Riverkids Report October 2008

October has come to a close and has been another busy month for Riverkids. Continuing to work closely with our communities of Phsatouch and Doemkhvet villages, our social workers spent time with our families there. Dealing with the usual problems, such as minor illnesses, absenteeism from school and small disputes, Riverkids’ social workers were able to find solutions and provide support so that our families there remain tended to.

Some more serious problems had arisen though. Violence had erupted in one family. A 10-year old girl left in the care of an older sister was being beaten up by her father. The mother is at work at a factory near Chaumchauv and is unable or unwilling to intervene. Riverkids has enrolled the abused girl in one of our centres and is caring for her there.

Working in the beer gardens that are ubiquitous in Cambodia is increasingly becoming an occupation that many young girls turn to as it pays relatively well compared to factory work. But it is also much riskier, as beer garden patrons sometimes assume that the girls who work there double up as prostitutes and get nasty if the girls insist they don’t. The girls have little protection, and having to face this on their own, late at night, leaves them vulnerable.

One of our Get Ready Girls has unfortunately become a waitress in one of the beer gardens in Samarky market; travelling to work on foot at 5pm and working will 10:30 or 11pm. In the mornings she is too tired to come to school, so to accommodate Riverkids has allowed her to attend school in the afternoon only. But Riverkids would like to know which beer garden exactly she works at—something the girl claims she doesn’t know.

Sometimes though, the girls themselves send off the wrong signals. For instance, one of our girls had got a good job as an assistant cook at Goldiana Hotel, an established hotel in the city, but was thinking of quitting, saying she was “too tired”. However when we spoke to her boss, he complained that she was in fact being asked to leave because she often came to work dressed very sexily and stood in front of the hotel, as a sex worker might do. The girl did not deny these accusations, which we took as an omission of guilt, but in due course stopped this behavior and was allowed to keep her job.

Children whose parents are unable to look after them are often left in the care of aged grandparents. In Phsatouch, an old grandmother has two young grandchildren in her care. Her only income is US$10 a month, which she gets for working as a cleaner in the local police station. The children’s mother is a dancer at a beer garden and has abandoned the children. With such a meager income, the grandmother cannot support the children and rumour in the village has it that she is considering selling them.

When Riverkids heard this, we immediately took action. The first step was to go with the grandmother to the village chief to confirm that she is indeed a resident of this village, and get her to commit to never selling the children. Once that was done, we enrolled the older child, a four-year-old, in our kindergarten; and started providing the younger child, a six-month-old, with a regular milk supply.

Some Riverkids families have serious illnesses. The mother of one of our children gave birth to a stillborn baby at eight months of pregnancy. She was treated at Japan Hospital and upon her return home, Riverkids visited her with 10 kilograms of rice and several cartons of milk. Fortunately she is coping well, and was very grateful for Riverkids’ support and encouragement.

A 13-year old student from the old Riverkids has a cancer of the blood. Doctors at Kuntakbopha hospital has said that she requires transfusions every three months but her family cannot afford this. Riverkids is looking into the situation.

Given Riverkids’ limited resources, we sometimes have to make difficult decisions about who will get help and who won’t. For instance, in the middle of October three families came to us for help: two with financial problems and one where both parents are HIV positive. Although all three families were needy, the living conditions for the HIV positive family were absolutely miserable, far worse that for the other two, and so Riverkids chose them. It was a tough choice.

Understanding proper, and improper, sexual behavior is vital for children who are at risk of being trafficked. This awareness helps them know if someone is taking advantage of them sexually, and makes them less vulnerable to abuse. Riverkids tries to cultivate this awareness in our children from day one, even in very young children who are still completely unaware of sexuality.

In an incident this month, for instance, two six-year-old boys were caught fondling each other in school. Even though this was probably innocent on their part, it was inappropriate and Riverkids put a stop to it. However, attempts to get the mother of one of the boys to address this and allow her son to be attended to by a doctor were met by a denial on her part of the impropriety of this action. The other boy, who initiated the sexual encounter, is being counseled by Riverkids.

To reinforce the message that touching children sexually is wrong, Riverkids staff Mr Ritthy and Mr Theany conducted a workshop that taught children how to protect themselves if someone touches them in ways they don’t like or that make them feel unsafe. At the same time, young girls and boys need to know how to carry themselves decently.

And to that end, Riverkids decided that for its break dancing lessons only the conservative poses will be taught—important as most of the students who had signed up are teenage Get Ready Girls.

Educating parents in our community is imperative to our success. As part of that effort Riverkids holds regular family meetings, and the last one was on 24 September. Twenty-five parents attended and listened to speeches by My Sophon, kindergarten teachers Kunther and Thida, and social worker Mr Teany, encouraging them to support their children in their education and cooperate with Riverkids, who in turn assures them of education, food, and care.

And to help these families better deal with the multiple problems that they face, Riverkids had developed a game that teaches problem solving skills, which we got the parents to participate in.

Interestingly, in spite of the many big problems these families face, the one problem that was raised repeatedly at the meeting was a seemingly minor one—crossing the road! A busy main road separates Riverkids from its community, and getting parents to make sure their young children cross the road accompanied by an adult was a bit of an uphill struggle!

Training our staff is equally important. This month Sinoy and Pheakdey had attended a child trafficking prevention course at Christian coalition Chab Dai and returned with a helpful presentation on the causes and impact of child trafficking, why it is so hard to detect, and the key points in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child: life, protection, development and participation. Mr Sophon then spoke further about preventing abuse—physical, emotional and sexual—and the legal recourse that is available when abuse has occurred.

On top of this, various Riverkids staff are keeping up with the usual courses and workshops at Chap Dai and the Social Services of Cambodia on areas such as counseling, social work and trauma.

Staff need their rights to be looked after to. Towards that end, Mr Sophon presented to the entire staff of Riverkids our staff policy that covers working hours, salary, benefits, health insurance, paid holiday and other conditions of work. Competition for good staff amongst NGOs in Cambodia is fierce, and Riverkids assures its staff of good and fair treatment—which staff agree is the case!

There was only one query about Riverkids’ staff policy, which was whether part time staff could also be covered under the organization’s health insurance.

Making sure Riverkids’ facilities stay in good shape requires constant maintenance work. This month the bathroom at Steven House got clogged and stank up the kindergarten, and had to be repaired. Rubbish from the kindergarten was also causing a stench as it was being left right outside kindergarten for the rubbish truck, which was always late. The rubbish now gets picked up a ways from the kindergarten. Blum had to fix its drainage, paid for mostly by our landlord.

Volunteers and visitors have been in good supply this month! Riverkids had a total of 11 volunteers and visitors this month, from: responsible-travel firm I-to-I, CCOIT in Australia, Chab Dai, the Royal University, and two gentlemen from Canada. Riverkids also bid farewell to two longer term volunteers, Heli and Jan.

Volunteers are extremely helpful—for instance, one volunteer has been training our new night house mother how to prepare proper food, and to prepare it in the right way. With these simple skills the new house mother can now make a good, nutritious meal for the kids in her care.

And there is more help coming: a dentist from Singapore will be providing free check ups in November, and volunteers will be teaching English and computer skills. A big thank you to all our volunteers!