Siem Reap – The Way We Saw It – Pt 2

Another way to gain a better understanding of the extreme poverty and hunger in Siem Reap is to help out at the Soup Kitchen, which is what we did.  We found out about this place called TAL House (TAL stands for Touch A Life) which is founded and run by a Malaysian lady, Mavis Ching who operate a similar centre in Malacca for some years before moving to Siem Reap.  We got in touch with her and found out that TAL House serves free lunch to the street children and the street sweepers at their Centre three times a week.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the hungry goes to the food - they make their way to the Centre for a decent meal but on Saturdays, the food goes to the hungry - about 480 packets of food cooked and pre-packed by Mavis and team will be delivered to the hardcore poor living in the slum areas and villages near Angkor Wat.  Unfortunately, we had to give the latter a miss as we were flying back on Saturday morning.

TAL House provides free nutritious meat-free meals to the city’s street children cum trash collectors and street sweepers three times a week.  The street children ranging from 4 to 16 years of age, comb the streets and scavenge the trash bins for plastic bottles, aluminium cans, cardboard and other recyclable items which they can redeem for money.  What little money they make is barely enough to send them to school which explains why a number of  them do not go to school.  Ironically, some parents even deny their children of education and send them out to the streets to help make ends meet.

The street sweepers, mostly women, earning an average monthly income of less than USD50 also finds it hard to have decent meals daily, therefore meals provided at TAL House three times a week relieve them greatly of their hungry days.

The Street Children

The Street Sweepers

Mavis believes in not only feeding the hungry stomachs with food but also feeding their hunger for love and dignity. At TAL House, everyone is welcomed and greeted warmly with smiles and cheery words. Here, women and kids get a chance to sit down and eat their meals in a comfortable and serene surrounding, served with respect and love ... their soiled appearance, their profession, their status, all disregarded. 

We reached there a little after 8 in the morning and the other volunteers have already started the food preparation.  We were greeted by Kosal, Mavis’s dependable manager-in-charge and introduced to the others; Kosal’s mum, his cousin, a girl from the neighbourhood and Robin from USA, a pioneer volunteer who has been with Mavis for the past two years.  The seven of us, peeled, sliced, chopped vegetables and cracked eggs to cook up a simple meal for about 80 people.  The menu for that day is omelette with chopped long beans, onions and carrots and a vegetable dish of eggplant and gourd served with white rice and a bowl of soup. Omelette is a fixed item on their menu as the kids simply love them and eggs are a good source of protein.

Hubby, who is no stranger to the kitchen took up duty at the omelette station.  In short time, his skill in frying omelettes soon resulted in a pile of mouth-watering omelettes, each evenly cut into 6 pieces and neatly stacked ready to be served.  Yours truly worked at the vegetables section, peeling and chopping eggplants and gourds for the vegetable dish. A big steaming pot of rice bubbling away completed the picture.  The open-air kitchen gave the atmosphere a cool setting while Kosal and Robin's friendly chatter filled the atmosphere with warmth. With hands deftly working away at the vegetables, both of them filled us in on some of the stories.

Preparing the gourd

Brinjals awaiting their turn in the pot

Cooking rice the conventional way

Around noon, the crowd started to trickle in.  The kids were the first to arrive ... a poignant scene, in dirty and worned-out school uniforms, some dragging plastic bags of recyclable items which they scavenged from the trash bins.  Each of them knows the rules well; wash their hands before meals and wash their own plates after meals. Before taking their food, one by one of the kids came up to us with palms pressed together at their chest in a form of greeting, a heart-warming gesture that took us by surprise. They are allowed to help themselves to as much rice as they want but the vegetables, omelettes and soup are served by the volunteers.  They can go for second, third or even fourth helpings until they are full.  We noticed that majority of them went for second helpings and quite a number went for third helpings.  This really surprised us as they are only kids and the amount of rice on their plates are by no means little.  We had to hold back our tears when told that for most of them, this is the only decent meal they have for the day and for some, this could be their only meal to last them till the next feeding. 

After having their fill, the street sweepers left to resume work but most of the kids stayed behind a little longer.  Story books were laid out on the tables for them to choose and take home if they wish to.  In another corner, Susan, a regular volunteer from Australia, brought out colour papers, scissors and glue and taught the kids simple paper craft.


Books for pick

Craft time with Susan

We noticed that there were still some food left, which Kosal explained are kept for a few regular latecomers.  Soon, a young girl walked in, one hand dragging a bag of plastic bottles and aluminium cans, the other holding the hand of an even younger boy.  Both of them in filthy condition, evident result of scavenging the trash earlier. We watched in pain as she and her brother hungrily shared the plate of food.  The girl is 9 and the boy is only 3, both of them abandoned by their parents who are separated and remarried again.  Neither parent wanted these kids in their new lives so they were left with their old grandmother.  It was touching to see the way the little girl takes care of her brother, assuming the role of a parent at such tender age.   After finishing their meal, the little boy even helped to wash the plates. Their sad plight is so hard for us to stomach...

We have only each other ....

A group of teenage boys arrived later, school drop-outs working full-time daily from 5am to 9pm, collecting recyclable items and taking up whatever odd-jobs available at the recycling centre to earn an extra bit of money.  Kosal pointed out to us a 16-year old boy whom they are trying to put back in school.  It seems that this boy is a bright student who does well in school but was forced by his parents to quit school in order to work full-time and bring home more money. Sad to note that cases like his are common and rampant here, especially among the older kids. 

What we experienced there was especially hard on Hubby and he was quiet throughout, unlike his usual bubbly self.  Like me, he may be trying hard to cope with the pain of witnessing poverty of this level.   To a certain extent,  Hubby can relate to these kids’ plight as he too tasted hardship in his early life but even that did not prepare him for this. Growing up in a rubber estate, Hubby had known poverty and hunger but not to this level. Walking to school located miles away, in worn-out uniforms and shoes, are things he shared in common with these kids, memories which are still vivid in his mind.  

Helping out at TAL House is an experience which had enriched our lives. We gave a few hours of our time for these people, in return they gave us something more valuable.  They opened our eyes to the blessings we have in life and taught us to appreciate it.  We believe in sharing of blessings with others and Mavis and team does it in a most fulfilling and loving way.