After settling in to my new room and getting the initial tour of Wat Opot, I sat down for lunch with Wayne, the Wat Opot director, in an outdoor covered dining table next to a fi
sh pond. No more than 10 minutes into lunch I saw the first child, a little tiny bald boy with a big bandage on his head wearing a matching red plaid PJ set walking around by himself. I could only see him from behind. Wayne explained to me that he was about 3 years old and HIV positive. His mother had died and his grandmother carried him around for the first two years of his life afraid that if she let him go, he would die of AIDS too. I cant remember exactly what happened, but his grandmother ended up bringing him to Wat Opot. He had never walked or done anything for himself. It was a tough adjustment to be thrown in with 59 new kids running and playing and he didn't take it well. He cried and screamed all day long and refused to l
eave his bamboo mat/bed. When Virak turned around, I expected to see a sad, lonely little boy. Instead I was greeted with a devilish smile letting us know he was up to no good. For the rest of lunch, Virak hid behind the chairs giggling, stood on the edge of the fishpond until told by Wayne to backup, running away in a laughing fit, "hiding" behind small bushes and trees, and doing silly dances. His feet are turned out, but he is recovering well from his early sheltering and apparently is now fitting in great. Hearing his story and seeing him now, I couldn't believe it. How does a small child recover from something like that so quickly? I knew that this place would be special.
sh pond. No more than 10 minutes into lunch I saw the first child, a little tiny bald boy with a big bandage on his head wearing a matching red plaid PJ set walking around by himself. I could only see him from behind. Wayne explained to me that he was about 3 years old and HIV positive. His mother had died and his grandmother carried him around for the first two years of his life afraid that if she let him go, he would die of AIDS too. I cant remember exactly what happened, but his grandmother ended up bringing him to Wat Opot. He had never walked or done anything for himself. It was a tough adjustment to be thrown in with 59 new kids running and playing and he didn't take it well. He cried and screamed all day long and refused to l
eave his bamboo mat/bed. When Virak turned around, I expected to see a sad, lonely little boy. Instead I was greeted with a devilish smile letting us know he was up to no good. For the rest of lunch, Virak hid behind the chairs giggling, stood on the edge of the fishpond until told by Wayne to backup, running away in a laughing fit, "hiding" behind small bushes and trees, and doing silly dances. His feet are turned out, but he is recovering well from his early sheltering and apparently is now fitting in great. Hearing his story and seeing him now, I couldn't believe it. How does a small child recover from something like that so quickly? I knew that this place would be special. My first day was unreal. Before leaving, Kristen and Cora -- another two of my closest girlfriends-- helped me pick out lots of fun things to do with the kids. My only regret of this trip is that I didn't bring MORE bubbles, balloons, glow sticks, stickers, colored sidewalk chalk, silly bands, crayons, pens, and playing cards. I was so foolish to think that 3000 stickers would be enough!
All afternoon we played with the goodies I brought as I tried to learn names and faces. I already struggle at home remembering Abby, Sarah, and Maddie, throw in names like Srey Nith, Nak, Socheat, Ty Meng, Sey Oun, Vis Na, Conthea, Srey Pao, and Neapeah and you've got yourself a struggle. My name on the other hand, they picked up easily although they called me Kat rather than Kate. I loved it and thought it was so cute to have herds of kids yelling "KAT KAT KAT!" wherever I went. It didn't take long for me to get attached.
Dinners at Wat Opot are so much fun. I eat with Wayne and Mark, a long-term American volunteer, as children slowly gather around waiting for us to finish so they climb in our laps and play. Medications are passed out at 6:30, but before then, we walk over to the on-site crematorium to pray. On my tour when I arrived, Wayne showed me the crematorium which was still warm from the 4 month old baby who had died of AIDS the day before. Wat Opot was started 13 years ago by Wayne, a former US Marine medic who was wounded in Vietnam, and a man he met in Cambodia, Vandine. Together, an American Christian and a Cambodian Buddhist started Partners in Compassion. Their focus was care and awareness of HIV/AIDS, and they opened Wat Opot (named after the Buddhist temple it is located next to) first as a hospice center. Over the last 13 years the hospice has allowed over 500 people to die of AIDS comfortably and with dignity. The crematorium was built early on when there were too many bodies to keep up with. Today, Wayne and Vandine run separate PC projects. Vandine handles the home care and community health center, while Wayne oversees the orphanage. Wat Opot has grown slowly to become the family it is today. Most of the children there have been left behind after their parents, siblings, and friends have died on the grounds.
