I finally Made It

So I finally made it to the village in one piece. I am stationed in a very small community about and hour and a half away from Phnom Penh. Wot Opot, the name of this community, only has about 2000 residents. The bulk of the village rests around the periphery of a gorgeous wot (Buddhist temple) in the center of town.

The program that I am volunteering with is unbelievable. Wot Opot used to serve as and HIV/AIDS hospice for very ill children. Children would be sent here if orphaned for being HIV positive or if their parents were HIV positive and passed. At one point, only a few years ago, two or three children would die a week. This used be be an extremely somber setting. However, since ARVs have become avaliable for essentially all infected persons (about 2 years ago), the community has changed from one of dispair to one of hope. Today, there are roughly 60 kids, ages ranging from about 3-18, living at Wot Opot. About half of the kids are HIV positive while the other half are negative, yet have no family support. Wayne, the man in charge of running Wat Opot, has done a phenomoal job in protecting these kids, giving them food, shelter, clothing, and most importantly, a life. What most people don't realize is that ARV's can potentially add 40 years to an infected life. I look at pictures from the community a few years ago, and I see decrepid children on the verge of death. Today, all of the kids look perfectly healthy. Aside from taking a multitude of drugs every morning and every evening, these kids lead normal lives. They go to school, they play with one another, they strive to be accepted as normal kids.

When I first pulled into the village, I was scared. It is not every day that I am dealing with dozens of people infected with HIV. I was nervous when the kids first started holding my hand and jumping all over me. However, this tension soon passed. All of the kids take ARV medications, and fortunately, the drugs dilute the virus in the bloodstream and make it very difficult to infect others, even if exoposed. Furthermore, HIV is not transmitted by holding hands, hugging, sweating, kissing, etc., only through blood semen, breast milk, and vaginal secretions.

There are 3 other volunteers here besides myself. Two older women are from New Zealand and are teaching the kids arts and crafts. The third girl is 25 and was born here. She has pretty much taken me under her wing, helping me to organize activites to do with the kids. She and I also have a good bit in common. I plan on getting involved with several projects while here. First and foremost, I plan on teaching English to the kids, some of the staff, and monks (tomorrow I plan on holding a 2 hour English class with 9 monks next door). I am also repsonisble for instructing some of the older kids how to use microsoft office programs. The older kids speak some English, but profiency from the younger ones remains minimal. I also plan on improving my Khmer while here. I also met with the head of the medical team today, and I plan on shadowing the staff as they make rounds throughout the village (even though consultations will be conducted in Khmer). Finally, I want to spend time playing sports with the kids. I just introduced them to (American) football, but I also want to take them fishing (there are enormous cat fish here).

My living arrangments can't be any more basic. We only have electricity from 7-9 pm, so sleeping with a fan is not an option. I sleep in a bed outside, surrounded by a mesquito net. We have no hot water (sometimes no running water) and it gets very hot around here. I must admit that it is difficult o sleep at night without a bed sheet. I am fortunate that the food here is fantastic. While meals are vegetarian, they are delicious. Lots of rice, pasta, fruits, and veggies. Every meal, the entire volunteer crew gathers and enjoys a relaxing meal. There is a lot of down time here, so I have been reading a good bit. We get up very very early (6:30 am), so but 9 pm I am ready for bed. I am looking forward to everything while here and can't wait to help change the community.

My computer is about to die, so I got to go. Ill try to make a post every 3 or 4 days.