Day 4 - Orange Gangnam Style at New Hope for Cambodian Childrens HIV orphanage

Team Itinerary Overview
Phnom Penh to Kampong Speu
New Hope For Cambodia Children’s Orphanage

Activity
Volunteering & dancing at DISCO NIGHT
Team Spirit: Excited
Overnight: School camp 'dorm style' at New Hope orphanage

Making a mark

There was a sense of excitement and cautious anticipation heading on the bus from Phnom Penh to the New Hope for Cambodian Children’s Orphanage.

Pakenham hairdresser Suellen Conway pulled out the hair chalk to apply subtle colours, hoping to make an impression on the children. By the time Graeme Moore was summonsed to the ‘salon chair’ Brian Paynter had assumed control. Holding the councillor’s head like one of the beasts he handled during uni work at the local abattoirs, he soon had Graeme’s moustache looking like a rainbow. “I feel violated,” Graeme said afterwards. “Does my travel insurance cover this?”

We had sought to make our mark, but by the time we left, the kids in this wonderful place had clearly left their mark on us.

Texan couple John and Kathy Tucker started New Hope in 2002 hoping to help 10 kids. There were 300 orphanages in Phnom Penh at the time and none of them took HIV children. New Hope now has 300 children who are happier and healthier than many outside the orphanage walls.

Twelve have gone on to university and there are another six in vocational training.

John and Kathy have seven children and 12 grandchildren of their own. John was a successful businessman who married his secretary – “my sweetheart,” he calls her. They had the big house on the hill got to the empty nester stage of their lives and made the decision to sell up and move overseas to help others.

“We call it Our Village, because they are our kids,” John explained to the team. “We have never turned away a sick kid.”

The operation has benefited from John’s business acumen. He is able to generate $100,000 a year through the volunteer program, where people pay to offer their services, a broiler operation, where his chickens lay eggs that are sold to local hotels and he also has a pig breeding operation.

“That is a fifth of our income, so we rely on others for 80 per cent of what we do,” he explained.

The Bill Clinton Foundation is a major benefactor, paying for the medicine the children must have twice daily – 6am and 6pm – to keep them alive. “HIV is not a death sentence any more. If the kids are medicated they can live healthy and normal lives.”

A few of the kids are sponsored and John would like to step that program up – and he had 22 orange-clad Australians firmly in his sights.

Papa John, as the kids call him, has a delightfully dry wit and endearing character.

Some signed up straight away. Others took a pamphlet back to sort it out at home.

Shanae ‘Shorty’ Brooks vowed to give up smoking when she returned and use the money she saves to sponsor a child.

John is also trying to attract teachers from Australia and New Zealand spending a year’s sabbatical teaching English and had our resident teacher Krista Tomlinson firmly in his sights. “I’ll be working on you,” he warned.

After unpacking and moving into the dorms, we were summonsed to lunch. The complex is divided into different coloured clusters. We were split into groups and assigned a cluster, enjoying the hospitality of the care givers and eating with the children.

The boys went to yellow cluster and portly scribe Garry Howe was an immediate hit. His large stomach was a source of fascination. Kids wanted to either rub it for luck or punch it. One put his ear up to hear what was inside. “You have baby,” one said. Another: “You Santa.”

Fortunately, Graeme Moore arrived to deflect some of the attention with his multi-coloured moustache. The kids flocked to the councillor, who responded by asking if any of them could vote!

Ross Cheesewright, ever organised, was punching the names of the kids into his phone so he would remember them. Ever courteous, he also incurred the wrath of the care givers for trying to help do the dishes.

After lunch it was on to the soccer field and basketball court. James Wynne displayed deft touch in the round ball game but the kids ran rings around most of the others. Team Orange fared a little better at the hoops, giving the kids a bit of a lesson. Cath Zulian earned wide acclaim for single-handedly holding down the defensive post. All the others sought goal glory.

