Sunrise Children's Village - Monday 22 December

Some of you may know Adelaide ex-pat Geraldine Cox from her book, "Home Is Where The Heart Is", or from her publicity on 60 minutes, or from newspaper photos featuring her unmistakable red hair that is always tied in a high bun. She is the founder of Sunrise Children's Village which is located about 25km outside of Phnom Penh.

Although we did not get to meet Geraldine, (she is in Australia on holidays), we met over 50 of her children who are living testament to her commitment to bettering the lives of Phnom Penh's poorest children.

The orphanage cares for over 130 orphans whose mostly only have one parent, usually too poor to care for them. They arrive as babies or toddlers and spend the rest of their childhood in the care of the live-in nannies. They take it in turns to cook and do chores around the orphanage. They of course go to school and undertake extra curricular activities such as dance lessons and sport. SUnrise is located on a magnificent 4 hectare property which is managed on a voluntary basis by a former Echuca dairy farmer, Michael. He and his wife have lived in Phnom Penh for three years and as Michael says, "Mowing lawns and putting a smile on these kids' faces is far better than milking cows at 5am in the morning"!

Michael has a special relationship with one young orphan. He was brought to Sunrise at eight-months of age after both of his parents died of HIV. He developed a special bond with Michael because most of the staff were too scared to touch him. As it turns out, the young boy, now three, is actually HIV negative. Apparently the test results can show up either way when children are very young.

I met with Chamreon, one of Sunrise's senior staff members. He is looking forward to more Eyes Wide Open groups visiting in the future. There are many ways groups can interact with the children: there are tennis courts, open fields to play soccer or AFL, a music room, classrooms for English teaching and a library for story time! There is even a playground which was built by Rotary Clubs in District 9800! In fact, many Rotarians from the 9800 District sponsor children at the orphanage. I can report that their contributions are guaranteeing these children will have opportunities to learn and develop, hopefully educating them to the point that they can earn a good income in their adult life thus breaking the cycle of poverty within their communities.

The pictures James took speak for themselves.

Lena