SMALL VOICES
The Khmer Rouge caught him and forced him to work.
He cut the grass to feed the cows.
At that Time he was just a small boy, he didn't know what to do.
After the regime was over he was recaptured again and was forced again
This time to be a soldier
and second grade was the last he ever attended school in his life.
The cells are empty at S21 .
In 1975 this high school became a place of torture and murder.
Nearly 1 .7 million people perished through execution, starvation
and Forced labor in the killing fields of Cambodia.
One third of the population.
faces,
histories,
voices,
silenced forever.
The remains of the past are scattered on the path to Cambodia's future.
Brutal reminders.
innocence lost.
The Khmer Rouge's attempt to turn Cambodia into a classless society
led to the near extermination of the adult professional and artistic population.
The lost potential of those who went to their death
continues to echo in the lives of those who survived.
Modern Cambodia. A country seeped in tradition and transition.
Cambodia has struggled to emerge from the shadows of her past
but the rebuilding process has been slow and
stark differences remain between the wealthy and the destitute
Nowhere is this more on display than the capital city.
The opulence of the golden palace.
The harsh realities of the city streets.
To the average tourist
Phnom Penh is a mixture of culture history and the exotic.
A reflection of her Asian and French heritage
mixed with creeping Westernization.
Crowded city streets and bustling open markets give rise to the impression
of a developing urban city: active, exciting, and full of possibility.
Look closer.
They are easy to spot. Barefoot. Dirty. Cast off clothing.
There are nearly 12,000 of them working and living on the city streets.
Living off other peoples change or garbage.
They have become a nation of scavengers,
hoping each day's find might bring in enough to eat.
Working.
Begging.
Selling.
Stealing.
The street children simply live day by day with
little expectation things will change.
I lived in the countryside. I didn't have...uh...
I left because I didn't have rice to eat.
Because rice field is death if it doesn't rain.
Every day I don't have enough food to eat.
The hardest thing is I'm poor and have no house to live in.
Not enough food to eat.
My mom had 10 kids, 6 died, only 4 left.
My mother passed away, my father has another wife.
This kid's my niece.
My family all died.
Her mom left her since she was small.
Yes, I take care of her until she grows up.
I'm worried that I can't make money for my mom.
That my family has no money for hospital if they get sick.
I'm worried each time I go out, people might catch me and sell me.
They catch us and take us to work in a prostitute place.
Afraid that they take us to sleep with them.
It is estimated there are 10,000 to 15,000 victims caught
in Cambodia's sex trafficking web. 35% are minors.
Nearly half are abducted and forced to work in brothels.
Others are sold by destitute family members.
Children living and working on the street are easy prey for predators.
While public school is technically free,
underpaid teachers charge children to attend class or pass their grades.
Lacking the resources to pay for their education and get themselves
off the street, these children are left vulnerable and exposed.
Sometimes I'm afraid to beg. Foreigners scream at me.
They feel sorry and they give us money.
Sometimes if they don't give money they would give something to eat.
Everyday, I fan tourists to make money to buy rice to eat.
So I beg for money.
I beg people for money to go to school.
I never steal, I'm a beggar.
Sometimes I can't make money, sometimes I can.
About $0.50, enough for school.
Teacher asks for money at school. I don't have any.
Teacher asks for money for extra class, I don't have any.
I fan people to get money to buy rice to eat.
If I go to school I wouldn't have money to buy rice.
I say, " Sir, I beg you for money.''
Sometimes if I am lucky I get $2.50, sometimes nothing.
But sometimes when people give us money, police hit our hands.
If I see police I hide somewhere until he's gone then I can reappear.
I don't know where to hide.
When I get sick, I still beg as usual.
When I get sick I don't tell anyone.
Even if I tell, they're not going to care.
I hope and hope, but never get what I hope for.
Because, I'm destined to be poor, they're destined to be rich.
It's my destiny to be born poor.
If I can study, in the future I can do anything, I won't have to beg.
I want someone to help me go to school.
My name is Charam. I am 12.
I was born in Kampong Cham Province.
Nowadays I live right at the pagoda's fence.
My mom's name is Yorn.
When I was born, a foreigner tried to buy me.
She offered my mom $500 and a house to live in.
But my mom didn't sell me.
When I was begging in front of people's houses
and at the museum, my mom got pregnant
and a few months later my sister Linna was born.
I helped wash bloody cloth from labor.
When I was young, my mom took good care of me,
but as I grew older, she would blame me for doing wrong.
If I was really bad she would chase me and hit me.
If she caught me, she hit me with a tree branch.
She hit me till I bled.
If I didn't make money, she would blame me and hit me.
Everyday, she does nothing but stay at home.
