Today we left Phnom Penh bright and early. Earlier for Gabby (4am), no thanks to Rachel who had a cheeky sleep in. We headed off to Kampong Chhnang approximately 90 kms north which took about 2.5 hours Cambodian time. We bypassed the hotel and headed straight to the awaiting boat which took us across Ton Le Sap river. Fortunately the boat didn't not catch fire this time. Another bus and one very full tuk tuk took us through picturesque country side to 4 square orphanage.
This orphanage is located in a remote village surrounded by rice paddies. The surroundings are beautiful, however the condition of this orphanage was quite poor with 50 children sleeping on the wooden slats of old damaged bunk beds.
The children were seen as well as the people from the surrounding village, roughly 300 people in total. This year saw less gastric related problems, we can only hope it had something to do with the 100 water filters we purchased for them last time?? The first patient of Heidi and Caz's day, was a 11 year old girl who happened to cut the top of her thumb off that same morning. She had been prepping firewood for the fire when she cut it, exposing the bone. With a decent clean, compression bandage, pain relief, and a double dose of antibiotics, this little trooper walked away very relieved. A couple of memorable patients for Rach and I was this little old lady who came to tell us how sad she was. She was never married and had no children. She was now getting old and can no longer work and has no kids to look after her. She lives with her friend and feels like a burden as she is very poor. We sat and listened to her story but unfortunately there was nothing more we could do for her except ease her aches and pains, fix her infected ear, give her a hug and a couple of bucks from our own money and send her on to try some glasses to help with her ageing sight. Another was a man who was still getting pains after being blown up with a shrapnel bomb 30 years ago when he was in the army defending his country. He also told us how some men stole his card so they could claim his army pension and how he is now very poor. These are only some of the stories we hear throughout our clinics each day.
After lunch that consisted of Cambodian style KFC chicken, rice, vegetables, fish soup and this awesome peppery sauce we continued with our clinic fixing infected skin conditions, easing aches pains from hard working rice farmers and listening to their stories. Also discovered a new remedy to fix blisters - lipstick!
Back on the boat we headed back to our hotel in Kampong Chhanag, with an early dinner of pad thai for all and an early night. We are relieved we can finally have a sleep in tomorrow and a free day of travelling to Battambong and some markets.
Bec Fuller xxx
This orphanage is located in a remote village surrounded by rice paddies. The surroundings are beautiful, however the condition of this orphanage was quite poor with 50 children sleeping on the wooden slats of old damaged bunk beds.
The children were seen as well as the people from the surrounding village, roughly 300 people in total. This year saw less gastric related problems, we can only hope it had something to do with the 100 water filters we purchased for them last time?? The first patient of Heidi and Caz's day, was a 11 year old girl who happened to cut the top of her thumb off that same morning. She had been prepping firewood for the fire when she cut it, exposing the bone. With a decent clean, compression bandage, pain relief, and a double dose of antibiotics, this little trooper walked away very relieved. A couple of memorable patients for Rach and I was this little old lady who came to tell us how sad she was. She was never married and had no children. She was now getting old and can no longer work and has no kids to look after her. She lives with her friend and feels like a burden as she is very poor. We sat and listened to her story but unfortunately there was nothing more we could do for her except ease her aches and pains, fix her infected ear, give her a hug and a couple of bucks from our own money and send her on to try some glasses to help with her ageing sight. Another was a man who was still getting pains after being blown up with a shrapnel bomb 30 years ago when he was in the army defending his country. He also told us how some men stole his card so they could claim his army pension and how he is now very poor. These are only some of the stories we hear throughout our clinics each day.
After lunch that consisted of Cambodian style KFC chicken, rice, vegetables, fish soup and this awesome peppery sauce we continued with our clinic fixing infected skin conditions, easing aches pains from hard working rice farmers and listening to their stories. Also discovered a new remedy to fix blisters - lipstick!
Back on the boat we headed back to our hotel in Kampong Chhanag, with an early dinner of pad thai for all and an early night. We are relieved we can finally have a sleep in tomorrow and a free day of travelling to Battambong and some markets.
Bec Fuller xxx