Pictured to the right is the side of the crematorium building, and in the background, where the ashes are kept. Looking in the the window in the side room, you will find 
a wall lined with pictures and urns of just some of those who have died. In the room there is also a gong, candles, and incense that is lit each night while a special Buddhist chant and Christian song are sung. The nightly participants vary as the prayer sessions are open to anyone. There are usually 5 or 6 children that attend, sometimes even the little ones. It is just awe-inspiring to see these little children who have been running around all day like regular kids turn into mature adults in seconds. Som
e of these kids have experienced more emotional trauma in their short lives than some of us will experience in a lifetime. Once the prayers are over, the children once again return to being kids. Without knowing some of these kids stories, you would never suspect they have experienced what they have. Little Srey Nak, for example (pictured left), came to Wat Opot with her mother who was dying of AIDS. She sat at her mothers bedside for 2 months watching her slowly die. Once her mother had passed, she was cremated on site and Srey Nak became part of the Wat Opot family. From what I've heard it took her a long time to smile. She would scream and cry if anyone came near her, and it was near impossible to make her comfortable. Today, she is a happy little girl in a giant loving family. She was one of the kids I became most attached to. Look at those precious curls :)
a wall lined with pictures and urns of just some of those who have died. In the room there is also a gong, candles, and incense that is lit each night while a special Buddhist chant and Christian song are sung. The nightly participants vary as the prayer sessions are open to anyone. There are usually 5 or 6 children that attend, sometimes even the little ones. It is just awe-inspiring to see these little children who have been running around all day like regular kids turn into mature adults in seconds. Som
e of these kids have experienced more emotional trauma in their short lives than some of us will experience in a lifetime. Once the prayers are over, the children once again return to being kids. Without knowing some of these kids stories, you would never suspect they have experienced what they have. Little Srey Nak, for example (pictured left), came to Wat Opot with her mother who was dying of AIDS. She sat at her mothers bedside for 2 months watching her slowly die. Once her mother had passed, she was cremated on site and Srey Nak became part of the Wat Opot family. From what I've heard it took her a long time to smile. She would scream and cry if anyone came near her, and it was near impossible to make her comfortable. Today, she is a happy little girl in a giant loving family. She was one of the kids I became most attached to. Look at those precious curls :) Srey Nak is HIV positive and on antiretroviral medications. The children who are seropositive follow strict medication schedules, taking them at 6:30 am and 6:30 pm sharp each day. These drugs are serious. Other medications if missed may cause a headache or fatigue, but when you skip out on ARVs, you risk resistance and in countries like Cambodia where second-line drugs are the last option, you can't afford to mess around. This is why our group had such a hard time in Tanzania seeing HIV positive people in poverty who may have gotten medications from the government but would take them irregularly because they couldn't afford food to take them with, causing them to feel sicker. I saw many vicious cycles in Tanzania like that, people were too sick to work, so they had no money, so they couldn't buy food, so they wouldn't take their medications, this caused the HIV infections to worsen, causing them to be too sick to work and on and on. These people had drugs so they thought they were OK taking them occasionally. Imagine telling someone who can't buy food that by not taking her medications, they were in some ways just killing themselves faster. The kids at Wat Opot know there is no messing around when it comes to taking pills. Even the little tiny ones swallow big pills no problem because there's only one thing, besides stealing, that Wayne absolutely does not tolerate, and that is refusing to take medication.