Alison McHenry discovered photos of every child in the visitor’s centre in cluster order and a book profiling all the children’s stories. She had a long talk to Kathy about each child in her cluster. “Kathy pointed to each child and could recite how each of the children came to be here,” Alison said. “She is mum to them all.” They both ended up crying.

 

 A tour of the complex by Papa John showed us a new shed, recently donated to the orphanage by Mandi Herauville from Narre Warren South, a member of the first Windermere Adventure Challenge to Cambodia. When returning home, Mandi set about filling a container full of donations, including the shed, and having it shipped over.

After the tour, we were asked to meet at the new dance hall. With a magnificent mural of Angkor Wat as a backdrop, the kids put on a performance in traditional dress. John and Kathy were beaming with pride. “It brings a tear to my eye,” John said. “Some of these kids were carried in here.”

Then it was our turn. Graeme Moore and Geoff Bainbridge had engaged the boys in yellow cluster over lunch with an interactive pantomime song Little Cottage in the Woods. They invited some of the boys up on stage and performed, hand actions and all. Clearly impressed, Papa John asked the whole room to stand and soon everyone was doing it. A magical moment and made even more admirable by the fact that Graeme was suffering from heat stroke and felt the effects shortly afterwards. You can’t keep a good man down and by morning he was dressed in the full clown suit entertaining the kids as they left for school.

The Windermere team came bearing gifts. Pakenham 85-year-old Audrey Pearson had run into co-team leader Ann Selby in the pool one day and learned of the trip. She said she wanted to donate gifts to the children in the orphanage, thinking there would only be a few dozen. When told there were 300, she was not perturbed and set about filling two suitcases of individually wrapped gifts – one for boys and one for girls.

The children were lined up – youngest to oldest – and accepted their gift from members of the team. They were so orderly, respectful and appreciative.

Ann Selby had an emotional moment. She had struck a rapport with Vanda when visiting as part of the first Challenge in 2011 and the family had reconnected with her when Ann’s son Brodie visited the orphanage in January. Vanda recognised Ann when getting off the bus from school, she ran over and they embraced. “I lost it a bit then,” she smiled. “She is such a beautiful girl.”

After dinner, it was back to the dance hall for the weekly disco. Normally it is held on a Saturday, but was put off to Sunday in our honour. What a night - a lot of noise, colour and movement; dancing, singing, laughing and smiles.

The two Brookes – Tomlinson and Hayward – had taken team members through the moves of Gangham Style so we had something to contribute. The kids loved it, but clearly outdid us with the moves.

Some team members brought along photos of their families. The kids loved them and most carried them around all night.

Suellen Conway and Brian Paynter set up a makeshift hair salon – applying different coloured hair chalk to the children. “I enjoyed bringing some of my life to the kids,” Suellen said. “Taking a photo of their colour highlights and seeing their face light up.”

John and Kathy said they can guage the engagement with visitors by the noise from the disco and said that our night was three times the normal level. “You have been a great group.”

Eva best summed up the sentiment from the orange-clad visitors.

“There is no sense of pity, although it would be great if they had a mum and dad to tuck them in at night, but I can’t imagine them being in a better place.” Well said Eva.

Thoughts on the orphanage experience:

Olivia Lyon

The orphanage experience was emotional, fun and eye opening. It made me realise how lucky my kids are but by the same token it’s great to see that these children are being cared for in the best possible way. A highlight for me was when the kids got so excited to see my family photos. I ended up giving them away.

Samantha Smith

It was so good to see them dance as if there is nothing wrong. As children, I think they are much happier than most of the kids back home.

Ross Cheesewright

This is a very happy place… unexpectedly so. I haven’t had a tear all day. I didn’t expect it to be such a positive experience. When we gave out the lucky dips one of the kids got a bag of jellybeans, which he immediately shared with his friends. They don’t get a lot, yet he was happy to share.

Brian Paynter

This place is what made me come back to do the Challenge again. They are beautiful kids and have such a great time. The second time here was even better.

