Our Children

House 1:
	Chan Ratt is aged 9. Her parents went to the Thai border to look for work. We know the mother is living along the border but she takes no interest in the children. Chan Ratt lived with an aunt who had six children of her own and was really struggling with the demands of raising them. Chan Ratt is very small for her age. She is a shy girl but she loves cuddles.
	Samean Ya, age 12, is Chan Ratt's sister but she is the exact opposite. She is the clown and, as you can see, is very photogenic. A very bright girl, Samean Ya has rapidly jumped to the top rankings in her class.
	Minea, aged 11, is a rival for Samean Ya as the orphanage clown. His mother bled to death while pregnant. After this, his father left and remarried and has not been seen since Minea was very young.
	Chinh, aged 13, is Minea's brother and he is a very confident young person. Chinh cooked all meals for his brother and uncle with whom they lived. When he first came to live at Kampuchea House, Chinh craved affection as he settled into the role of being a young boy, however he has become more independent lately.
	Rina is aged 10. Her father died from malnutrition when she was a small child. After this happened, Rina's mother absconded and has not been seen or heard from since. Along with her brother, Sokhon, she lived with her aunt. She is a very quiet girl who has bonded sensationally with her House Mother, Tum.
	Sokhon is aged 14 and is Rina's brother. Like his sister, Sokhon is very quiet. He is very protective of his sister, being the head of the family now. Sokhon is a very good student and is eager to learn.
House 2:
	Veasnar is 7 years old and came to Kampuchea House with his sister Hun after their father died. Like all young children, he loves to play, most of the time with Thai and Ith. Like his sister, he has excellent manners, having been well taught by his father and mother when they were alive. He has only just commenced school.
	Hun is 13 years old and is a quiet girl who is very protective of her brother Veasnar. Until her mother became seriously ill and died of tuberculosis in 2005, the family was well-fed and happy. Although her father tried his best to support his family after his wife died, the family became poorer and poorer. Three years later, Hun’s father died in a road accident.
	Rea, age 4, is Ith's younger sister. She is Miss Independence, sometimes coming up to visitors but, most of the time, completely ignoring everybody. She is the current face of the web site for obvious reasons. Rea spends a lot of her time playing with Vibol, the son of our Vice Director and Orphanage Manager Kheng.
	Ith is 7 years old. He has a younger sister, Rea, who also lives at Kampuchea House. Ith led an unhappy life after his parents divorced. His mother remarried and left her hometown without telling anyone where she was going. His grandmother has since told him that his mother had died. Ith's father left Siem Reap in search of a job on the Cambodian-Thai border and has not returned. After being left by both parents, he lived with his grandmother. Her second husband treated him very badly and he was subjected to daily violence and malnourishment. Since coming to live at the orphanage, Ith feels that he has become much happier as he has enough food to eat and is taken care of by a housemother who treats him like a son.
	Chanry, aged 14, has a beautiful smile, a wonderful personality and is very friendly to everyone. Her father died from AIDS when she was very young. Her mother remarried ten years ago and went away with her new husband, leaving Chanry with her grandmother. The mother has never returned. She is surprising us with her improved performances at school.
	Thai, aged 6, lived with his grandmother. He has now commenced primary school. Thai's mother was killed by the Thai army along the border while searching for work. Thai's father was killed in a fight on the Thai border and his body was put in a sack and dumped into a canal. Thai is a very shy boy who wants to be a mechanic. He runs around making car noises. He likes food, especially cake. Thai's grandmother said that he was a good boy but she was struggling to raise him. After a few initial problems, Thai has become a well behaved kid.
House 3:
	Sak is Sor's younger brother. He is aged 10 and relatively quiet. He loves physical activity and is well mannered respectful of his elders. It seems that Sor was the one who the father picked on with Sak escaping the brutal physical treatment dished out to Sor.
	Sor is a thirteen year old boy. The situation of my family is very miserable and hard because my father is very different from the other fathers. He was always beat us and my mother, as a result, she was in the bad chronic illness and not only her body but her mind also was hurt. When my mother just delivered a baby, he told her she had to go to work. Not so long after, she was sick and died and five days after her death, he was remarried and went to live with his new wife without thinking he has had children. Our nine hopeless children were abandoned and lived with the ocean of tear, finally, my three other sisters decided to married and six of us came to with her in separate family. Before, I did hope that I would meet the happiness, but everything seemed come to me as the same when I lived with my father. They always treated badly to us, at the end I made decision to depart from her family and live with the neighbor. One day, Kampuchea House Organization, came to interview me and took my youngest brother and I to reside. Living with Kampuchea House Orphanage, I am very happy and healthy because I have house mother to look after me and have everything that I never had before. I would like to promise to become a good citizen in the future.
