your pocket, it would cost you anywhere around USD 180 for accommodation at a Guest House. For long term stay, you can negotiate with the Owner. Food should cost you about USD 5 to 7 per day and you can even strike a deal with a restaurant - provided they are O.K. with it. So, to volunteer and pay for food and shelter, it should cost you about USD 500 per month. On top of it apply business visa and renewals. So, we are looking at somewhere around USD 3000 to 3500 for six months (that’s about INR 1,75,000). Not many from India can afford such a figure and if you find out Government Agencies that cover basic expenses in the form of Per Diem, then I think it should work out better!
For grades 4 till 6, they teach the kids Khmer, English and Math. After the visit to CCH, I headed to Khan Lai Chak Samram (Steung Mean Chey Garbage Dump). It is acres of garbage dump filled with stench and gets pretty nasty during the rainy season. I couldn’t bear the stench after 25 mins and had to move out. I wonder how Maciej Dakowicz (Photographer) could have documented a photo essay. Truly amazing! A large number of the people that work in the Garbage dump could have come from nearby villages in search of opportunity in Phnom Penh City. The typical in search of opportunity story.
It is kind of sad to see the appalling disparity between the Cambodian Elites and their fellow countrymen that live on USD 1/day. The Lexus, Mercedes and other high end SUVs on road completely mask the grim reality underneath. I heard from my moto-driver that there are lot of Vietnamese and Chinese businessmen taking over business projects in the City. To put it this way, the Authorities don’t really care much about the economic disparity as long as their share of money flows in.
This is pretty much what I expected out of my visit to Phnom Penh but the economic disparity part. I might not visit Kampong Cham as I have fallen ill in the last 4 to 5 days. I have been running on Antibiotics and Paracetamol. Hope it gets better and I will be headed back home on 3rd May.