Seyha and Chom Rong picked us up on the tuk-tuk on Sunday morning and we met Savong with the 25 kids from the orphanage near the market – we all walked to the market together... You can imagine the excitement... These kids rarely get to go ‘on excursions’, let alone with overseas guests, to the market – and to BUY NEW CLOTHES...
Walking to the market...
The stall-keepers certainly had a great Christmas... :)
Spoilt for choice...
Anne, the US volunteer who joined us, with Noun, one of the orphans
The smile that says it all...
Savong being as patient as always...
Am only had 1 dress - the brown one she always wore... :)
The boys choosing belts
The kids at the orphanage only have a handful of clothing items – literally... One pair of navy blue pants and two white shirts for school... 2-3 t-shirts, 1-2 long sleeve shirts, 1-2 pairs of shorts, a pair of long pants and 2-3 pairs of underwear... Did you count that?!? That’s 10-15 articles of clothing!!! (I have more pairs of black socks than that!!! :)) And that’s for the school-aged children... the youngest ones don’t get the ‘luxury’ of school uniforms... They have 2-3 shirts/t-shirts and 1-2 pairs of shorts; the girls may also have a dress – and kids under 6 or 7 don’t wear underwear... Each of the younger kids has 5-6 articles of clothing – which of course they wear over and over and over and over... You get the drift...
Something for everyone... :)
Yip, I'm thinking John Travlota... :) We didn't buy this shirt, but the kids sure have a sense of humour... :))
The expression on the kids’ faces and their sincere appreciation truly humbled us... We live in a world of such plenty, that shopping for clothes is often ‘a chore’... I can’t count how many times Jess or Steph ‘lost it’ because they just couldn’t find “anything” after 2-3 hours of shopping... We really have no idea how richly blessed we are...
Looking for shoes...
My very first pair of shoes... And I'm not letting go of the blue bag with my new outfit...:))
This ice-cream vendor must have known she hit the jackpot with 25 kids in the one spot...
Ah, yes, we do like our ice-creams... :)
And no trip to the market would be complete without our fix of sugar cane...
This is Noun - the boy Anne was holding in an earlier photo... When you gotta go, you gotta go... :))
Noun is wearing his new outfit - he was just not getting out of it after trying it on...
All our goodies...
And after the market and the treats, we took the kids out for lunch at a restaurant... We all sat together – at the big ‘family table’...
The kids watching our table being set-up - and a few other diners relocated... :)
Our family table...
OK, we're ready...
Steph's i-phone was a big hit... Look at those serious faces...
THANK YOU again to the National Council of Jewish Women who donated money for us to buy the clothes !! I know that looking at the JOY in the kids’ faces will bring you lots of naches (pleasure)... It’s amazing to think that we bought dresses, shirts, pants, shoes, belts – at least a full set of clothing for every child!!
We had our New Year’s Eve party at the orphanage today and the kids all wore their new outfits – stay tuned for those pics!! :)
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