As the world continues on in turmoil. The day to day life a Wat Opot child leads is somewhat simplistic. Besides being ‘home schooled’ and having about 20 of their fellow Watopotians still staying with their relatives, times are not much different than usual. One such example is our Sunday ‘free day’. ‘Free’ meaning no […]
Remembering the beginning as I contemplate the ending and the wisdom of leaving after the final scene or waiting until all of the credits have finished scrolling to The End. Wayne Dale Matthysse
It’s a bit lonely at Wat Opot these days. Usually the kids go to visit their families the first of April to celebrate the weeks long Khmer New Year Holiday, but with schools closed because of the Corona Virus outbreak, we started arranging for them to leave early. After loading up and lots of good-bye […]
Lots of children pass through our program … some more vulnerable than others. Many of them stay for months or years, while others leave when they become adults. A few stay only for a short time and then return home, not necessarily because the conditions that brought them to us have changed, but because a […]
The challenge this weekend was to clean out one of our irrigation ditches. We are in the dry season and the pond was so overgrown that even the ducks couldn’t find a place to cool off. A big job… but plenty of volunteers to do the work even though the temperature was in the high […]
Justice and Soul Foundation, along with Kate Korpi Salon, came to Wat Opot for a day of games, beauty and fun. The visit was the brainstorm of StepUp, an initiative started by graduates and students who wanted give back to communities in need. This is a beautiful example of paying it forward! After 2.5 years […]
The rainy season brings a daily reprieve from the heat but also the abundance of water helps our garden grow with minimal care. Right now we are in the dry season, but with a little effort of hauling hoses and water, which is pumped from our ponds, everyday, we can now successfully grow food year […]
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Service Learning students have been visiting Wat Opot for almost 10 years. What started as a day visit has turned into 4 days of learning, cultural exchange, and FUN, not only with our kids, but at the local primary school as well. Having this partnership with HKUST […]
We have had many visitors and volunteers over the years and most have left us with something of themselves to help enrich the lives of our children. They have come from all parts of the World and speak many different languages. Most come to play games or to teach dance moves that are not familiar […]
During the recent Cambodia Water Festival Holiday, we drained one of our fish ponds to try to catch a very large catfish that somehow got in there and was eating all the smaller fish! The kids promptly started playing in the run off. Oh, and that fish? Yeah, we got him! A big thank you […]