My family was doing so bad, we didn't have food to eat.
So I decided to beg people.
The first time I started to beg I felt afraid.
It's hard to describe the feeling but I knew I was scared.
After a while I felt good and then it started to be alright.
We buy food and pay the debts with the money.
There are few opportunities for Charam to attend school.
While Local non-profit groups offer free education
space is limited.
And Yorn depends on Charam's income from begging.
Despite this, she has agreed to let him interview at another shelter.
Charam's last stay at a school lasted only two days
before he was back on the street begging.
The Cambodian Children's Fund is one of many grass root organizations
trying to stem the tide of illiteracy and poverty.
Charam is just one of hundreds of kids hoping for a chance at
one of the few spots remaining at a facility already over capacity.
I'm Scott Neeson I founded the Cambodian Children's Fund
I was working in the film business all my life. Since I was 19.
I took a... a soul cleansing trip to Bangkok through to New Delhi
and what was supposed to be a 2 day stop over in Phnom Penh
ended up being virtually the entire time.
The beginnings of a charitable foundation.
The mission is to get as many kids out of those
appalling conditions as possible.
and put them in a place where they can be educated
with health care, with all the basics.
One of the initial goals I had was to also ensure that
the children that leave here have a real sense of social consciousness
and social awareness which is badly lacking right now.
From the very basic things that we take for granted
like domestic abuse is not okay.
We talk to the boys about it. We talk to the girls about it.
So they don't have to be subjected to it.
None of the children have really had much in the way of
good role models when it comes to parenting.
Of the children here about 85% come from abusive households.
And that's all they know.
The neighbors are the same way.
Their uncles and aunts are the same way.
So we've got to teach the children that that's not right.
You don't do this and you shouldn't have to put up with this.
Otherwise it's just intergenerational, year after year.
Well the capacity here was meant to be 85 we currently have 135 here.
Of that 135 just under 100 stay here, overnight.
24-6. They go home on Sundays and see their families
or their villages or their relatives.
We encourage them all to have the family ties still there.
Unless it's some abusive environment.
Even if it's at the garbage dump.
Even if it's in some of the worst parts of the city.
It all comes down to money.
I want to get as many kids off the street out of the garbage dump
out of these abusive situations as possible.
For the last 30 positions at CCF second facility we had over
250 applicants. The basic criteria was being met.
And it was just Sophie's Choice.
What is your name?
My name is Charam.
How old are you?
Twelve.
What do you do everyday?
At present, I'm a beggar.
Where do you live?
Behind the pagoda.
Which pagoda?
Prolom Pagoda
What is your mother's name?
My mother's name is Yorn.
What is her job?
She doesn't work.
How about your little sister?
I carry my little sister to beg money.
Who makes money in your family?
Me and my sister.
Your little sister?
Yes.
So do you make enough money to support the family?
Good enough.
Only for food, not for spending.
Are you happy at home or is there a lot of fighting?
If I eat too slow, my mother kicks my plate.
I swear at my mother and she hits me.
Do you like to live with a lot of people or by yourself?.
I like living in a group.
Why do you like to live with a lot of people?
Because I have a lot of kids to play with.
If I live alone I don't have anybody to play with. That's boring.
What do you want to become when you grow up?
Me, if I can read I can be whatever I want except robbing or stealing.
I don't like those things.
Do you have a goal? What do you want to be when you grow up?
Whatever, I don't decide yet.
What are you going to do if you get to live here?
I'm happy, I want to live here. I can live at any school.
As long as I get to learn.
Will you study hard?
Yes, if the adults don't hurt me I want to study hard.
I've gone to school three times before
but I quit because the teachers beat me too much.
Okay, you can wait outside.
Yes.
So he's homeless.
And he's a beggar.
Poor kid.
He only has one other sibling.
Doesn't he? He's got himself, the little girl...
Yes.
Seems like a really smart kid.
No, this doesn't make sense either.
The mother hasn't been interviewed yet, has she?
No.
We just interviewed Charam.
Yeah. If all this is true then it's very compelling.
Okay, let's get the mother in here.
Just make sure I'm there when she's here, I'd like to meet her personally.
When she's here. She sounds a bit...
A bit of a tough woman.
She doesn't want him to study because she wants him earning money for her.
Let's get her in here. Lure her in here to talk to.
See if she allows him to come and study.
As opposed to continue begging on the streets.
The children who find their way to CCF
are a reflection of the issues plaguing Cambodia.
from the remote provinces where farmers struggle with failing crops
to the streets, dumps and pagodas of the cities
where children are often abandoned or forced to work
to support themselves and their families.
they are the voice of a country struggling to rebuild itself.
My name is Chet Leakhena. I'm 13 years old.