	Pisey is sixteen years old and studying in Grade Six. My family was, before, a well being family. Unfortunately, since my mother has had sickness, my family situation became worse. At the end she could not be cured and died. After my mother died, my father never thought he had children to look after and he remarried a new wife and we have never ever heard about him since. My brother married and went to live with his wife as the same as my father left me to live with my youngest sister, named Kosorl. Without someone look after us, I went to live with my mother-line aunty and my youngest sister went to live with my cousin. I decided to live with Kampuchea House which provides me free accommodation, food, clothes, and everything. I have never ever dreamed about my good life like this before and now my sister and I are very lucky and happy to live with Kampuchea House because, here, all the orphans have a house mother to look after as the same as a real mother.
	Kosorl is Pisey's 14 year old sister. She was living with our part-time House Mother before she moved to Kampuchea House when House 3 was completed. Kosorl is an energetic teenager who is friendly and who is near the top of her class at school.
	Yet is 16 years old and has just been promoted to Grade Ten at the local high school. As such, she is the pacesetter for the rest of the children. My mother died of tuberculosis and after the death of my mother, my father went to find a job and he has left forever that no one knew about him whether he died or not. We were living with our grandmother who is very old to do a farm and support our living. We never had enough food to eat and proper clothes to wear. We did not have enough money to buy equipment and our school uniform. I did not have proper time to spend on my study because I needed to help my grandmother everyday. After my grandmother had heard about Kampuchea House, she decided to come to talk with organization to get support and we also got support for $10 per month including school facilities. Without support from Kampuchea House, my sister and I would not be able to attend the school. Now we live at Kampuchea House and I would like to thank to Kampuchea House and wish to study hard to become a good citizen in the future.
	Yim is Yet's 11 year old sister. She is much more reserved than her older sister. Only recently, have we seen her smile. Unlike the other girls at kampuchea House, Yim loves physical activity.
	Mean is a 15 year old boy. I was very happy because I had mother and father, even though, my mother was sick twice or three times a month and my family situation was very poor. However, she was sick frequently that my father had to move the family to Pailin to be a farm worker and after two years, her health was very bad and she passed away. My father tried to look for a job everywhere and we have missed him since that time. My older sister has got married and went to live with her husband. One day Kampuchea House staff came to visit my sister and brought us to go to visit the orphanage. Seeing that this is the best chance for me to live and get higher education, I decided to come to live with Kampuchea House because it has a tuk tuk to take me to school, good food, and a lot of playing tools to play.
	Sinan is a thirteen year old girl. My family was happy before I was born because they lived together, however, when I was born my mother was sick because after she delivered me her stomach was still big. Since that time my family had a lot of difficulties because I was very small and my mother was sick. My father's behaviour changed from a good father to a bad one after my mother died. He always was drunk everyday without finding a job to support the family or looking after us. Twelve years later, he was sick and passed away that all my older siblings gave up their study because no money to feed the younger children and some of them tried to find a job. I came to live with my mother-line uncle. Living with my uncle not so long, he contacted Kampuchea House and they brought me to visit. After I went back home, I made my decision to live at Kampuchea House that has bathrooms, toilets, houses, and a good environment. I think that I will have a good future to live here as the same as the other families.
Siem Reap House:
	Duong is aged 19 and was a very sad girl according to all who knew her. Her mother was an HIV/AIDS victim while her father simply left the family when she was very young and never returned. Duong lived with her aunt who has nine children of her own, one with Downs Syndrome. Duong has a brother who lives with another relative. Duong's real personality came to the fore once she moved to kampuchea House. She has a wicked laugh and is always happy. Duong now attends the Paul Dubrule School of Hospitality and Tourism in Siem Reap where she is studying to be a baker and on weekends she returns to the Sala Kor Koh complex to catch up with the other children.
	Peach is a friendly girl whose age is open to conjecture. Her birth certificate says 12 but her aunt says she is 19. Her mother died from AIDS while her father was shot dead in a domestic dispute by his brother. Peach was struggling at school, being only in Grade Three. She now lives in Siem Reap and attends a local hairdressing school to fulfill her wish to become a hairdresser. Recently, her last close relative, her grandfather, died leaving her a block of land.
	We were asked to consider Sophary’s situation by the local representatives of the Department of Social Affairs. She had been in an orphanage in PP for two years from the age of 13 to 15; she is now 18. Sophary’s mother died from a diarrhea-related illness and her father remarried. He, too, died from the same illness, followed in turn by the stepmother. When Sophary moved to the original orphanage in Phnom Penh, she was separated from her younger brother\ and given an orphanage name. However, the orphanage changed its policy to cater for only children under 12 years of age. All of the older children were ‘reintegrated into their villages’ with the promise of a bicycle and who knows what else. Of course, nothing was given. Sophary had been offered work in her local area but wished to continue her schooling and, we were told, she was a very good student. She was in Grade Four but, after moving to Kampuchea House, she was promoted to Grade Six because the work was too easy for her. She expressed a wish to study with Duong at Paul Dubrule School of Hospitality and Tourism and, after extra tuition with English, she passed the entrance exam and is now, along with Duong, studying to be a baker.