Thursday! The week is almost over and I thank the Lord in high heaven for giving me strength. Today I will be visiting the orphanage I've pined to work with. Wat Opot is an orphanage, but I don't want to use that word in this case--Children's Community for kids who've lost parents or are losing parents to the HIV/AIDS virus. Some are also infected, and have been abandoned by their parents because they want nothing to do with a child that has the virus, so they are living together in this community run by an American ex-pat who has made a great place for them about an hour south out of Phnom Penh in Takeo province. It's called Wat Opot because the wat (meaning temple) next door donated the land to this cause.
We got there early this morning, and it was refreshing to meet some other people who seemed normal. The director of Wat Opot is an incredibly nice guy. I met him and many of the children who had seemed to be randomly running around. Everyone in Tanzania joked that when my time ran out to do physical work in Sustainable Agriculture, I just played with babies and now that will be the subject of my work in Cambodia! As we toured the grounds, and I heard each child's story I was so moved. I would be working with kids who are under 10 years old and have been through such feats. Wat Opot has a hospice and crematorium on site. Some of the children didn't arrive here orphaned--one or both parents may have been sick with the virus and stayed under hospice care for days until they died, sometimes with the children as young as 2 or 3 years old refusing to leave their side. Wat Opot does the work of removing the body and sometimes the child will help in lighting the flame in the crematorium. The thought of a small child being able to grasp the reality of losing a parent to AIDS, they themselves being positive, watching that parent suffer and then taking part in cremating them shocking but inspiring. I was in love with their kindness after only being here a few hours, and respected each of them for their personal stories. It would be such a privilege to work with these children, hear from them what it is like to live with HIV and be able to give them the care that they couldn't have before.
Wat Opot is a really special place, I was beginning to see. There are a lot of Christian as well as Buddhist teachings taught to the kids and meditation is a part of regular activities. So much funding and support has been given to the site, and there are a lot of options for the kids to learn, play and grow together. There is an art room, which blew me away with the work the older kids were working on. One boy is having an exhibition in Germany this winter, while others are getting a lot of attention for their work. A woman from New Zealand donated a whole room full of beading and craft supplies (which as a beader myself made me jealous) in which the kids make jewelry and crafts and sell them to visitors and volunteers. I'm expected to be here for the weekdays helping out in teaching English and other subjects, and giving a hand around. I'm really excited about being at Wat Opot, I hope to learn a lot about these kids and what their lives are like.
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