Orphanage days 2 & 3

There are a lot of orphanages in Siem Reap. I decided to visit AOEO because my friend had already scoped it out months ago and still frequents the place. I have visited a couple orphanages before, once in Phnom Penh nearly two years ago and once in Saigon last year. Neither of those experiences really made me want to go back. In Phnom Penh, I just felt under-appreciated as if my time and rice donation weren't enough. I didn't want a pat on the back, but I also didn't want to feel like I should have been doing more. In Saigon, it was an orphanage for the disabled and really too difficult, for me, to do again.

So, here I was again, at this little plot of land housing thirty something children, not really having high hopes for an amazing experience, but rather just hoping to share my time with some under-privileged children. The kids were great and we played a little volleyball, pulled water up from the well and just chatted together. I was asked to teach a conversational English class for an hour and I obliged although I realized immediately it was something I did not want to be doing. So I told them I'd come back, but I wouldn't be doing that again. Sorry.

I took a day off and then went back yesterday. I'm starting to remember names and learning some k'mai as well. I don't know what I'm actually learning, but I know when I say it it elicits some laughter and that's the most important thing. The location for the orphanage is just outside the Old Market area of Siem Reap. Probably a couple kilometers down the road if you were taking a bicycle or a tuk-tuk into the countryside. I rented a bicycle yesterday, my first ride in what seems like years, and it felt great. Hardly counts as exercise, but the most physically active I've been lately - outside of my dreams.

Two days ago, one of the kids, the youngest, was sitting naked with his little dong dangling in the dirt. I couldn't help but think about the possibility of infection as I surveyed the dusty ground littered with scraps of paper and a trail of ants. Meanwhile, one of the girls is hula hooping inches from his head. She eventually sees him and laughs at the inconvenience. Later she picks him up and dangles him over the well, which smells like shit and is probably five meters to the bottom. Whoa whoa whoa I say, let's not do that.

I've got all the little ones coming up to me now wanting to be twirled around by their arms, which is fun, but I need my rests in between. None of them seem to mind that there is somebody in the way. I'm pretty sure I used to enjoy that when I was a kid too. I just hope somebody's arm doesn't come out of the socket when I'm doing that. It's his fault! I've also got them to hold my hands, climb up my legs and then flip backwards. I used to remember doing that with my Grandpa.

I've got kids dangling from either arm and then one trying to squeeze between my legs nearly causing our collapse. Kids wanting to be hugged, twirled around, high-fived or play ball. Kids impressed by the size of my muscles. Funny because it's the smallest my arms have been in probably years. Kids, they're good for the ego. They see my veins and are intrigued by that, incorrectly associating them with strength, as people do. They also seem intrigued by my moles and freckles.

I don't know what my role is. I'm happy just playing with the kids, but I wish I had something to teach them. I'm not the music teacher and I don't want to be the English teacher. Had enough of that for now and perhaps forever. I think and I think and I don't have any special skill that I can impart to them. And I'm not going to be there long enough, I don't think, to undertake any of the special projects they are currently working on. So, it seems, as if I'm just there to play games. And that's fine by me.

Yesterday I found myself climbing a tree to pick some of these mini mangoes they seem happy to devour. All of the little ones waiting below for the fruit to be dropped from above. They rarely ever caught it and all scrambled madly to score a few sweet nibbles off the dusty fruit. I went as high up as I felt comfortable and soon enough I had boys way above me, like monkeys, picking the fruit from unreachable places and making everybody happy. I descended, scraping up my body in the process and thought I wish I wasn't getting too old for this shit.

Well, it's almost time for lunch and day 4 at the orphanage. I'm not spending a great deal of time there because they are busy eating, studying, sleeping or working on other projects. So I go in the afternoon and come back at dusk. It's good for me because I can sleep in, go out in the evenings and run around barefoot playing with kids exchanging free smiles and having a laugh I otherwise might not be having. Yeah, I'm having to do my laundry more often than usual, but it's a small price to pay.

For more information on this specific organization, please take a look at their website. And if you come to Siem Reap, think about spending a day with the kids! And while I'm promoting, check out their Facebook page too.