My home town is Battambang Province.
It was hard living there, So poor.
Without money for food and study.
My mom is a farmer, my father is a taxi driver.
After my father left, my mother would hit us whenever we did wrong.
When my father left, I knew he wasn't coming back.
So my mother could no longer raise us and she left us
at the pagoda to live with my grandmother.
Then she went away, somewhere else, to get a new husband.
Long ago, when I still lived with my family, I had 10 children.
Farmers like us, we don't have our own rice fields,
so our lives depended on people's help.
I realized I didn't have enlightenment
from my previous life. That's why I was born so poor.
Then I had the bright idea of leaving my family for religion, let them
support themselves. So I left to live in the pagoda
when I was 46 years old.
One day my children left me with my five grandchildren.
Their families were falling apart.
I asked the monks to let them stay since they were already here.
I didn't ask them to come.
They came because they had nothing to eat.
The monk said, " Yes if they're drowning and we don't rescue them,''
"how can they survive, so let it be.''
So they live with me since then, needing everything.
But we had to keep going.
And that is the end, I may conclude.
Sometimes, my brothers fought and cut each other with broken glass.
They would try to drown and choke each other.
They used to hit me too.
I thought if my family keeps fighting like that,
what will our future become.
I worried about my future and how I would be able to study.
Even if they hit me, I wasn't mad because I thought -
we have one family and we depend on each other.
If we don't love each other, who will?
In both the cities and rural areas local pagodas
serve as both religious havens and sanctuaries for the poor.
There are many children like Leakhena,
abandoned or left with destitute older relatives when their own parents
can no longer support them.
The people here live in harmony with the monks
by caring for the property
and preparing meals in exchange for shelter.
When I lived here I helped grandmother
prepare meals for the monks.
The people there respect the monks like gods.
They bring food to the monks for good karma because
they were born poor. They try to do good to
be born rich in the next life.
Local communities donate food for the monks.
The monks in turn show their generosity to the poor
by allowing them to eat the food left over from their daily meal.
Dish up the rice for your brother.
Life for the pagoda children revolves around their duties to the monks
and just being kids.
With no opportunity for education, their carefree afternoons
are marked by a sense of aimlessness.
The kids in the pagoda, if they don't learn to read and write
in the future they will wind up on the streets sniffing glue.
I have a lot of close friends at the pagoda.
I never had friends who had parents.
Leakhena is one of the fortunate ones.
While most of the children living at the pagoda,
including her own brothers, cannot afford school
Leakhena has been living and studying at the CCF for over a year.
When I first started school I thought that it could give me good future
and I will be able to make money to support myself.
In the future... I want to become a teacher.
Visits with her remaining family are few and far between
the pagoda is over 8 hours from CCF
and limited resources make returning home difficult.
This is the first time Leakhena has seen her brothers
and grandmother since she left for school last year.
It is uncertain when she will be able to return.
Preparing to go.
Why don't you say goodbye first?
Leakhena, you have to say goodbye, pay your respect to me.
Hear me Leakhena?
Yes.
Never forget people that do favors for you.
Whatever their advice is, obey them.
Make it easy for them to train you.
And don't ever steal anything, that's bad karma, if the thing is not given
to you by the person, don't take it.
Understand, Leakhena?
If you obey religious rules, you can live long,
and in peace until the future comes.
See, you weren't born rich, you were born a poor orphan
with no parents to support you.
Yes.
Because you didn't do good in previous life, that's why
you were born with bad karma.
Understand? Remember my words.
Play with me.
Stop playing, I'm leaving right now.
Go, go.
Where is all her stuff?.
I'm going too.
Don't forget.
Leakhena is gone.
My name is Mengly. I'm 15 years old, and I'm from Kandal Province.
My parents live at the farm. They grow corn.
When I was growing up, I thought my life would be difficult.
Because I didn't study and I couldn't read and write.
I'm the first son; it's my job to take care of my brothers
and advise them to be good and study hard.
I help with farm work, planting corn, beans and other vegetables
I have to help my mother take care around the house.
I help her cook and clean.
When my father's not around I help care for my brothers.
I'm not good with words.
Well, farming is hard because for crops to grow
we need fertilizers for good results. It requires money all the time.
With the money I earn from farming I spend some on fertilizers
and some for eating. If there isn't enough we have to borrow
and then work to pay it off.
It's hard. Sometimes we can't harvest the fields
because we don't have the equipment.
We need cattle to plow, but we don't have those.
This year we could only harvest a few corn plants.
We never get a lot. We can't plow our fields
like everybody else with better corn
because we don't have cattle. We plant on plain fields.
I also work for people harvesting beans and corn when they are in season.
There is only that kind of work. No stable job.
