Yesterday was “One Day On Earth Day” and around the World people were doing something special to commemorate it. Since we did not have much funds, we decided to take the children up to Chisol Mountain, which is just a few miles from us, to do a small video from the ruins. We will submit it to the Organization and perhaps we will be fortunate enough to have it accepted as a feature in the upcoming movie. Here is a picture of Melinda with some of the Watopotians in a less formal but more natural pose, after the video was taken.

September proved to be a very busy month here at Wat Opot. With the completion of the new volunteer dorm, the girls moved into the former volunteer house and It didn’t take them long to adjust to their new surroundings. For those of you keeping track, with the new addition of a 17 year old, we now have 19 girls/young women at Wat Opot. Because the girl’s new home is centrally located, visitors are now serenaded by the voices of Korean pop stars upon entering Wat Opot. It’s undecided whether this is a good selling point, but the recent Japanese volunteers didn’t seem to mind.

The day of the big move, it may have been the first time no one had to ask the boys more than once for help, a move has never gone so quickly! Within hours they had helped move the girls out and without hesitation, they took over the empty rooms in the children’s dorm (now known as the boy’s dorm’).

Because of large donations that have come in over the last few months, we were able to purchase mattresses, blankets, pillows, fans, clothes racks and other items to give the kids a more comfortable set up. The great thing about living rural is we were able to support the local community by buying everything in the village market. Kids will be kids, so to help them take responsibility for their new things, once everyone was settled in; inventory was taken with their signature confirming everything they now have. It seems to be working because a couple weeks later they are very proud to show me how everything is in order. We are still tweaking the boy’s dorm though, possibly converting one of the large wooden sleeping spaces into 3 more rooms because the boys/young men total 39!.

Besides the excitement of new rooms, school was starting soon! Again, thankful for generous donors, we took to the local market again to buy the massive amount of school supplies, uniforms, shoes, backpacks and lastly…BICYCLES. The high school (7th – 12th grade) is a few kilometers down the road, so every Watopotian entering the 7th grade gets a new bicycle.
For our record breaking total of 12 new 7th graders – this was a moment they have been looking forward to all summer long.

Happy Happy faces!!

Even those who were not getting a bike celebrated the event such as Mr. Thy, who already has one and may be thinking about all those he let borrow his over the summer – paybacks!

With our continued effort in teaching them responsibility, they were required to sign a document when they received the bicycle; a contract of sorts that holds them responsible for the bike throughout high-school. They must care for the bike and anything beyond the normal up-keep, they must take financial responsibility for.

Wat Opot kids are growing up to be international or maybe inter-cultural in a sense. They are growing up in rural Cambodia but are made aware (because of volunteers and the internet) that there is a much bigger world out there. The high schoolers know that in their village some kids don’t get a new bicycle for school; but that in places in the world some kids get a new motorbike or even a car. They know that in their high school a student doesn’t have to go to school but with the right payment to the right teacher, they can pass the final exam and move on seamlessly to university; they also know that’s not an option for them.

Wat Opot kids get ecstatic over a new bicycle, which is understandable, but they also get excited when given a new mattress, pillow or even a couple of wire hangers. The challenge now is to help them understand that along with new items come new responsibility and organization, but with many things in their life, with the right support and guidance there is every confidence that most will come through with shining colors.

With the large amount spent on education this month; we have added a breakdown.

Thanks to all who made this possible!

The Watopotians

People who visit the Wat Opot Children’s Community are usually impressed with our children and our living conditions but most always get around to asking the one question that seems to be on everyone’s mind when they visit child care facilities like ours; “So what happens to the children when they go up?”

I took in my first foster child at the age of 27 because at the time there just didn’t seem like there was any thing else to do, and I have had a house full of children ever since. While not all of the children have grown up to be model citizens, many have… and some have even become extraordinary.

We didn’t think about children 10 years ago when we opened the hospice. We just saw a need and tried to do something about it. When the patients came with their children, we didn’t turn them away, and when the parents died we allowed the children to stay because there was no other place to go. Now those children are growing up and many have left to start life on their own. At least four of our permanent children are married with children of their own now, four more are in University, and 5 others are living in Phnom Penh attending high school and /or trade school and stay in touch regularly.

Sina, Owen, Saman, Tuin, Chandara, and Samet are some of the boys who live in Phnom Penh. They all attended a workshop together this week.

The weekend before the workshop, Chandara stopped by to visit and we got him to give us a concert on our newly decorated stage. He has hopes of singing professionally once he finishes his high school requirements and after watching his performance, we all feel that he just might do it.

None of these kids would be where they are today had I stopped to think about things 10 years ago… and that is the point of this update. When you live your life spontaneously, believing that the Spirit of the Universe will take care of all your needs, regardless of how much you push the limits, you just may get a lot more things out of life than you would have had you taken the time to consider the consequences.

Wayne Dale Matthysse

At first glance a newcomer to Wat Opot may think “Wow, these kids need new clothes!” but after spending some time here they come to realize that the kids all have one or two nice stain free outfits that they wear on special occasions, visits to the doctor, and when they go to Phnom Chisor mountain-top Wat. Look how nice we can look!

Srey Nich – Red Dress and Pearls. – Need I say more?

Mr. Ya and Mr. Socheat looking sharp at Lake Bati.

A well-dressed queue

For the other 255 days of the year they wear clothes they can get dirty in. They can feel free to jump in the water dig a hole, play in the dirt, and run free. Yes, upon initial inspection they can look a bit like street children, disheveled and dirt, but many times so does Wayne and the volunteers! It’s called having fun and working in nature without having to worry about what we are wearing or what the neighbors will think.

Yep, we work!

And have fun doing it!!

We get messy

and dirty…

Reeeeeeeally dirty!

But when the rains come, clean up’s a breeze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But not everyone can pull off “Mr. Suave” and make old clothes look this good.

But alas, there does come a time when a pair of pants or a shirt must retire to the burn pile; sometimes this course of action is overdue and on this particular Sunday, we did an overhaul on a massive scale!

We have had an influx of clothing donations from generous people stretching from Cambodia to Hong Kong to Australia to the United States. Because the kids really don’t need more than a couple of outfits to wear we contemplated just how to give these clothes to the kids. Some kids would gladly rip off their old clothes and proceed to make the new ones look lived in while others would put yet another nice outfit away to be used for the special occasion. We do have the entrepreneur or two who would gladly sell the new outfit in the village and buy a snack with the profit, I mean, who needs a new shirt and shorts when you can buy some fried bananas and a frozen slushy?

With the help of volunteers Brittany and JR, we were able to organize a sort of clothing shop where the kids could come in and pick out an outfit…with the stipulation that they must trade in a set of old clothes for the new ones. But before we could open for business, we set about organizing the sizes and gender.

It didn’t take long for the word to spread and the kids made a beeline for their rooms to grab clothes they were ready to part with; then lined up outside the door (and peeked in the windows) while awaiting their turn. (2 or 3 at a time were all we could handle!)

After all the little ones had exhausted our small size supply; we let the bigger kids in…knowing that they would be a bit more choosy.

The pile of discarded clothes grew bigger than we could have imagined and I will admit that it was refreshing to see it grow!

With new clothes on, Wat Opot looked a little brighter somehow and the children went about showing off a bit. How do we look???

You need to look quick, though as Mr. Rith had the honor of being the first to make his crisp clean new clothes look lived in (less than 20 minutes).

First impressions at Wat Opot not what you thought? Please take a second look!