Do-gooders doing good

(written on 17/08/09, posted on 03/10/09)

L and I wanted to get bikes to make the 9km trip out of town to the orphanage. I spent last night shivering and not even a curry and a lassi could sort me out. I dosed myself up with tablets and conked out.

I wake up and am feeling surprisingly fine. At the bike hire shop I force a good breakfast down with some orange juice and after testing the brakes and saddles we're off. I'm not able to go as quickly as I want but seem to be making reasonable progress. About 2km out of town I realise my trousers have completely ripped and I might as well be wearing hot pants. Not a good look for teaching children. We pass a market and I decide to run in. I end up with a hideous shorts and vest combo which looks like it's straight out of Pri-marni (see top pic for the shorts). I was great entertainment for the market stall holders and the women gathered round pointing at the rip in my cargo pants!

At the orphanage we're surrounded and dragged into the classroom. We play games and teach the children, most of whom have a good level of English. None seem to go to school though. We're encouraged to go and play with the children at lunchtimes and I can't help but think anyone could sneak in. There are no checks, no safety measures. We're given lunch and I know then this is no scam. The fish tastes of stale pond weed and the chicken has no meat on it. I chat to the Director about aid agencies and L vows to raise money on her return to home. The kids are amazing and we are waved off and made to promise we'll be back. We leave some donations before heading back into town. The bag of rice we wanted to buy didn't make it as neither of us thought we could balance it on our bikes.

We finish our day by giving blood at the local children's hospital and go and have a sugary drink before we faint. Both of us feel much better after the floating village yesterday. I can see Cambodia developing more like Vietnam but after a history of brutal war it'll take so much more.