A Successful Mission To Cambodia

WCSU staff and students joined former Newtown resident Chris Wagner on a trip to Cambodia this past January to aide the Hearts and Hands for Cambodia program. Pictured from left are Prof Jean Hatcherson, Prof Darla Shaw, Jason Fox, Ariel Jacuez, Eric Almeida, Katerina Kruzychowski, Jess Harding, Day Care Center of Battambang director Sophol, Chris Wagner, Laura Skrip, and Jeff Ticehurst. -photos courtesy Chris Wagner

By Nancy K. Crevier
The Newton Bee (Newtown, Connecticut,USA)

Former Newtown resident Chris Wagner, now living in Atlanta, returned January 18 from a trip to Cambodia with the Hearts and Hands for Cambodia mission. Ms Wagner, a nurse, first visited Cambodia in 2001 with a medical team that she helped organize to aide the people of that country who even today continue to recover from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that nearly destroyed the country 30 years ago. In addition to providing medical assistance and education, Hearts and Hands for Cambodia also supports the Day Care Center of Battambang, where more than 100 children ages 2 to 11 are provided with food, medical care, education, and love through the generosity of volunteers and the Sobbhana Women's Foundation.

This winter, Ms Wagner was joined by Prof Jean Hatcherson, adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University and associate professor of anthropology at Western Connecticut State University, and seven WCSU students, who not only assisted at the day care center, but toured historical sites in Phnom Penh, the offices of World Education, HOPE International Hospital, and the Angkor Children's Hospital. Darla Shaw, professor of education at WCSU, also joined the group. An expert in the field of literacy, Ms Shaw provided teacher training for the child minders at the Day Care Center of Battambang.

Traveling with the student group was a positive experience, said Ms Wagner. She saw that for most students, the trip was an eye-opening experience. "The children melt your heart," said Ms Wagner. "The [WCSU] students were definitely overpowered by [the children's] beautiful smiles, energy, and joy at having discovered new friends."

With Prof Hatcherson, the students also visited the notorious Toul Sleng prison and the Killing Caves, where regime leader slit open the bellies of pregnant women and made a necklace of the fetuses and left others to be devoured by snakes. These were sobering moments for the American students, said Prof Hatcherson, as was a tour of the land mine museum, where children injured by land mines led the tours.

"There are still land mines in some of the rural areas," said Prof Hatcherson, but by staying on traveled paths, the group felt safe, for the most part.

Crime and corruption are a problem in the larger cities, she felt, but the work of Hearts and Hands for Cambodia seemed to be well tolerated and appreciated. Working alongside the director of the day care center, Sophol, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, made the experience particularly personal, mentioned both Ms Wagner and Prof Hatcherson.

"I keep hearing Sophol's words of her years under Pol Pot [Khmer Rouge dictator] echoing in my mind. How, with a smile, she described the fear she felt every long, dark night, waiting for sun-up when she thought, 'I've lived another day.' I think the week in Battambang was amazing," said Prof Hatcherson.

The main project undertaken at the day care center this trip, said Ms Wagner, was to paint the two main buildings and a mural, designed by Prof Hatcherson, on the inside walls of the center. It was a daunting task for less than a week's time, and while the mural remains unfinished, painting of the two buildings was completed despite numerous mix-ups and setbacks.

WestConn sophomore Jeff Ticehurst is surrounded by children at the Day Care Center of Battambang in Cambodia. Mr Ticehurst and six other students traveled to Cambodia in January with a group led by former Newtown resident Chris (Ruffier) Wagner and WestConn professors Jean Hatcherson and Darla Shaw.

"The students helped with the daily tasks at the day care center," said Ms Wagner, including bathing, feeding, instructing in English, and playing with the children. Prof Hatcherson assigned each of the WCSU students to interview a child for the sponsorship program and to interview the parents, as well. "A day care in Cambodia is not what you think of when you think of what it means here," said Prof Hatcherson. "In Cambodia it encompasses a wider range of services. It's a whole psychosocial environment and a source for nutrition and medical care, even. It was very sobering for students to see where the children actually live."

Progress has been made at the Day Care Center of Battambang, said Ms Wagner. Songs, finger plays such as "Where is Thumbkin?," and story time have been implemented into the school day since the last time she visited Battambang. "They have a medicine chest and a basic understanding of first aid. They are learning English. The playground equipment [Hearts and Hands for Cambodia] donated is used continuously," she said.

The Hearts and Hands program continues to need sponsorship to add on a dining room to an existing structure, extend the roof for shelter during the rainy season, cement part of the play and bathing area, to provide a well for water, and to expand the educational resources, said Ms Wagner.

Hearts and Hands has also started a sponsorship program. It costs $100 to sponsor a child in the center, $175 to sponsor a primary school student, and $225 to sponsor a secondary student for a year.

Checks made out to Hearts and Hands for Cambodia can be mailed to Chris Wagner, 3652 Brisbane Drive, Marietta GA 30062. Hearts and Hands for Cambodia is a registered charity. Donations are tax deductible.

"The day care is a tremendous opportunity for us to change the lives of not only these children, but of the villages where they live. We need to take these young minds and give them love, care, and knowledge so that they can become Cambodia's future," said Ms Wagner.