GCAT worked with Happy Tree Social Services to help orphaned children, including those who were HIV-positive, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Happy Tree had secured permission from the Cambodian Government to use former military hospitals as orphanages for children whose parents had died from AIDS or during the civil war, and it continues to distribute much needed food parcels in slum areas.


In March 2006, the first group of students from Li Po Chun United World College visited Phnom Penh and worked with children in five orphanages and one school as well as the homeless people who live on Phnom Penh’s main rubbish tip (and must pay rent to do so!).  The work included painting buildings, teaching English and other hands-on work.


A second group comprising GCAT students visited Phnom Penh in March 2007 to continue and expand the support for needy orphans and homeless people.  The 2007 team did painting in an AIDS orphanage, distributed food to poverty-stricken people who live at the garbage tip, and worked with children in another orphanage in three teams: (1) arts and crafts, (2) sports and games, and (3) music and dancing.  Details of the trip can be found by clicking HERE.  Future plans included providing scholarships for talented children, sending at least 60 volunteer helpers to work with local people, establishing a strong link/partnership with Happy Tree, working towards setting up a new orphanage, raising about HK$100,000 to support this work.


These goals were taken over by a new post-GCAT Support Team.


 
Orphanages
in Cambodia