We have nothing, no hope of buying anything.
So it's hard, because we need money to buy cattle or land,
that's why we stay poor.
If my children are educated, they will have skills to work.
I want them to get higher education so they can
help their poor father.
We're pathetic, we're so poor.
Fishing is important to my family
because it gives us food and we can sell it.
When I can't catch fish I feel angry and sorry
for my parents because they have nothing to cook with.
No fish to bring back home.
I don't know.
Let's fish somewhere else.
Over there.
When I see people in my village are very poor I feel sorry for them,
because they're not educated. So they should let their kids go to
school, to find jobs.
My parents have told me that I should study hard so that I can find a good job.
After I attend school, I think in the future I will become a teacher
I worry about my brothers because they can't read or write.
When I become a teacher, I will return to my village to teach others to read.
It's very important because the educated people can teach
the uneducated people, to help the whole society.
Mengly's family's issues are typical of the farmer in the provinces
85% of Cambodia's population lives in these rural areas.
Adverse weather conditions, poorly fertilized soil
and a lack of equipment and experience
have lead to a severe decline in crops and income.
Nearly 90% of people in the countryside are living below the poverty line.
Unable to provide for themselves many families move to the city
in the hopes of finding work. With no formal education
adults and children alike resort to becoming garbage pickers
at Steung Mean Chey, Phnom Penh's municipal city dump.
This is Steung Mean Chey the city's garbage dump.
The drop spot changes or there's multiple drop spots
so there's several areas of activity here.
The kids are searching through for plastics, hard plastics, metals
anything they can recycle. By the time the rubbish gets down here
it's been picked clean of bottles, cans, anything of any real worth.
So they're lucky to fill one large sack a day.
Which will get them 25 cents. The kids are earning between
25 cents every couple of days. Some of the older kids
working very hard, 14-15 hours can make up to 50 cents a day.
So it's basically you make the money and you eat it that night.
Start all over again the next day. There's no saving.
And there's no money being put aside for anything
and the issue becomes when they get sick.
It's just merciless here. Become sick, there's nothing you can do.
You end up borrowing money to try and buy medicines
or you perish here.
My name is Layseng. I'm 13 years old. I was born in Kandal.
I lived with my parents and my sisters and brothers.
We were so poor in the countryside. My family made very little money.
my sister and I went to live at Steung Mean Chey with my aunt.
When I got there, we had no money for school,
so I started picking garbage. While I was picking garbage,
Scott found me and took me here.
When I live in Steung Mean Chey, my sister and I pick garbage all day.
From 5:00 AM to 1 1 :00 AM, have lunch and pick again until 5:00 PM.
We go home to eat and sleep next morning we pick again.
Everyday is like that.
I was scared of the dump in nighttime.
Scared that my uncle might beat me,
scared of the dangers of picking garbage at night.
Scared trucks might dump garbage on me.
When I picked garbage I felt terrified that it might harm me,
But what can I do? If I don't go I don't make money.
I lived with my aunt a long time. I had an uncle who picked garbage
at night. We were scared because he was killed.
He got ran over by a truck. It crushed his skull, his brains leaked out.
Ever since then we didn't pick garbage at night again.
When I lived at the village, people can't really make money.
There are lots of poor people, even my parents.
When I was young and wasn't able to help them
we didn't have enough to eat, we were so poor.
My mom washes the bags everyday with rain water mixed with garbage.
It produces very dirty water for washing the bags.
When my parents are unhappy, I am unhappy too.
My name is Seuon, my wife is Eng.
During Pol Pot time I was a small child. I studied but couldn't keep up.
After the regime I lost my father. There were 3 of us left.
I lived with my mother and big sister.
I never finished studying. I grew up and helped make money.
Later I was caught and forced to serve in the military.
After I left the force, I married my wife.
At the countryside, we tried to make a living like everyone else.
It's hard over there.
Sometimes I can make money, sometimes not.
It's so hard! And since I fell sick, my wife couldn't make money there.
So we come here. My wife picks garbage to support me.
No money to treat my disease, just for foods only, no money for it.
It's more than 2 months since I was diagnosed
but I haven't gotten treatment yet.
Scott took me to get diagnosed. It's liver disease.
A tumor is growing on my liver.
I have nothing. I go to the dump to get dishes to clean and use here.
Neighbors lend us stuff to carry drinking water.
I lost everything. I came here with nothing.
Everyday I don't make enough, I can't buy him medicines
because I only make $0.50 to $0.75, not even enough to eat.
It's not even enough for me to eat.
Sometimes I'm sick and every night he screams with pain.
The neighbors told me to sell everything I have to help him.
I don't have anything to sell.
I came from the countryside with empty hands.
