Lotus Outreach Australia Visits Cambodian Projects

By Julia Booth
President, Lotus Outreach Australia

In May 2010 as president of LOA I was very privileged to travel to visit our projects in Cambodia with LOA Vice President Pheona Arndell. After working with the Lotus Outreach community for many years, the chance to visit the projects we support was very exciting but also strangely abstract. I had read many reports and applied for grants, but I had little concept of the human element.

I was very fortunate to have Pheona as my travelling companion - her passion for Cambodia is infectious. On arrival in Phnom Penh we met up with our larger-than-life and incredibly dedicated Director of Field Operations Glenn Fawcett, and our head of Lotus Outreach Cambodia, Raksmey Var.

I was stunned by Raksmey's facility with the English language, and even more astounded to learn that she was entirely self taught. In many ways this is reflective of Cambodia. There is a palpable energy in this country; with a large percentage of the population under the age of 30 the youth are desperate to learn and develop - but due to a lack of resources and crushing poverty opportunities are very limited.

On a visit to one of our Girls’ Access to Education (GATE) scholars, the dire circumstances of her life were obvious. Her father was unemployed, her mother had health issues and young children to support - without the rice support provided by LO they would not be able to survive. The fact that their daughter was a dedicated, hard working student who wanted to study medicine was a brilliant indication of the positive impact GATE was having on the lives of the urban poor.

Julia sits in on a class at GATE Phnom Penh

Another girl in primary school was thrilled to show off her most prized possession - a coloring book. Her mother was deceased and her father, who was suffering a chronic illness, had 6 children under his care. The all-terrain bike the girl had been given by LO to get to school lay idle with a flat tire - evidently her brother's friend had borrowed the bike and punctured the tire without repairing it. Glenn delivered a repair kit so the girl could resume her studies. All the children were malnourished, and the eldest girl was not allowed to go to school because she had to bring in an income to support the family. The scholarship was a beacon of hope in a very grim reality.

Julia and Pheona with GATE girls at a school in Dangkar

It is not original and may sound terribly trite but this trip changed my life; I have seen firsthand the real impact of our projects. When I catch myself moping about not having achieved enough, or whining about not being able to do something, I think about the girl living in a crowded shack with illiterate parents, three young siblings and not enough food – who dreams of being a doctor.

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