Our final clinic of this trip led us to the city of Siem Reap and a visit to a very poor village on the outskirts of a bustling tourist mecca, in rice growing country. After a hasty lunch, fried noodles and egg (sourced by Socheat one of our canny translators for 75c each) we started a busy afternoon clinic. The clinic was focussed around the older people in the village and so some of the team took cheeky opportunities to sneak out and play with the children - bubbles the obvious choice to raise a smile and laughter amongst them.
Once again the team encountered the most beautiful locals and some emotional tales of hardship that perpetuate these remote villages and communes. Several members of the team were once again left in tears as we tried to understand how some of the families manage to survive their situations.
The boy in Gab’s shorts - a bit baggy, but clean and functional!
One clever young lady sneaked in her 3 year old cousin and literally pulled down his shorts in front of the team to show the most enormous hernia. On discussing between the interpreters, team and the cousin it became apparent that the family were actually homeless and this was why the mum had not wanted to come herself as she was embarrassed. The team, true to form rallied round and soon had compiled a bag of belongings for the boy and mum from donations, as well as Gab and Rach donating some of their own clothes. We also negotiated with our host the best option to get the young boy to hospital. It was decided the team would take the boy to Siem Reap Children's Hospital and at the end of the clinic, this is what happened. He was safely presented with his mum and some funds to provide them with food and drink for a few days. Our interpreter Socheat will keep us up to date. (We found out the next day that he was having surgery in the morning which is great news!)
We finally made our way to our hotel and after showering we headed off for a final team dinner. It has been once again a blast of a trip and the team have done such an amazing job. We are looking forward to a few days R and R in Siem Reap and will leave our final blog for this year before we head home.