By Nancy Shohet West,
Boston Globe Correspondent (Mass., USA)
August 17, 2006
Robin Jean and her daughter, Alison, were shopping for groceries together three years ago when they ran into Alison's long-retired former pediatrician, Dr. Nancy Hendrie. Happy to see the two, Hendrie shared a problem that she thought they might be able to help her with.
``Do you have any connections at Lesley College?" she asked Robin Jean, who is a preschool director. ``I need a consultant who can help me set up a nursery school in Cambodia. I've got 40 3- and 4-year-olds there who could use more structure."
It's the kind of question to which acquaintances of Hendrie have become accustomed.
Hendrie, who for years ran pediatric practices in Carlisle and Concord, has devoted her retirement years to a most unlikely cause -- improving the lives of impoverished Cambodian children in Phnom Penh and its environs.
When Hendrie founded The Sharing Foundation in 1998, a year after her first trip to Cambodia, the focus was to offer medical care to orphans and other needy children, particularly those in the rural village of Roteang. In the eight years since, the mission has widened to include educational, vocational, public health, and other community development programs.
A Concord resident, Hendrie travels to Cambodia every three months to oversee the burgeoning number of projects her foundation has taken on.
And , over the years , more and more of the people who m she knows in the Concord area have become part of her expanding efforts.
``I'm a Montessori director and Alison had just graduated from college," Robin Jean said, recalling the supermarket encounter. ``When Nancy asked us whether we knew anyone who could help, we looked at each other and thought, `This could be fun.' I had a whole Montessori classroom of materials in my attic at home. So we packed up the whole classroom in four suitcases and headed off to Cambodia one month later."
Robin Jean stayed a month to launch the new preschool; her daughter remained there twice as long, and has returned every summer since.
``The biggest challenge was to train a teacher," Jean said. ``The villagers don't speak English and we don't speak Khmer. But the Montessori method lends itself very well to nonverbal forms of learning. Even here, we often present things without language. That worked well there."
The Jeans are just one example of the many Concord-area residents who have been so affected by Hendrie's work that they have first offered financial support and then made the trip to Cambodia to witness firsthand the scope of the 74-year-old doctor's undertaking.
A group of women from Carlisle, two college students, and a Concord minister on sabbatical are among those who have lent a hand with Hendrie's projects onsite in recent years. By all accounts, she is a powerful speaker with a fascinating tale to tell.
Ann Trudeau and her family are among the volunteers.
Trudeau heard Hendrie speak at a Rotary Club meeting last spring and found herself hooked by the thought of what it might mean to her family to become involved in Hendrie's work. Ann and her husband, Tom, love to travel. But they also know the importance of instilling in their three school-age children an awareness of the imbalance between their own affluent existence and the way many other people throughout the world live. So they look for teaching opportunities wherever they can.
Trudeau went home and talked to her husband about the idea of traveling to Cambodia this summer. Tom was hesitant at first, but Ann won him over by promising that they could combine their two-week stay with a journey through Southeast Asia that would include more tourist-oriented stops in Thailand and Vietnam. The next step was to enlist the enthusiasm of their three children, Tom Jr., 17, Jacqui, 14, and Andrew, then 11. The older two liked the idea immediately; Andrew was puzzled. ``We're going to Cambodia to work?" he asked. ``But, Mom, that doesn't sound like a vacation."
Hendrie said that would-be volunteers frequently reach out to her, but she likes to be able to match a specific skill with a specific need rather than just answering ``Sure, come on over and we'll find something for you to do." But when the Trudeaus asked to join her on her next trip to Roteang, it sounded to Hendrie like the unmistakable knock of opportunity.
As fate would have it, a group in Florida had recently offered to donate a playground set to the orphanage, which was a wonderful offer, except that Hendrie had no idea how she would gather the technical expertise to assemble it once it arrived. So, when she learned that Tom Trudeau was a builder by profession, she accepted the family's offer of help immediately.
