Embassy embraces Cambodian orphans

Ambassador Rubinstein (middle) with the orphans

Israeli embassy to Thailand and Cambodia donates playground to Phnom Penh's street children

Ines Ehrlich
Published: 2nd July, 2009
Israel Activism

BANGKOK - The Israeli embassy for Thailand and Cambodia held Israel’s 61st Independence Day reception at the Krousar Thmey halfway center for street children in Phnom Penn Wednesday evening.

During the ceremony, attended by members of the royal family, Yael Rubinstein, Israel’s ambassador to Thailand and Cambodia, inaugurated an outdoor children’s playground contributed by the embassy. The annual reception in Phnom Penh was held five weeks after the reception in Bangkok to allow for the installation of the playground to be completed.

Krousar Thmey (“New Family" in Khmer) is a halfway center that provides 6-12 year-old victims of child prostitution and orphaned or abandoned children with material, educational and social support until foster homes are found for them in the local villages. The center, founded in 1991, is a non- political, non-religious organization. It is just one of the many humanitarian facilities run by the organization throughout Cambodia in the aftermath of the genocide carried out during the Khmer Rouge’s four-year rule led by Pal Pot between 1976 and 1979.

Distinguished guests hosted by Cheam Kosal, General Director of Krousar Thmey, included the former Cambodian king’s brother, and the ministers of rural development, environment and health – all brothers of the reigning king, Norodom Sihamoni.

Halfway center for street children in Phnom Penh

This is the fourth consecutive year in which Rubinstein is hosting Israel’s Independence Day reception in Cambodia. The budgets for previous receptions were used for more conventional cocktails parties. This year’s venue, however, was selected with a humanitarian contribution in mind.

“We wanted to use our Independence Day budget for a more humanitarian cause,” Rubinstein said. “A preliminary tour of the area was carried out earlier in the year where various options for a donation were evaluated. The idea for the playground fitted in with our annual Independence Day budget which was diverted in full to this cause.”

In keeping with the humanitarian them of the event, even the catering was supplied by Hagar, another non-government humanitarian organization that runs a shelter for homeless women who have experienced violence, abuse and trafficking.

In her address, Rubinstein spoke of the Cambodian children’s plight after decades of war which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, approximately 21% of the Cambodian population.

“We hope this colorful outdoor playground will help give the young children under Krousar Thmey’s care a chance to momentarily forget the hardships of their daily lives, to simply enjoy the carefree fun of what should be the right of every child,” Rubinstein said.

A day earlier, Rubinstein and Israel’s First Secretary and Consul for Thailand and Cambodia, Hanoch Amedi, took part in a ceremony in which they donated several used computers to the Lighthouse Orphanage in Phnom Penh. The orphanage offers shelter, food and parental support to some 75 children aged 3 to 18-years-old rescued from their wretched lives on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Ahead of the inauguration ceremony, the drab walls of the sparse center were painted in bright colors by Israeli volunteers working in the Cambodian village of Chi Pat located in the Cardamom Mountain rainforest. The backpackers’ project, also initiated by Rubinstein, encourages youngsters after military service to spend three months at the village where they work intimately with the local population, teaching English, mathematics, IT, health, and occupational training.

The project is jointly financed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lametayel, an Israeli outdoor gear and travel company.

According to Rubinstein, Chi Phat was selected for the project based on its urgent need for aid. Children there only get two hours a day of schooling and none speak English. Five percent of children do not reach their first birthday, ten percent of women die during childbirth, and the oldest person in the community is 57 years old, she said.