Due to new passed legislation of the Australian Privacy
and Protection Act, we are prevented from linking names
of children with their specific stories. So we have
chosen a few of our most touching, sad and shocking
stories to list here, so that you understand some of
the tragic circumstances that occur before a child finds
a safe haven at Sunrise. More stories will be added
as new children arrive. Here are just a few examples….
Story 1
She was present with her other siblings when their
father bashed their mother to death with a brick during
a drunken rage. The father was angry because she refused
to give him more money for his gambling addiction.
After the poor cremation ceremony, the villagers chased
the father out of their village, vowing to turn him
over to the police if he did not run away. The children
were then handed from family to family, but when it
was clear that the villagers were too poor to continue
feeding the family of four, the village chief contacted
us and provided the necessary document to allow us
to move the children to our centre. On the first attempt
to collect the children, they were clearly terrified
of Geraldine and suspicious of foreigners in general.
They were still grief-stricken from the loss of their
mother and fearful that their father would return
for them. They refused to get in the car. On the second
visit, Geraldine took some children with her from
the centre to convince them that they would not be
mistreated and they reluctantly agreed to come.
None of the children want to see their father again
and later admitted that he used to regularly beat
them and their mother when he was drunk.
Story 2
He was brought to us by his mother in September 2003
along with two older brothers who were deaf mutes.
It was very difficult to explain to their mother that
it was not possible for Sunrise to take on the older
brothers, as we had no facilities or trained staff
to care for deaf children. Cambodia is a harsh country
for those with disabilities like this. He settled
in after a few very difficult nights when he yelled
the place down at bedtime but now he is well and truly
part of the family and enjoying his role as the youngest
child we have at the moment.
He doesn’t speak much and we are not sure if
he has a hearing impediment. He can not have a hearing
test until he is about six years old. We hope that
in time he will improve his speaking as he gets used
to hearing more spoken language than he was used to
at his former home.
Story 3
The mother of these girls contacted Geraldine after
she was fired from her job in a garment factory where
she worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week for $40 a
month making T-shirts for export. Her husband had
been killed the year before in a car accident and
she was alone in the world. It would have broken your
heart to see how much she loved her girls. She told
us that she had been offered $600 for one to be sold
into a child brothel and that she did not want to
do this, but in a week, if she had not eaten, she
might be tempted to sell her. So could we please save
her children by taking them and giving them a safe
future. We told her how proud we were of her for finding
us to take care of her girls, as many mothers in Cambodia
sell their children into prostitution or child labour
to make ends meet. We promised her we would take care
of her lovely girls and when we drove away with them
she was still standing in the street, waving goodbye
with tears streaming down her face. The girls cried
the first few nights sleeping without their mother,
but have settled in amazingly well.
Story 4
All we know about this family is that their father
deserted their mother who works as a seller in the
local market. She could not afford to feed and educate
the children. Their home was a very old rented bamboo
shack. Their father is dead and the oldest boy is
very conscious that he is the head of the family now
and watches over his siblings with great care. He
is a gentle and kind boy who is keen to learn English
and to succeed at school.
Story 5
A group of widows pleaded for our help in caring for
their children. They lived on the island of Koh Kor,
in the river nearby and the history of this island
is very interesting. During the Khmer Rouge time –
1975-1979, it was a forced labour camp and a killing
field. Then during the Vietnamese Occupation from
1980 to 1992 all the city’s sex workers were
rounded up and dumped on this island to separate them
from the community. Then when the United Nations came
the women were released and the land was given to
a group of 32 families including the widows asking
for our help. The land on which they live just does
not provide enough food for them to live on and they
are reduced to collecting clams from the river bed
each morning, sometimes only earning Riels 2000 a
day – about US$.50.
Gerald was satisfied that their conditions more than
met our requirements and arrangements were made for
13 of these women’s children to join our family.
As we were already bursting at the seams at Sunrise,
Gerald, in the spirit of democracy, put the decision
of whether or not we would accept them to our children
for a vote, explaining to them that if they came,
they would have to share their beds some having to
sleep 2 in a bed, the dining room conditions would
be crowded and everything we have will have to be
shared even more. When a show of hands was asked for,
our children unanimously voted that we take the 13
extra children. Don’t you just love them?
Story 6
This is a lovely 14 year old who used to come from
the village to the dance classes and sometimes on
Sundays to braid the girls' hair. She is in Grade
6 at school and apparently doing well. Over the weeks
her story unfolded.
She lived with her mother and step father who beat
both of them frequently. She was frightened of her
step father as he was starting to make sexual advances
towards her. She told her mother, but she refused
to believe her. She got word to her married much older
brother who came to rescue her and take her to live
with his family in another province. Her stepfather
was angry and did not want her to go and after 3 days
her brother was dead. She says he went drinking with
her step father and was dead the next day. She is
sure that he was poisoned. No police, no autopsy,
just a cremation. She then had no protector and was
afraid. She wanted to come and live with us and asked
her mother if she could leave. The mother said no.
There is nothing we can do if a parent does not want
her child to come to Sunrise. In the end we sent our
General Manager to talk to the Commune Leader to see
if he could persuade her mother to send her to Sunrise.
He succeeded and she is now safe with us.
Story 7
This child is really someone special. Geraldine found
her in a government orphanage in the section for mentally
and physically disabled children and her eyes literally
bored into her, willing her to pick her out of the
other sadly seriously multiply handicapped children.
A closer inspection revealed that she was only suffering
from polio and was unable to walk. She was more than
mentally normal and we were very excited at the prospect
of being able to have her transferred to the Foundation.
With help from the Ministry of Social Affairs she
was with us in less than a month.
She said she remembers lots of fighting in her province
before her mother travelled to Phnom Penh to put her
in the orphanage. She got a far away look in her eyes
and said, "I have a lot of brothers and sisters
and I am a lot of trouble to take care of, so my mother
brought me here. It's not my mother's fault,"
she said quite defiantly. What a sad world we live
in when an 8-year-old crippled child has to apologise
for her mother.....
She screamed blue murder when she first arrived and
saw there was no ceiling fan in the dormitory like
she had in the hospital! But within a day or two she
was mixing with the other children and whirling round
in her wheelchair terrorizing 14-year-old boys! There
is very little she can't do for herself. She is fiercely
independent and loves attending the village school.
She has such potential and we are going to really
enjoy watching her develop. She has just started to
learn computers and is smart enough to know that this
is where she can reach further independence in the
future.
Story 8
This boy and his brother were abandoned on a rubbish
dump in Ta Khmao town by their father, who became
very ill and unable to cope after his wife left him.
They were found there by an old lady who took them
home with her, but then was unable to feed them. When
we learned their history it was impossible to turn
them away. Verifying these stories is heartbreaking,
as we find it unimaginable that parents could do such
things. But in Cambodia these are every day occurrences.
The boys settled quickly and are particularly affectionate
and very well behaved. Two more on the floor under
the mosquito net… Sponsors anyone? The look on
his face when he saw the amount of food that was on
the table at his first meal was a sight to see!