``We arrived in mid-July," Ann Trudeau recounted. The 63 children of the Roteang Orphanage, who range from infants to adolescents but average around 4 years old, regarded them shyly at first, but a happenstance of timing broke the ice quickly: On the family's second day in Cambodia, it was Andrew Trudeau's 12th birthday, and Ann put together a birthday party for all the children.
``I was afraid it would be awkward and uncomfortable," Ann said. ``But all kids like cake and candy and games, and by the time the party was over, they were completely over their shyness."
Nancy Hendrie remembers one particularly poignant moment of the party. ``After we all sang happy birthday to Andrew and he blew out his candles, Ann walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss. Well, that's just what mothers do when kids blow out their birthday candles -- hug and kiss them. But I knew that Ann realized at that moment that none of these orphans who were watching had a mother to kiss them on their birthdays."
Compared to getting comfortable with the Cambodian children, assembling the ultramodern playground set, with its towers, slides and climbing wall, was a breeze. ``We bought tools at tiny stalls in a traditional marketplace in Phnom Pen h ," Ann said.
The whole family worked together, side by side with employees of the orphanage, in humid 100-degree heat. But no one can doubt that the results were gratifying. ``The minute the structure was completed and the kids were allowed to try it, they ran," Hendrie said. ``I have never seen so much happy pushing and shoving. They whooped with joy. It was amazing."
As they worked, Andrew and his sister, Jacqui, also were making friends. Each of them bonded particularly with one child of their gender at the orphanage and became so close that Ann invited the two Cambodian children into Phnom Penh one day for lunch and a swim.
Afterward , she took her two children and their two peers for a little shopping excursion, giving each child $5. The younger Trudeaus watched with fascination as their friends spent their money judiciously -- Pharoth on a pair of shorts and Vuthea on an English grammar book.
Hendrie, who refers to her current phase of life as ``a retread, not a retirement," likes to remind people that, while the Roteang Orphanage tends to attract the most publicity, it is only one of many endeavors she has underway in Cambodia.
The Sharing Foundation also includes a computer training school and a sewing school that teaches adolescents vocational skills, an English language program that more than 500 children attend after school, an agricultural project to help villagers become successful farmers, a number of public health initiatives, and an educational sponsorship project that draws upon charitable donations to send a select group of young people from Roteang to high school.
In fact, thanks to The Sharing Foundation, the first 10 students from Roteang Village ever to attend college matriculated at a university in Phnom Penh last year, and The Sharing Foundation will provide complete financial support -- including room, board, tuition, textbooks, and living allowances -- to inspire them to complete their college educations. The Sharing Foundation's annual budget is just under $300,000, with funding coming from individual donors and small family foundations.
``The 10 students who are now attending college are pioneers," Hendrie said . ``But the youngest children in our English language program see them going off to university and dream of doing that someday themselves. It sets an example and an expectation. That's why education is really the most important thing that we do."
Hendrie smiles when she pictures the Trudeaus taking their adventures back to school with them in the fall. ``While all the other kids talk about their trips to Disney World or Lake Winnipesaukee, the Trudeau children can say that they built a terrific playground at the Roteang Orphanage."
Ann Trudeau said her whole family looks back on a summer vacation that they will never forget. And she can't imagine a better learning experience for her three children.
``They are already tired of hearing us say, `I'll bet you appreciate what you have now,' " she said. ``But, of course, that's the biggest lesson they learned there -- that not everyone lives the same way, but you can be a happy person in lots of ways. You can be happy without a ton of stuff in your bedroom.
``That shopping trip we took with Vuthea and Pharoth -- they'll never forget that what Vuthea wanted most with his $5 was a grammar book. And the other big thing they learned is that you can change the world. Anyone can. Just look at Nancy Hendrie."
To learn more about The Sharing Foundation, visit www.sharingfoundation.org.
``Do you have any connections at Lesley College?" she asked Robin Jean, who is a preschool director. ``I need a consultant who can help me set up a nursery school in Cambodia. I've got 40 3- and 4-year-olds there who could use more structure."
It's the kind of question to which acquaintances of Hendrie have become accustomed.