Now I'm trying to borrow more money, I don't know if I will get it.
I will never make enough.
I saw human's leg, babies and dead bodies with slit throats.
If I see babies, I bury them. Someone's baby is like ours.
I bury them so the trucks can't run them over.
It will be smashed up if the truck runs it over, so I bury it.
The most difficult thing is when I pick up garbage.
I used the searching metal stick.
To search for plastic, sack or bag or aluminum.
I made it myself.
There's needles, glass pieces, knives, metal sticks.
This is from a glass piece.
Two or three weeks, and it hasn't healed yet.
Over here I make money, at the countryside I couldn't make money.
Because my parents are poor, it's hard, they don't have money or food,
So I make money for them to buy rice. Only a little, I don't have a lot.
When I pick up garbage, what I am afraid of the most are
the trucks because they are very large and when
we pick up garbage it could hit us if we don't pay attention.
If it hits me, it could injure or even kill me.
It could scoop me up together with trash
and dump me down on the trash.
I start to pick up garbage from 6:00AM in the morning.
I pick garbage at noon too, and in the evening I pick more garbage.
I think it's destiny. I was destined to be poor.
I want to go to school and meet friends.
I read a little, but I can't write.
I want to be a teacher.
I eat one meal a day.
They sent me here to pick up garbage, I made $0.15 or $0.25 a day.
I just newly learn to pick up. So after...
When I'm well trained, I can make $0.50 to $0.75.
I've lived here 2 or 3 years already, it was a long time until I knew
what kind of plastic to pick up.
I've lived here for so long.
I was 8 years old when I started to pick up garbage.
My name is Hov Nhagn. I'm 13 years old.
I live at Prek Chor Village in Steung Mean Chey.
From my house to the dump site is close.
The garbage trucks are so noisy that I can't sleep at night.
My mom's name is Pol Sokhoeun, her job is sewing sacks.
My dad's name is Earm Korn, his job is picking up garbage.
Me, I pick up garbage everyday until evening, leaving this kid home alone.
If I stay home I wash dishes, clean up the house and sew those sacks.
Never have free time. If I had free time I would wash the clothes.
We make about $2.50 a day, me and my husband.
A little more than $2.50.
Not enough for rent, electricity, water. A jug of water is $0.60,
to rent this plot is $5.00 a month,
and food for twice a day.
Not enough, but we try hard for our kids.
I want to prevent him from picking garbage forever and
living a hard life like me.
And in the future he'll find happiness.
I don't want him to live like I do.
It was hard for me when I was young so I don't want him to be like me.
That's why I try hard for them. For their future.
I rather do hard work myself. I don't want them to have futures like mine.
Hov Nhagn's sister was among CCF's first students.
Limited room, a long waiting list at CCF,
and reluctance on the part of his parents to lose his income
has prevented him from having a chance to study.
Tomorrow he finally gets his interview.
When my sister got to go to school and I didn't and I couldn't read,
I let her read for me. I feel sad that I don't get to study
and know how good studying can be.
My sister has been in school for 2 years. I hope my time is now.
I do miss my family but staying there was so poor.
At CCF I study Khmer, English, computer, drawing, dancing and acting.
Of all my classes, I like computer and English the most.
Knees and toes, head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes
Ears and eyes and mouth and nose
Head and shoulders knees and toes knees and toes.
I'm very worried that I'm the only one who gets to study
and my other siblings stay at home and work everyday.
Like many of the children coming in from Steung Mean Chey,
Hov Nhagn is first seen by CCF's medical staff
to take care of any immediate health issues.
For Hov Nhagn it means getting his 3 week old injury cleaned
and bandaged.
All finished.
The children here are picking up a lot of infection.
There's probably no way you can prevent that.
You just have to treat it the best that you can.
These children have throat infections, ear infections,
We have a lot of kids with just fever, general fever.
All the children here are smaller than they should be.
And it's very difficult because they will naturally have vitamin deficiencies.
so they just don't grow like they should.
They have nothing. They have wood and tarpaulin as their homes.
And they lay on the floor at night.
And I went out with Scott and it is quite shocking to see that.
And we came across a lot of sick people.
At Steung Mean Chey there isn't facilities for water.
There is no drinking water and also there is no water to clean yourself.
so hygiene is a major major problem.
Steung Mean Chey is highly toxic. There's pharmaceutical waste,
there's chemicals, syringes.
It's common the children will have cuts burns, bruises.
The prevalence of hepatitis and tuberculosis is really high.
With his foot wound tended to, Hov Nhagn waits for his interview.
It is a hectic day at CCF. With a number of children hoping for admission.
Charam is among them. His future now depends on his mother.
Will she protect him from a life on the streets
or hang onto her only source of income
and primary caretaker for Linna?
