Cambodia, like many other Third World countries, has more than its share of orphaned and abandoned children. Thirty years of war, foreign occupation, genocide and civil war has become the norm for this battered country.

One of the many Cambodian children who call the local garbage dump their home.

The original group of 24 children came from Site B Refugee Camp (also known as Prince Sihanouk's Camp) in Thailand, where their parents and families fled either the Khmer Rouge Regime between 1975-1979 or the Vietnamese occupation, which followed from 1979-1992. In 1993 almost all Cambodian refugees in Thailand were repatriated back into Cambodia to take part in the UN-brokered elections. However, as these children were already orphaned in the refugee camp, they were abandoned again, just over the border in Cambodia in a very poor village called Ampil, in the province of Oddar Meancheay.

After the Khmer Rouge brutally killed a teenage boy from the group, they were moved to another temporary area in the city of Sisophon in the same province for a few months. Military activity again forced them to move to the city of Battambang to even more Spartan living conditions, until finally land was found for them outside of Phnom Penh and Red Cross buses carried them to the capital in late 1994.

Scavenging at the garbage dump in search of items to sell. Many Cambodian children are born and die among these piles of rubbish.

The Coup of July 1997 once again threatened their home, as rebel government soldiers tried to take over the land that had previously been military barracks.

In January 2001 we were again forced to move, as the owners of the land required it for another purpose. So, until September 2002, we were temporarily located in a house 12 kms from the capital in a town called Ta Khmao. At the previous land we were not paying for these items, so it was even more vital for us to find more sponsors, both private and corporate, to assist us in building a new centre on land presented to Sunrise by the Cambodian Government in 1999. In September 2002 we were able to move to the new land and our lives are much improved.

Sunrise children enjoy a sense of hope which is all too rare in Cambodia.

Children come to us in a myriad of ways: parents or other family members have been killed or maimed by land-mines, died of hunger or disease and often targeted for murder because of their political affiliations. When these children are rendered homeless, the villagers sometimes make every effort to care for them, but more often than not, they are taken into homes and used as slave-labour in return for food and a place to sleep until their plight is brought to our attention.

To comply with Cambodian Government regulations, Sunrise investigates claims of abuse or neglect and once the village leaders have produced background details on the children and given official notice that they wish the children to be cared for by Sunrise, these papers are lodged with the Ministry of Social Affairs, and we are then permitted to take the children from the village and become their "guardians" until they are 18 years old.

Children suffering from Polio are welcome at the Sunrise Children's Village.

In each case we go to the villages to assess the situation on the ground to ensure that the need is real. If it is not too traumatic for the children, photos of the living conditions are taken to compare later with life at Sunrise.

Following are some of the things that Sunrise provides for the children under our care:

• Love
• Food
• Shelter
• Inoculation against Polio, TB, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and B
• Clothing (includes provision of 2 school uniforms)
• Medical and Dental Care
• Education at Government School
• Evening English Language Classes
• Traditional Cambodian Music and Dance Lessons
• Sewing Classes
• Field Trips
• Personal Counselling when required
• English-Language Library
• Physical Exercise Program, Health & Hygiene Instruction, Family Planning and HIV Aids Awareness
• Computer School
• Carpentry School
• Agricultural Training
• Life Skills Weekend Workshops
• Employment and Accommodation is secured for the children when they turn 18 and have to leave Sunrise

Profiles on each child with photos as they are available, can be found under...
     Orphan Profiles - Individuals
     Orphan Profiles - Families
     Orphan Profiles - Graduates

Our Schools for Music, Dance, Sewing and Carpentry are open free of charge to local poor and disadvantaged children from nearby villages and this ensures that we are fully accepted by the community.