Today we visited the homes of eight of the students who attend the school we sponsor in Phnom Penh. It really was an incredible experience. First of all, we expected to visit the homes with just us plus the director of the school but instead were an entourage including several teachers and around 20 enthusiastic students. It really was a blast for us spending all the time with everyone and almost unbelievable seeing the conditions in which these poor families live. The families welcomed us with open arms into their homes which were in many cases smaller than some bathrooms you find in houses in Southern California.
One family with a mother and two children had $40 per month coming in as income of which $25 per month goes toward the rent. The rest has to somehow cover everything else.
Yesterday we visited the Stung Meanchey dump in Phnom Penh which until recently was covered by scavengers looking for bottles, cans and anything else of value, as well as families actually living on the dump. Children from
here are among those currently participating in our photo portfolio project. Homes come right up to the edge of the dump where everyone was recently evicted to make way for a company that will be extracting methane from the site.
Below is a status report video from Jessica from a few days ago. After the weekend, we'll be back in the classes again on Monday morning.