More beggars here in Phnom Penh than we have seen elsewhere and Cambodia seems poorer and dirtier somehow than South Vietnam, where we have just been. Of course lots of amputees but also toothless old women, ten year olds with babies on their hips, scarred faces…. Plus lots of signs warning about child trafficking.
A Cambodian charity http://www.friends-international.org/ provides training for orphan street kids as chefs, waiters, welders electricians … and manicurists (VERY big here with tourists). We eat in their restaurant, buy their goods as presents (a bit like a Trade Aid shop) and Ellen gets her nails done (all slightly crooked but lovely all the same). They have signs up reminding us that children in orphanages (numbers have increased by 60% since 2005) are not tourist attractions.
- Annie
