It was the third morning in a week we were up by 4.30am. We were getting used to the muted sounds of the early hours and the soft pre-dawn light outlining the shadowy shapes of the city around us.
We were in Phnom Penh for a charity event, following our trip to Phuket and as we quietly left the guesthouse, the city around us was still slumbering – except the bars open 24 hours. We had landed in one of the town’s seedy pockets. Every second bar was a strip club, or more likely a brothel.
But the purpose of this early start was to get to the local Children’s hospital with Volunteer Building Cambodia to distribute 1000 meals to families waiting in line to see a doctor. Some of the families started queueing up at 1am in the hope they would be seen. Not all would get to see a doctor that day.
It’s humbling to see the queues of people, all hoping for treatment. Many of those waiting had travelled from rural areas so their child could get medical attention. For some of these families the effort of getting from their village to the city is huge. Some don’t have transport, others struggle to afford the transport.
Sinn, from VBC, orchestrated the food delivery with help from volunteer donations and two other organisations – Volunteer Youth for Cambodian Smile and Buddhist Education for Cambodia.
We joined a small team of VBC volunteers and the other organisations to take part in the event.
It is no small feat to organise the delivery of 1000 thousand meals early in the morning along with bottles of water for those waiting their turn. It is a rudimentary medical system in Cambodia and not equipped for the numbers who need help. This gesture at least meant most of them had food in their stomachs while they were waiting.
It was a privilege to be invited to be part of this.
Felita Daniels says
We take so much for granted here in the U.S. Folks would complain if they had to wait 20 minutes in an air conditioned room, on nice chairs to see the doctor. Thank you for the blessing of this post.
Sam Walker says
Hi Felita. Welcome to our little space on the internet. We are the same in Australia, people don’t like waiting but when they have to, they get to do it in air-conditioned comfort. We really are so lucky in the west.