From my journal on 8-17-12
Today I went to the boys’ center
(Punlok Thmey) for the first time after hearing so much about it for so long! I
met Yvonne, the assistant director, at her apartment and rode with her in a tuk
tuk to the center. As we pulled up to the center there were already a handful
of boys hanging around outside the center at 7:45 and there isn’t programming
for them on Friday mornings. It is a time for the staff to refocus, strategize,
and have meetings after a full week of programming.
Yvonne took me on a tour of the
four floor, cement tiled building that is perfect for hosting groups of boys
with its large open rooms on each floor. The building used to be a night club,
but I could no longer see any signs of that remaining. All the rooms had lots
of light, white walls, and the boys’ artwork displayed. There was a staff room
with a table in the center where they could plan. Right now the boys’ center
has about 18 staff members, 16 Khmer employees and two Americans. The staff
planning room is also filled with books and craft supplies the staff can use
with the kids. It had recently been stocked with donations from teams coming
over the summer.
The play room
There was a play
room on the third level where there were shelves containing baskets of
different toys. Yvonne said the play room was her favorite room and explained
that this is where most of the counseling takes place. They send the kids in
small groups to the play room. It is there that the staff is able to really
build relationships with the boys and where they often open up about things
going on in their lives. There is a smaller room within the play room where the
boys can ask to go if they want to talk to staff about something and don’t want
to be around the other kids.
Most of the
other rooms are just wide open spaces where they play games with the kids, tell
stories from the book, do crafts, and teach English. There is a small room with
two computers too and during the week some of the boys get to trade off on
learning computer skills. During the week every inch of the building is used
and filled with the joy of having lots of little boys around. Big open spaces +
boys= running when they first enter the room. These boys are just like little boys
back home: as soon as they come into a gym or fellowship hall they just have
the sudden urge to start running around.
I joined
everyone for the staff meeting even though I could understand very little of
what was being said since most of it was in Khmer. I was excited about making
some new Khmer friends and Panha gave me quite the introduction. He talked
about how Ryan helped start the kids club at the park and how Ryan was there at
the beginning and then he introduced me, Ryan’s wife Melissa. After the meeting we had a time of sharing and
singing (songs rising up in two languages is so beautiful!) before lunch.
When we had
returned from lunch there were even more boys waiting outside the center and
these all had soccer uniforms on. Yvonne explained that these boys have been
coming to the center for over a year so they get to be a part of a special
soccer and study program. Many of them were waiting outside the building nearly
an hour before the soccer program started. These guys come in and play indoor soccer
for a while and then they study the word. When these guys first started coming to
kid’s club they had never heard and now they know all the stories so they have
progressed to reading straight from the NT. A group from the States this summer
bought them all the book in Khmer and they all bring their own book for
studying together after they play soccer. When reading and sharing they split
the boys into two groups and there are two males that work with each group. It
was awesome to see this brotherhood of men and boys studying together and I
have to say this was my favorite part of the day!!!
The boys’ center
was first opened in 2010 after the Hard Places Community (HPC) saw the need for
an organization investing in the lives of young boys. HPC was organizing a kids
club to reach out to underprivileged and at risk children in a park. They also
had been discovering that some of the kids they were working with were being
sexually abused. While there were some organizations working with girls they
wanted to start a center where the boys could come, and so the boys’ center was
started. Now kids club still takes place in the afternoons at both the boys’
center and at the park. It is great to hear the impact on lives through having
staff that consistently pour into the lives of these kids and their families.
I look forward to giving you brief updates on
things at the boys’ center in the future. I will have to be careful as we want
to protect the identity and security of these little ones. You can check out
the HPC website ( http://hardplaces-community.org/)
and look under the tab “What we do-
Cambodia- Punlok Thmey”.
I am in and out of the boys’
center, but I have primarily been volunteering with a new program HPC has
starting reaching out to young female prostitutes. I hope to get out a post
about that soon!!!
-Melissa
Guitar Lessons
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