It was 8.30am and I was waiting for Rosanna White in the early morning
\n sunshine, sheltered in the shade of a palm tree in front of the Independence
\n Monument. Rosanna is the volunteer co-ordinator for the Sunrise Children's
\n Village, a Phnom Penh orphanage with a high profile, due in no small part
\n to the extraordinary efforts of its founder and patron, Geraldine Cox.
\n Described by some as 'larger than life', Geraldine was on one
\n of her regular trips abroad seeking out funds to keep the orphanage afloat
\n and the day to day administration was in the capable hands of Rosanna.
\n I'd been in e-mail contact with both of them for a few months before
\n my trip and they'd kindly invited me to visit the orphanage, temporarily
\n located in Takhmau, some fifteen kilometres south of Phnom Penh, the capital
\n of Cambodia.<\/p>\n
Geraldine's high profile – she's written a book, there's
\n an award-winning documentary about her life and a feature film in the
\n offing – and her tireless work go towards providing a home for around
\n fifty disadvantaged Cambodian children between the ages of 3 and 18. Most
\n are orphans, all have sad tales to tell, but the orphanage provides them
\n with love, food and shelter as well as regular schooling and extra English,
\n computer, sewing, music and dance classes, designed to give them the chance
\n of a brighter future. It’s a worthy cause that many Australians
\n support with individual and corporate sponsorship. However, as Rosanna
\n explained on our drive out to Takhmau, a great deal of extra funding,
\n as much as $600,000, is needed to fulfil the Sunrise dream envisioned
\n when Prime Minister Hun Sen donated ten hectares of rent-free land to
\n the orphanage. It's certainly an ambitious project and the publicity
\n created by the support of some very famous Hollywood names is currently
\n giving it real momentum, while Geraldine's powers of persuasion continue
\n to play their part in making the dream come true.<\/p>\n
A toot of the horn and the gates of a nondescript villa opened up as
\n Sopheun, the orphanage’s housemother, welcomed us. Rosanna received
\n an update on the latest batch of cuts and bruises, tantrums and colds
\n (and the theft of a bicycle) since her last visit a couple of days earlier
\n before giving me a guided tour of the tidy, but cramped house and grounds.
\n On the ground floor were the girls’ dormitories (the boys sleep
\n upstairs), with hammocks and mattresses taking up most of the space and
\n a few of the girls busily drawing pictures with coloured crayons. Outside,
\n the more boisterous boys were playing games of tag and marbles and I joined
\n in a game of football with Chanry and Sin Long, two eight year olds, who
\n were obviously best of friends and who hammed it up for my camera. I also
\n showed my skills, or lack of them, with another group who were playing
\n 'tot sey' (foot shuttlecock).<\/p>\n
Nearby was the well-stocked computer room, where Phalla, the computer
\n teacher, was fixing a PC on his day off with the help of a couple of the
\n older teenagers. He showed me how the recent rains had flooded the room
\n and damaged the wooden computer stands and was very keen to hear about
\n my website devoted to my travels in Cambodia. Outside, I met Sok An, the
\n head cook, who was preparing vegetables for the children's lunch with
\n some of the older girls under an awning in the concrete yard, when Sary
\n and her wheelchair (she's the only disabled child in the orphanage)
\n whizzed past and came to a halt at the water tap, where she began washing
\n some clothes. Rosanna explained that Sary, a polio sufferer, is now learning
\n to walk with the aid of callipers and a brace and is fiercely independent,
\n but an absolute sweetie.<\/p>\n
Upstairs, we visited the volunteers’ room, which also houses the
\n medicine cabinet and is where Geraldine, the patron, sleeps when she's
\n in town. Next door, the dance and music practice was already in full swing.
\n The children are working hard in preparation for a once in a lifetime
\n visit to Australia for an arts festival, and rehearsals form a key part
\n of each day for those lucky enough to be going. The orphanage is home
\n to about fifty children and over half of them will be making the trip
\n to Adelaide in March. Today was a Sunday, so no school meant extra practice
\n sessions for the dancers and musicians. In a cramped room, I grabbed a
\n seat to watch the dance teacher, Monitha, guiding a group of the youngest
\n girls – six to eight year olds – through their traditional Khmer dance
\n routine. They were delightful and were followed by the youngest boys who
\n danced and banged their coconut shells in harmony as Srey Mao, the youngest
\n of the girls with a smile and a nature guaranteed to melt any heart, sat
\n on my knee to watch her friends perform.<\/p>\n
At the back of the room, some of the children were playing traditional
\n Khmer instruments to accompany the dances and were being tutored by 70-something
\n year old Mr Chea and his daughter Thierry, both outstanding musicians
\n in their own right. Next on the dance floor were the teenage girls and
\n particularly 17 year old Srey Mich, the orphanage's leading dancer
\n who glided across the floor with grace and poise in abundance. Following
\n them, as the tempo increased, were a mixed group of four boys and four
\n girls who moved in well-rehearsed unison and who rounded off a thoroughly
\n enjoyable hour watching the children perform. In fact, I enjoyed it so
\n much I forgot to take any photos until near the end. I was mightily impressed.
\n This wasn't a performance staged for visiting guests but a daily practice
\n session, yet the timing and elegance of all the dancers, whatever their
\n age, was a joy to watch. They'd worn their normal clothes for the
\n practice, so I'm sure they'll look even more professional when
\n they wear their hand-sewn costumes for the real thing.<\/p>\n
I had another quick kick-about in the courtyard with Chanry and Sin Long
\n as Rosanna did her final rounds of the villa with most of the children
\n giving her a goodbye hug. Then it was back in the 4WD and out into the
\n busy back streets of Takhmau and our return to Phnom Penh. My visit to
\n the orphanage had been a brief but thoroughly enjoyable one. The children
\n I met were happy, the level of laughter and their playful nature made
\n that abundantly clear, but their temporary premises are simply too small.
\n It’s a stopgap until the Sunrise Children's Village and the
\n dreams of Geraldine, Rosanna and the children themselves become a reality.
\n I sincerely hope that's sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
To visit the Sunrise Children's Village<\/a> website,
\n click here.<\/p>\n