I want you to explain CCF One what we do in terms of the English
Computer, Khmer of course. Plus all the arts, crafts,
everything else we do here.
We don't take many children here because we have a long waiting list.
220 between the two facilities. Very long waiting list to get in here.
But her son seems to be a really smart kid.
He's showing a lot of intelligence, a lot of enthusiasm
and he clearly wants to learn in a facility.
So in his case we'd like to take him on board.
So what we can do is bring him in. He'll be here
from morning until 5:00 P.M. We cover all three meals
and then he can go home at night to see the mother
We can provide some assistance for the lost revenues
It will be $15 a month. For the first three months that he's here.
So she's not losing her income all at once.
If he only studies here and then comes home, the police will catch us.
They come during the day or night.
So where does he sleep now?
Right now, he sleeps with me, but the police are trying to catch us.
At night I hardly sleep. I watch the road and tell my kids to run
if I see them coming. One time they caught us and locked us up
for a day and night. They watch us go to the bathroom,
and they even beat him with a wooden baton this long.
Beat him.
We try and keep the beds for kids who cannot go home,
kids who live in the provinces, generally are who gets to sleep here.
In her case we'll make an exception, if he's sleeping on the streets
then we'll provide a bed for him. So he'll be a 24 hour student here.
He can still get a visit of course, whenever he wants including Sundays.
And we'll provide a bed for him.
He'll also go into our dance and culture program.
He'll have to get his vaccinations and blood testing done to begin with.
and we'll see how it goes from there.
We'll give her $15 to make up for that for the first three months.
Until she can find some alternative way, yeah.
So no more. Just the-
Just the first three months. Yeah, just the first three months.
Okay, thank you for bringing Charam.
Despite Charam's acceptance in school, uncertainties remain.
Yorn must now begin to provide for Linna and herself on her own.
If she does not, Charam may find himself back on the streets begging.
once the 3 month supplement the CCF is providing runs out.
For Hov Nhagn, two years of patient waiting has finally come to an end.
I want to study. I'm happy that I can study here.
I see people typing on computers, I see toys, I want to play.
In my mind I want to study... and...
And have fun with friends.
Charam.
Hov Nhagn and Charam have a chance to beat the odds.
Nearly 79% of youth in Cambodia remain illiterate.
The dropout rate past primary education
remains extraordinarily high with only 1 .2% of the population
going on to achieve higher education.
They are grim statistics the CCF faces every day
in trying to make a difference for their kids.
I get frustrated at the fact that we're gonna educate them
and we're gonna train them and we're gonna give them
everything we can and they're still gonna face a very difficult life
once CCF's over. What we need to consider is that
the quality of life they live here isn't always gonna maintain itself
once they're out there. It's not that everything's given to them,
they earn it. But there's very nice clothes and there's very good food
and they're gonna have to provide that for themselves someday.
In an economy and a society where to have that kind of life
is a struggle.
This morning my sister woke me up. I'm so happy I am accepted here.
As soon as I woke up, I got dressed and waited for the Taxi to bring me.
I see kids studying - I'm happy I get to study here.
The first time I attend class, I'm not so good. I just follow along.
But after three days I know ABC's and I can read a little bit.
From now on I will study hard. I won't fight or steal or swear.
I will study hard and be kind to everyone. I'll get educated.
And when I grow up I can get a job and make money for my mom.
For the street and garbage dump children
there is very little access to quality health care.
Charam has been living with chronic pain in his teeth.
Years of living on the streets have left them in horrible condition.
Interns at the local dental academy care for CCF students.
Every molar in his mouth will need to be filled or pulled.
One week later Charam returns to the pagoda's fence
to seek out his mother and sister Linna who is used to being
constantly by his side. Now she depends on Yorn
who has not made any attempt to start earning money on her own.
Living away from his sister is the sacrifice Charam must make for a better future.
Linna is not old enough to live and study at the CCF.
For now she can only look forward to visits from her brother.
With a four day holiday break from school ahead of them
Lyseng and Hov Nhagn head back to the village at the dump
to spend time with their families. They are more fortunate
than Mengly or Leakhena whose families live in distant provinces.
The dump is close enough to visit regularly and they are able
to see loved ones more often.
But such proximity brings anxiety. For Hov Nhagn
it is the worry that his family will not be able to earn enough money
with him away at school.
I wouldn't say that our living has improved much, but
we're not starving either. Our children go to school.
That's why I try hard myself to make a little more money,
as long as my children get to study.
I want to see him happy, I want him to be educated like others and
not so ignorant like I am. I want my kids to be educated.
While I was picking up garbage I used to think that
if I could get to study I would make my parents happy.
