Leigh Blenkhorn photo. Stephanie Burton and Kathy Slessor are collecting supplies for the North Country Baptist Children’s Home in Cambodia. The home can accommodate up to 100 children, keeping them off the streets and providing education.
The North Country Baptist Children’s Home in Cambodia can accommodate 100 children, but there are only 17 kids currently living there.
Due to limited funding and a lack of supplies, the home, which provides shelter and an education to children living on the streets, cannot function as it should.
Two Barrie women, Kathy Slessor and Stephanie Burton, are hoping to change things by giving the home what it needs.
“The home will keep kids off the streets, out of the sex trade and give them a good education,” said Slessor. “It’s helping mould that country’s future leaders.”
The two women are looking to fill a transport truck-sized container with donations of bunk beds, cribs, bedding, clothing, cloth diapers, toys and school supplies.
New or used items are being accepted, though new items would be best, as it is hoped these pieces will last for many years to come.
They are also accepting cash donations to help with the shipping and donations to sponsor a child for $100 a month.
So far only two of the 17 children at the shelter have sponsors.
Slessor has a close personal connection with the North Country Baptist Children’s Home (NCBCH). In February 2006, her brother-in-law Pastor Len Crow, of Orillia, visited Cambodia.
After seeing the conditions children live in, Crow decided to partner with a Cambodian church and build the NCBCH, which opened in June 2007.
After his return, Crow told Slessor stories of the children, including the story of brothers who were living alone in a market place stealing food from vendors.
The brothers were three and four years old.
“All these kids have a story,” said Slessor.
Slessor said it is common for Cambodian children to be left on their own to live on the streets, where many die of starvation.
Another trend is for impoverished parents to sell their children, often to buyers in the sex trade.
The Cambodian government has currently closed international adoption of the country’s children in an effort to stop the kids from being sold into the sex trade.
The idea to collect donations for the home came to Slessor as she celebrated Christmas with her family. “To look around and see how well off we are and to think of what those children are going though made me realize that something has to be done,” she said.
It was when Burton and her children came over for a play date that the two women decided to start their campaign.
“When I saw some of the photos of the kids, I couldn’t get those little faces out of my mind,” said Burton. “I wanted to bring them all home. But because international adoption is closed, we have to help them where they are.”
Slessor said the hope is to have the filled container shipped by the end of June so it will arrive in time for Crow to hand out the supplies on his next visit, in September.
Paintline Products Inc. in Barrie has donated space to keep the items until they can be shipped.
Slessor and Burton will also be holding a garage sale in coming weeks to help raise funds to cover the $3,000 to $5,000 shipping costs.
For more information or to make a donation call 730-6977, or send an e-mail to ncbch@live.com.
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