Human Rights Day

December 10: Human Rights Day. Not yet Christmas..

We found out about this family through a networking meeting of Poipet NGOs about a week ago. Dad's lost a leg from a landmine injury but he rides a bicycle 1-1.5 hours each way to get to work. He pulls carts across the Cambodian-Thai border, earning $3-$5 a day. Mum takes care of the young children. Their house comprises of two very basic shelters. There are no walls. You can see the sky through the roof. There's not much protection at all from the rains or this season's winter winds. Most days this family eats plain rice... but the kids catch fish, frogs and other small animals when they can.

Their one request to the NGO network was for support to keep their kids in school. (That is how highly they value education!) We visited last week and gave them money to buy uniforms for the four school-aged children. They couldn't stop saying, 'Thank you!'

Next week we'll go back to give them textbooks and other school supplies. We'll give some money for construction materials as well as some additional labour to help renovate their one-room sleeping space. It's something.

With two weeks to go until Christmas, it's easy to frame this as a nice example of giving in the Holiday Season. Except that it isn't. Let's not deceive ourselves here: we're not giving gold, frankincense or myrrh. The kids aren't getting new toys, stockings stuffed with chocolates or a summer holiday at the beach. They have a right to go to school. They have a right to a warm, dry place to sleep. We're not giving them the moon.

Another large NGO offered to take some of the kids into an orphanage recently. Dad told them to "take a hike". (Well.. they said nope.) They have the right to be together as a family. They've asked for nothing more than some encouragement to keep surviving today and give their kids a better future. I hope we can do that.