Simon Crowe

It was great seeing all the different age groups and how they co-exist the way they do. There is some sort of hierarchy there, but seeing the way they act is like one big family. John’s character and humour was a highlight. He is not a purist, very practical and his dry wit brings it into perspective.

Suellen Conway

It’s not like an orphanage, more like a village. Even though the children are orphans, they seem to have mother figures in their lives through the care givers and John and Kathy. The older children look after the younger ones. There is a lot of love there.

Catherine Zulian

I saw two little girls at the swings, went up to talk to them and showed them photos. One was my daughter in a wedding dress, which no-one is supposed to see yet, but I don’t suppose that matters over here. Well after that those two girls went everywhere I did. My highlight was making that friendship, although the dancing was pretty good as well.

Brooke Tomlinson

They are adorable, spirited and energetic children - I just love them – they are beautiful and full of life. My favourite part was handing out the lucky dips. They were so grateful for the tiniest of gifts.

Krista Tomlinson

It’s indescribable really. The rapport you can build with the kids in just an hour is amazing. They are so friendly and so socialised. You see photos of them jumping on people and think that they must have known them for a while. They have genuine affection and interest and are so grateful for the interaction.

James Wynne

This is nothing like I have experienced in my life. There is a real sense of joy and happiness here, you wouldn’t know any of them are sick. It’s my favourite part of the trip. I felt like a bit of a celebrity.

Meleea Wood

A heart-warming experience. It is remarkable what John and Kathy have achieved in such a small time. It makes you realise how little you do yourself in that regard.

Brooke Hayward

I loved seeing how excited the kids were when we got to play Santa and seeing how grateful they were for such small gifts.

Alison McHenry

My Initial thoughts coming here was that it would be sad and depressing. Now that I am here it is uplifting and inspirational. It’s all about the children for me. To see them looking  healthy, happy, clean and fed I can walk away now not depressed or upset, but inspired to do something on a yearly basis to help them.

Cath Sharp

This is beautiful and a much bigger operation than I thought. The disco was just awesome, I was so impressed at their talent for dancing.

Shanae Brooks

I loved doing the dance for the kids and seeing Papa John’s reaction and how much it meant to them that we were here. He had his hand on his heart while we were dancing. It was beautiful.

Eva Foster

I had to keep reminding myself that the kids have HIV and live in an orphanage. There is so much love and care here and they know how to have fun. These kids are healthier than a lot of the others we are seeing as we travel around.

Graeme Moore

I got to spend some time teaching one of the kids how to play the guitar. I don’t think the thing had ever been tuned. I taught him a few chords and hope he goes on with it now. The looks on their faces when I dressed as a clown was great. My biggest disappointment was getting sick and not being able to go to the disco.

Gaylene Howe

Unfortunately I got a bit sick when we arrived and I missed Graeme’s performance. It was so lovely when Kathy came over with a bowl of chicken soup – it was like Mother Teresa came along. I wouldn’t have made the disco otherwise and that was a real highlight. I loved the orphanage last time and it was a great experience again.

Geoff Bainbridge

One word comes to mind really – love. It’s that simple. The joyous, unfetted love that exudes from the place. That word gets used a lot in our lives, but this is as raw and as honest as I have seen it. If this was a business you would talk about the culture of this place and ask how you can replicate it.

Carina Tomietto

I got quite emotional achieving what we set out to achieve by coming here – having people see the impact they can have on these children. It ticks a box for me. People were so engaged, which is what we set out to do.

Ann Selby

I got emotional when the lucky dips were given out, knowing where they came from and being involved right from the start of that process. The kids were so delighted and so polite. It was just beautiful to watch, knowing that the gifts came with love from a woman in our community.

To make a donation on behalf of your Windermere Adventure Challenge Champion CLICK HERE

For more information on New Hope for Cambodian Children’s Orphanage, visit www.newhopeforcambodianchildren.com

Garry Howe – Editor Star News Group

Carina Tomietto and Ann Selby – Windermere Adventure Team Leaders