I want to study and do well in class. I will find a job, and my parents
will have some money and the poverty will be ended.
I feel excited when I go to school. I have never felt that before,
now I get to have it.
When I leave CCF to visit my parents, I'm happy to see them.
But I'm also very happy to get back to CCF and study more.
It's difficult to study when I go back home.
I could make money, but it was dangerous.
At school there's no danger and we can have a future here.
When I grow up I want to become a teacher.
I want to become a good teacher, for kids who don't do well in class.
I would explain to them and help them understand.
I would help them to read like me.
The first week they all wanted to be teachers,
the third week they all wanted to be doctors.
I realized it was with the exposure to each of these professions
that they wanted to become. That's all they knew.
They met a teacher, they wanted to be a teacher.
They met a doctor, they wanted to be a doctor.
We brought in a taxi driver once for a vocational talk
they kept him for an hour and a half with questions to a taxi driver.
Literally an hour and a half of questions.
I mean what can you ask a taxi driver for an hour and a half?.
But they're fascinated by the options out there.
Just got to be made aware of them.
But I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I go back to pick garbage.
I will live in misery again.
Those kids at the dump, they don't have anyone to take them to school.
Some don't want to study,
but others want to and have no one to help them.
Layseng's father's failing health casts a shadow over her visits home.
He suffers from hepatitis B, a chronic and common disease
for those living and working in the unsanitary conditions of Steung Mean Chey.
Everyday I'm sick most of the time.
Sometimes I feel well for an hour or two and then I get sick again.
I'm on IV but I take it off to go to work and when
I come back, I put it back on. That's because we're poor.
I'm not that well either, but it's nothing specific.
I don't have a disease - we just don't get enough to eat.
You can see our house - we're poor and have a lot of children.
What little we make we feed our children with.
If the country had a good leader then our living would be better.
In my generation we didn't get to study at all.
Now there are better schools for kids, but it's not enough yet because
there are too many poor people.
I feel so happy, so excited when I see my kids get their good education.
I feel happy every time I see them and they know a lot.
The other day she told me she is No.1 in class
I was so happy I was jumping up and down.
We can help them to get their education and then
later on they can support themselves.
Of course it's hard but we have to struggle on, since our children
are in school. If we keep them here with us, they won't be able to study.
I don't think it's destiny.
When I grow up I want to help poor people to go to school.
Let them study hard.
Kids are poor because their parents didn't get to study,
and they didn't let their children go to school.
When I grow up I want to be a very good mother.
I want to teach my children to study hard, to love each other
between brother and sister to not fight with each other.
I don't feel like I'm scared at all anymore.
I don't feel like I'm scared because I have already learned a lot,
I have a good education and for that I can have a good job.
When I grow up, if I have a chance to work in the government,
I want to do that kind of work.
Because governmental work is good work.
The reason why Cambodia is poor is because
there are not enough educated people.
When I grow up I want to become a translator because that job
is good for us, I can get good salary and I can get to know a lot of people
in the society and help them.
My name is Layseng, I am 13 years old.
I want to be an English translator when I grow up.
Leakhena has not been able to return to see her family since last year.
Despite limited resources and space, Scott arranged
to bring her brothers for a visit and enrolled her youngest brother
Chet Dalin at CCF.
For Leakhena working hard at her education continues
to be the path she follows in order to change her karma.
A lesson enforced by her grandmother's words.
I have four brothers and one sister
I think it is hard to live when everyone is either rich or poor.
We're poor because of bad karma from previous lives.
We can change that bad karma by doing good things - don't steal,
don't drink alcohol or kill, and study hard.
When I am educated and grown up I will help teach kids who don't
get to study, I will help everyone read and write.
When I went home to visit and saw the kids in the pagoda,
I want them to study like me so they can have jobs in the future.
They get to live in the pagoda but they don't get to study.
For Mengly life at CCF bears little resemblance to
the hard farming life he left behind.
Now 16, he's approaching an age where he must eventually leave CCF
and re-enter the world as an adult.
Since I moved from home to CCF, I have changed a lot.
The most important thing is my future and the future of my family.
In the future I want to become a very good father to my children.
I will teach my children and let them go to school
so they will learn and have knowledge about traditions,
and know about morality.
But I'm worried about when I grow up and have to find a job of my own.
It's been so many months! Since Charam left for school,
I don't have money to spend at all.
When Charam was here, he would make money.
Foreigners liked and pitied him, and gave him money.
Now that he left, I don't have enough.
Wherever I go, I have to take Linna with me.
Sometimes she gets hurt while I work. I can't look after her.
Back then I still had my son to help me make money.
Now I don't have him. I live off other people.
I eat with tears all the time.
Someone will steal my daughter if I leave her alone.
