Wat Opot Children's Community

Every month Partners in Compassion Cambodia distributes rice to its members. We have been doing it now for over eight years and it is one of the key factors to the success of our program. In the beginning we would buy the rice ourselves in Phnom Penh and deliver it to the homes of our members in Takeo. As our numbers grew however, from 10, to 20, and then to 30 families, it became increasingly more difficult to find the funds to buy the rice and to transport it out to Takeo. When we started to build our Hospice at Wat Opot, I discovered that The World Food Program (WFP) was providing rice to the local elementary school for a feeding program and so I asked Vandin to check into the possibility of our getting rice for our members. He did but was told that the WFP had a policy of not giving rice to AIDS programs and therefore it would not be worth our while to submit a proposal.

A few weeks later I noticed that many people were busy cleaning up around the local school and so I asked what was happening. I was told that the Director of the WFP in Rome was coming to visit the school and so everything had to be in order. I didn’t think much of it at the time and returned to the clinic. A short while later I noticed everyone standing in a line and then the big cars drove up and the formalities began. A few minutes into the hand shaking however, I noticed that the line had been broken and a woman was heading my way. A man, I presumed was her husband, was following saying something like, “but Honey, this is not a part of the program.”

The woman walked straight up to me and asked if it was true that this was an AIDS clinic and I told her that it was. She then started asking questions and I answered the best I could, realizing that her husband was getting impatient and wanted to return to the other program. She then asked if she cold see one of the AIDS affected families and I told her we could but it would be a 10 minute walk. She insisted and so I looked at her husband… he just shrugged his shoulders.

We walked the back road to the house of one of our first families. The husband had died just weeks after we started our clinic and the wife was left with 5 children. She was also HIV Positive as was her youngest daughter. The lady asked several questions through the translator and when she had heard enough she turned to her husband and said something like, “Dear, could you tell me again why people like this don’t deserve WFP rice?”

A few weeks later we got a call from the WFP office saying we should submit a proposal immediately because it had already been accepted. The WFP had changed its policy and would now be providing rice to Aids victims around the World. Today Partners in Compassion Cambodia has 7 distribution points and provides WFP rice to over 1336 families. That number will increase to 1375 families this year as we take on the responsibility for a wider area.

Today was one of the monthly distribution days at Wat Opot. It is always nice seeing everyone each month because many of them were once lying in our Hospice waiting to die. With the ARV medicines and the WFP rice however, the prognosis is much more positive and our members are getting their lives back in order. Once they become self sufficient again, they are removed from the WFP rice list so that others of greater need can be added.

Today was a special treat because we were visited by Kristina Gill, who works for the Australian Embassy in Rome and is a WFP Adviser. She is pictured here helping in the distribution of oil and salt, which is given out with the rice each month.

Lucy Greenacre from the Phnom Penh Office of the WFP also accompanied Kristina and assisted in the distribution of the rice, oil and salt. Both were given a tour of our Community and were the first to visit our newly completed dormitory.

Wayne Dale Matthysse
tsoham.info