Give a child a daily food pack, Cambodia

Today, I read again, the love story of Chau and Kim and I felt as if I’m reading it for the first time.

A young hopeful lady, Chau, who traveled from Vietnam to Cambodia to look for a job found herself betrayed, sold to a brothel and trapped in a fake debt. 

She met a young man, also from Vietnam and confided her story in him. Over time, they fell in love. 

Kim worked hard, paid off her debt and freed her. They got married and raised a family, making promising plans for their children’s future. 

Then, Kim lost his job at the blacksmith and his new job paid less, so they had to take their children out of school. It soon became a struggle to feed their children especially when Chau was pregnant with their fifth child. 

Reluctantly, Chau decided to secretly return to her old job as a sex worker, without letting her husband know. This helped the family financially for a while until Chau began to feel weak, she grew sicker and later learned that she was HIV positive. 

Riverkids connected them to an NGO that helps HIV positive people and put her son on antiretroviral medication for free. We helped them navigate the medical system, supported the family with food and enrolled their oldest children in our school programs. 

Their oldest daughter, Nyla excelled at school and Riverkids chose her as one of our Smartypants Scholarship students. Things appeared well as Chau’s condition improved and with Kim’s steady job as a tuktuk driver, but it took a turn. 

As Kim was driving home two days after Christmas, a car slammed into his tuktuk. The surgery was late. Kim died. 

Chau was confronted with the thought of returning to sex work, or worse, to sell Nyla. Grieving, she decided to return to Vietnam with her little children to her mother’s house and later on, she found a job at a bakery shop. 

She decided to leave Nyla in Riverkids’ Weekly Boarding so she can have school. Nyla has made great strides and many friends with challenges like her, and together they thrive with school and meals. A bright future is within their reach.

Food is core in ensuring that our education programs run effectively. Children who are properly fed are able to concentrate in class and learn more. They can enjoy their favourite playtime and have a better chance to graduate from school. 

A sandwich in the morning and a full bowl of rice with pork and vegetable soup make a huge difference. Thanks to many donors who saw this and supported our food program. With $64,000, we’ll be able to see over 600 children at Riverkids fed for the year and safe from child labour, illegal adoption and sex trafficking. Please help us to feed the children.

• Eight Stories Extract - Chau and Kim (PDF)
  

At Riverkids, we choose to work with the most difficult parents and children. The children are at the highest risk of child labour, illegal adoption and sex work.

But many, many of these parents are loving parents who would never let go of their children to trafficking and brothels. They save their meals for their children and that is why the food and nutrition program is so important to support the families we work with.

Some families are resilient. When we arrange for free medication to treat the parents' HIV condition, they gradually recover and once they are able to work, they get back up on their feet quickly and the family will be alright.

For some other families, we have to keep going back to them over and over again, knocking on their doors persistently but gently to say, "There's hope for your future. We have a better plan." 

The promise we make to our families is -- we will never give up on you.

No amount of volunteering or donation for Riverkids is too small. We count every blessing and that’s how January 2012's work was possible. Our families aren't giving up because you're behind them. 

We need to raise $5,000 from 40 unique donors by 31 May 2012 so that we have a chance to fund the rest of the year's food program of $59,000 on Global Giving. This will also qualify us for a permanent spot on UK’s Global Giving. For a small organisation like ours in Cambodia, this means a lot to us! Donate and share our page with your friends. Thank you.

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