I haven’t gotten out of the house much lately because of the extreme heat, but was given the opportunity to attend a meeting with Social Services and two of the Wat Opot Children who were being placed in another children’s center, because they were not doing well with the previous placement.

It was also my first opportunity to meet Mr. Vandin, my former partner, who is finishing up the transfers of guardianship from Partners in Compassion to Social Services. He informed me that it would be completed by the end of the week. From what I have witnessed so far, the children all seem to be adjusting well. We will do follow-up visits over the next six months to make sure it stays that way.

It is not easy for me to let go of the children, however, I now realize that it is perhaps time for others to take over. As I sat in the meeting with Mr. Vandin, Social Services, and the two staff members from the new center, I noticed that I was sometimes being talked about. That is not unusual and I didn’t pay much attention to the discussion because I was more involved with eye communication with the children. After the meeting, however, the two young staff members came over and introduced themselves to me. It turns out that they were also raised in a children’s center, the same children’s center where I had begun my work in Cambodia some 25 years ago. They were only young children back then but still remembered me from my visits with them.

The apartment is increasingly becoming a drop-in center for former Watopotians with 4 to 6 young people here almost every evening. Tonight was pizza night but with so many of them working in food services, it is not unusual to get snack trays, like the one above, handed to me in the HEAT of the day as well.

THE WATOPOTIANS