That's why I have to always take her with me.
I think about what my children's future will be like
because I have no money to help them.
So I let him go to school, no matter how hard it is for me.
I still have this little girl left.
That's why I have no ability to raise this new baby.
If I had money, I would have had an abortion already.
It's too late now. I don't know what to do.
What I was afraid of the most was I would grow up and still be poor.
Then I got to come to school here. I'd rather my mom struggles now.
And when I grow up, I can get a job and support her.
When I used to beg I thought, I have to study.
If I don't, I will stay poor and won't have a future.
Without education, I might turn out to be a gangster.
Now I get to study as I always wanted.
I take photography class for 30 minutes each day.
I want to become a professional photographer.
Go to the riverfront or not?
Yes.
Are you happy when I come visit like this?
Yes I am.
I want my sister to come live here too, but she's still too small.
If she's 6 years old I can ask Scott to let her come live here,
But she's too small so she can't.
Who adopted you?
No, I live in an organization
Cambodian Children's Fund organization.
I haven't seen you in a while.
Yes, because I haven't come for a while.
Let's go to the front of the palace.
Your legs are tired yet?
is that why you just fart?
Your fart stinks.
Cambodia continues to be one of the poorest countries in Asia,
with nearly half of the population under the age of 15.
These children often battle the tide of poverty, abuse,
and homelessness alone.
Using what little money they are able to scrape together
to pay for school in an effort to educate themselves
and change their lives.
I want to study and have education
so that I can work like others when I grow up.
I'm worried that in the future, I'll still be poor.
Srey Neang still sleeps along the riverfront on the retaining wall
she recently began attending classes
using money she receives from an older Frenchmen.
She says she is now under his protection.
I just want to work regular job to support my life.
I want to work to feed my mother, my siblings, myself, the whole family.
Mab and Erth continue to live and sleep on the city streets,
begging money from tourists and hiding from the police.
They haven't earned enough extra money to attend any classes
for some time.
There are 527 steps leading to the top of the pagoda
that Sam and Pon Tharith climb up and down several times a day
still fanning tourists in the high heat and humidity
Pon Tharith is now supporting both her grandmother
and her younger sister who was struck by a car
and suffers from brain damage.
I want to have enough - enough to wear, enough to eat, nothing else.
Now 18, Shrey Mom has lost all interest in a better future or education
She was recently married off by a surviving relative
to an older Cambodian man. She is now pregnant
with her own child but finally living off the streets.
People have to be aware, they have to understand what's going on
they have to seek out the information
it's not going to pop up on their TV screens telling them
you have to get out there and be well read. It's essential.
It's a global village these days. People need to understand the issues
and what their politicians are doing.
Mengly continues to thrive and has interest in agricultural vocational training
in the hopes that he will one day be able to return
to his village to teach them updated farming techniques.
His family still plows their fields by hand.
Leakhena's desire to change her karma continues to be the driving force in her life.
She strives to be the best student and role model she can be.
Consistently finishing top of her class.
Sadly, her little brother, unable to adjust to a structured environment
he was disruptive and destructive at school. He was recently sent back
to the pagoda and his spot was given to another waiting student.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the solutions at Steung Mean Chey are very simple.
We need clean water,
we need access to healthcare and education.
And these can come about if people just start making it happen.
Layseng continues to be top in her class at school.
However her family still struggles and Layseng has been working
in the dump on weekend visits. Her fathers' health continues to fail.
CCF is trying to arrange for surgery
to have the tumor on his liver removed.
After a year in school Hov Nhagn has achieved his heart's desire,
he has learned to read.
In 8 months he has gone from barely knowing his ABC's
to being in the top third of his class. He never stops smiling.
Charam has defied the odds to become the only street kid
who has stayed and thrived at CCF.
This last year in school has been his longest attendance ever.
His visits home now include a new family member.
In late July 2007, Yorn gave birth to a baby boy.
She named him Charan.
Linna still lives on the street corner with her mother Yorn.
In time she may take the new baby begging to support her mother
and younger brother as she steps into the role of caretaker
her older brother Charam held for so long.
What do I say to inspire people that want to do -
I say do what you can do. And know that it's worth it.
Know that it's physics, every action has a reaction
like the more positive you throw in there, it's gonna have these
ripple effects. You know, drop in the ocean, karma,
whatever religious school you ascribe to,
it's going to have an effect in some way.
So if you're sitting there waiting and trying to figure out what you can do,
do something. Do something.
When I first arrived at CCF, I felt like I was born again.
Before I was like a flower that nobody cared to water,
never saw the sun and nobody cared or paid any attention.
But now this same flower is taken to a place where it is cared for and watered.
It can feel the breeze and see the sun.