Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Friday, June 26, 2009
ROSE: The bus journey of 4 hours from Parati to Rio whizzes by as we chat to a Dutch couple. They are nearing the end of their one year trip and heading home just days after us. They tell us a about an orphanage they came upon in Siem Riep in Cambodia where they ended up working for a couple of weeks. It's so shocking to hear how little these kids have. They told us that they raised money from back home and bought various things amongst which a toothbrush and towel for each child – previously they had been sharing 2 toothbrushes among 72! A few kids were so proud to have their own towel that they wore it round their necks for days. Despite the country being abundant in wonderful fruits these kids have no fruit in their diet and one of the projects was to fund pineapple and apple for them. Everyday the kids perform traditional Khmer dances for the tourists who donate to support the running of this orphanage. The guy who founded it lives there in the most basic shack with his children sharing the dormitory where all the children sleep. He is Cambodian and used to work with the government before he decided to leave it all behind to set this place up. They told us how hard it was to leave the kids as they attach themselves hopelessly to people. Even though they were only there for 2 weeks this was long compared to the usual volunteers that stay a few days. To mark their leaving they organised a party. They went shopping with some of the kids who when asked what they would like said, without hesitation, "coke". They told him to put some in the trolley. The boy put one bottle in, and they asked him if he thought that would be enough for 72 kids and then the little boy said, “can we have more than one bottle?”. In the end they had a big party and got through 80 litres of coke!
I could go on and on but I will end with one last little story from this place. There was one kid with suspected polio who was unable to walk and the couple were trying to get him seen by the children’s hospital for a diagnosis and treatment. After a long day in hospital they wanted to give him a treat. They showed us a photo of this little boy behind a mound of ice-cream in a glass with a serious look on his face. He ate two spoons of ice-cream and said that he wanted to take the rest back to the orphanage to give to the others.
So after 4 hours and a lot of chatting and looking at their photos of Cambodia we arrive in Rio where we are picked up by our hostel. The hostel is spread over a couple of floors and is on the crammed side but very friendly and the food is great. There are dorms with three-storey bunk-beds thank goodness we have a small room just to ourselves.
