Sihanoukville, Cambodia

This was my first real step off the path of western comfort and very eye opening to see the world at a different level. Because Bridget had been to Sikanoukville last year she knew where to go and knew most of the local street kids. We started off right away by hanging out with all the kids. Getting to know them individually and wondering why these kids are working harder than any kid should have to work to earn a small income for their family. Wanting to help out in every way that we could, we spent the next few days just hanging out with them, playing with them and letting them know that there are people out there who care about them and wish the best for them. I brought over a deck of cards, some bubbles and balloons for the kids to play with. It was so heart warming to see the kids eyes light up with these few small toys that they were able to play with. I left everything for them at the Cambodian Children's Painting Project so they can continue to play with some things on a daily basis.
The poverty level of this small town caught me way off guard from the beginning. I knew that it was bad, but seeing it in person just makes it even worse. We went to the market one afternoon and watched as the workers there try to sell something to make a small amount of money, but the market was under tarps that were barely holding together. As the rain fell many of the workers tried to stay dry but with tarps that has more holes than it should they just had to suck it up and hope to stay dry and sell things.
Another afternoon we went to give our donation to Regent School so a child could attend school for a year. We were able to read descriptions on the kids and their families before we made the choice of who to choose (one of the hardest decisions of my life) we were able to see how these families tried to make money and the amount that they brought in per month to support an entire family usually between 6 and 9 people. Very shocking and sad to see them barely scrap by on 20 US Dollars a month.