Warmth of a Mother's Hug 6/15/15

My immune system is starting to kick back up. Still weak and tired I was able to go to Hope Children Hope and see the kids I have known for nearly five years now. Visal, Witchika, Tira, and Cheetah, then Sakada who was the extremely good artist and guitarist from my last visit. They all have grown into children from babies, and for some into teenagers. Witchika, Tira, and Cheetah were the three sisters who stole my heart on my trip in 2011. The three sisters had a little brother they just welcomed at HCH, because the mother is too sick to care for him alone. She came in with us from Phnom Penh to cross the river and visit them today because she was feeling good enough. She is apparently terminally ill, and I remember her being sick from the very beginning and that was why the sisters were always at an orphanage. They were dangling around her and it was nice to see how happy their mother makes the girls and I felt honored we got to deliver this nice gift to them. Tira was the first one I saw as we arrived, still looking the same with longer hair. She was shy at first but immediately remembered me when we made eye contact. Hope Children Hope has expanded immensely and looking better than ever. They bought out next door to be the girls' house. Then the backyard of the boys' house was developed into a playground, volleyball court, soccer field, Coi pond and so much more. After playing volleyball and soccer for a few hours we had to head out because it is on the country side and across the river and not close to home to say the least. It has been fascinating to see these children grow from 2 or 3 to 7 or 8 and attending school now, growing everywhere, and for Cheetah into a young lady, or Sadaka being lengthier with more drawings and better guitar songs. Timon, the director from Germany, has done immense work and it is nice to see some orphanages are successful with kids truly happy and well fed. We told Timon about where we are working and he feels bad for saying it but we understand, and at times he thinks it is better for kids to stay in the country side doing fieldwork they know how to do than coming to the city and being worse-off in a broken-down orphanage. Many orphans here aren't the true definition of one: parentless and abandoned. Most are still in contact with their family, but they were too poor or too sick to care for their children any longer. Or they lived in the country-side and wanted their children to have an education. It is even harder to imagine your parents dropping you off to say goodbye indefinitely, knowing they're doing it out of pure love for a better opportunity, but orphanages don't match their mother's touch or their father's games and knowing they are still out their alive and able to be with that child makes it harder to imagine living without them. In the broken down shambles of where we are working now the little boys were hugging me very tightly never loosening their grip. The director told me its because I remind them of their mothers and that they miss them. I can stand there and hug back easily if that is what they want. Not having your mother's hug for months and even years is hard to imagine at age 6, 7, and 8 when all they want is affection and for someone to notice them back. Without the side-work of rebuilding the orphanage, if I can give them the warmth of a mother's hug I can leave Cambodia fulfilled and happy. HCH is in a lot better shape and a success story so it's fun to play and laugh with them while carrying for the other orphanage more tentatively with a direct plan to better it. I have enjoyed the days I got to spend off bed rest but excited for Koh Rong and a new adventure to the side of Cambodia I haven't seen yet.