Over 2 wonderful weeks at Wat Opot, I tried my best to stay busy. That included cleaning and covering open cuts and wounds, especially those of the HIV positive kids, wiping runny noses, scrubbing fungal opportunistic infections off one little girls head, then holding her as she cried in pain afterward, caring for the mumps outbreak that started right before I arrived, giving out hugs and kisses, playing games, throwing kids into the air and spinning them around, coloring, and just being there to hold them, especially the little ones. I got particularly attached to one little angel, Srey Nith (right). On my second day, I ran over to a little girl after she fell off a swing on her face and was screaming and crying in pain. I picked her up, brushed o
ff her face, and let her cry as she laid her head on my shoulder and held on tight around my neck. That was it. After that, she was my shadow. Srey Nith is 3 years old. 6 months ago, her mother died of AIDS leaving her behind with 2 older sisters. That same day that she lost her mother, her uncle had all of the girls tested for HIV. Srey Nith was the only result to come back positive. Her uncle immediately had her sent to Wat Opot. Maybe he was scared of HIV, maybe he wanted the rest of the girls to be sheltered from perhaps losing their little sister one day too. Whatever his reasoning behind it, Srey Nith was suddenly alone without her mother and her sisters, never knowing her father. I think her father had died, but I'm not sure. Srey Nith is fitting in well to her new family. She is the sweetest little girl with a smile that just melts my heart. Her head is shaved because of a fungal infection that is healing beautifully. Luckily her head didn't require scrubbing I don't think I cou
ld have handled it!! One night I was thinking before bed, that if I was a little older, had some money, and a place to live, I would adopt her in a heartbeat. Nevermind that the US apparently doesn't allow HIV positive kids to be adopted in, I would have done it. Then I thought more. Why would I take her out of Wat Opot? This place isn't an orphanage. It's a family. Children don't come here as a waiting room for adoptions. In fact, Wayne has only adopted out two children and didn't want to see either of them go. Sure these kids sometimes drive each other crazy, but isn't that part of any family? They love each other, and they care for each other. There's only one child that I (I hate to even type it)... didn't like?! Can I admit that?? He was just such a bully most of the time to the others and I would get so mad and frustrated. However, one night little Virak was sitting outside of the medical building crying and waiting for someone to come get a painful splinter out of his foot. I was walking over to him but still pretty far away, when I saw this bully walk over to Virak. I picked up my pace afraid of what would follow, but stopped in awe when the bully sat down next to crying Virak, put his arm around him and hugged him. He sat there with Virak until I got there so that he wouldn't be alone. These kids all have a common bond: they know what it's like to lose everything and everyone that they have in the world. The Wat Opotians have amazing lives. They are happy, as healthy as possbile despite their diseases, get three full and nutritious meals a day, have a bed to sleep in, a school to attend, and a big family to love and comfort them. If someone tried to take my sister from me, I wouldn't have it. Same rules apply here.
ff her face, and let her cry as she laid her head on my shoulder and held on tight around my neck. That was it. After that, she was my shadow. Srey Nith is 3 years old. 6 months ago, her mother died of AIDS leaving her behind with 2 older sisters. That same day that she lost her mother, her uncle had all of the girls tested for HIV. Srey Nith was the only result to come back positive. Her uncle immediately had her sent to Wat Opot. Maybe he was scared of HIV, maybe he wanted the rest of the girls to be sheltered from perhaps losing their little sister one day too. Whatever his reasoning behind it, Srey Nith was suddenly alone without her mother and her sisters, never knowing her father. I think her father had died, but I'm not sure. Srey Nith is fitting in well to her new family. She is the sweetest little girl with a smile that just melts my heart. Her head is shaved because of a fungal infection that is healing beautifully. Luckily her head didn't require scrubbing I don't think I cou
ld have handled it!! One night I was thinking before bed, that if I was a little older, had some money, and a place to live, I would adopt her in a heartbeat. Nevermind that the US apparently doesn't allow HIV positive kids to be adopted in, I would have done it. Then I thought more. Why would I take her out of Wat Opot? This place isn't an orphanage. It's a family. Children don't come here as a waiting room for adoptions. In fact, Wayne has only adopted out two children and didn't want to see either of them go. Sure these kids sometimes drive each other crazy, but isn't that part of any family? They love each other, and they care for each other. There's only one child that I (I hate to even type it)... didn't like?! Can I admit that?? He was just such a bully most of the time to the others and I would get so mad and frustrated. However, one night little Virak was sitting outside of the medical building crying and waiting for someone to come get a painful splinter out of his foot. I was walking over to him but still pretty far away, when I saw this bully walk over to Virak. I picked up my pace afraid of what would follow, but stopped in awe when the bully sat down next to crying Virak, put his arm around him and hugged him. He sat there with Virak until I got there so that he wouldn't be alone. These kids all have a common bond: they know what it's like to lose everything and everyone that they have in the world. The Wat Opotians have amazing lives. They are happy, as healthy as possbile despite their diseases, get three full and nutritious meals a day, have a bed to sleep in, a school to attend, and a big family to love and comfort them. If someone tried to take my sister from me, I wouldn't have it. Same rules apply here. As I said my goodbyes and drove away from Wat Opot, I was so sad to leave but so happy. I have never experienced anything like this place in my life and am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet and love these incredible people. I am happy to report that I am going back to Wat Opot for my final 2 weeks in Cambodia!! I will restock my treats, hugs, and kisses and wake up each day until my return with a smile :)
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