Hendrie, who for years ran pediatric practices in Carlisle and Concord, has devoted her retirement years to a most unlikely cause -- improving the lives of impoverished Cambodian children in Phnom Penh and its environs.
When Hendrie founded The Sharing Foundation in 1998, a year after her first trip to Cambodia, the focus was to offer medical care to orphans and other needy children, particularly those in the rural village of Roteang. In the eight years since, the mission has widened to include educational, vocational, public health, and other community development programs.
A Concord resident, Hendrie travels to Cambodia every three months to oversee the burgeoning number of projects her foundation has taken on.
And , over the years , more and more of the people who m she knows in the Concord area have become part of her expanding efforts.
``I'm a Montessori director and Alison had just graduated from college," Robin Jean said, recalling the supermarket encounter. ``When Nancy asked us whether we knew anyone who could help, we looked at each other and thought, `This could be fun.' I had a whole Montessori classroom of materials in my attic at home. So we packed up the whole classroom in four suitcases and headed off to Cambodia one month later."
Robin Jean stayed a month to launch the new preschool; her daughter remained there twice as long, and has returned every summer since.
``The biggest challenge was to train a teacher," Jean said. ``The villagers don't speak English and we don't speak Khmer. But the Montessori method lends itself very well to nonverbal forms of learning. Even here, we often present things without language. That worked well there."
The Jeans are just one example of the many Concord-area residents who have been so affected by Hendrie's work that they have first offered financial support and then made the trip to Cambodia to witness firsthand the scope of the 74-year-old doctor's undertaking.
A group of women from Carlisle, two college students, and a Concord minister on sabbatical are among those who have lent a hand with Hendrie's projects onsite in recent years. By all accounts, she is a powerful speaker with a fascinating tale to tell.
Ann Trudeau and her family are among the volunteers.
Trudeau heard Hendrie speak at a Rotary Club meeting last spring and found herself hooked by the thought of what it might mean to her family to become involved in Hendrie's work. Ann and her husband, Tom, love to travel. But they also know the importance of instilling in their three school-age children an awareness of the imbalance between their own affluent existence and the way many other people throughout the world live. So they look for teaching opportunities wherever they can.
Trudeau went home and talked to her husband about the idea of traveling to Cambodia this summer. Tom was hesitant at first, but Ann won him over by promising that they could combine their two-week stay with a journey through Southeast Asia that would include more tourist-oriented stops in Thailand and Vietnam. The next step was to enlist the enthusiasm of their three children, Tom Jr., 17, Jacqui, 14, and Andrew, then 11. The older two liked the idea immediately; Andrew was puzzled. ``We're going to Cambodia to work?" he asked. ``But, Mom, that doesn't sound like a vacation."
Hendrie said that would-be volunteers frequently reach out to her, but she likes to be able to match a specific skill with a specific need rather than just answering ``Sure, come on over and we'll find something for you to do." But when the Trudeaus asked to join her on her next trip to Roteang, it sounded to Hendrie like the unmistakable knock of opportunity.
As fate would have it, a group in Florida had recently offered to donate a playground set to the orphanage, which was a wonderful offer, except that Hendrie had no idea how she would gather the technical expertise to assemble it once it arrived. So, when she learned that Tom Trudeau was a builder by profession, she accepted the family's offer of help immediately.
``We arrived in mid-July," Ann Trudeau recounted. The 63 children of the Roteang Orphanage, who range from infants to adolescents but average around 4 years old, regarded them shyly at first, but a happenstance of timing broke the ice quickly: On the family's second day in Cambodia, it was Andrew Trudeau's 12th birthday, and Ann put together a birthday party for all the children.
``I was afraid it would be awkward and uncomfortable," Ann said. ``But all kids like cake and candy and games, and by the time the party was over, they were completely over their shyness."
Nancy Hendrie remembers one particularly poignant moment of the party. ``After we all sang happy birthday to Andrew and he blew out his candles, Ann walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss. Well, that's just what mothers do when kids blow out their birthday candles -- hug and kiss them. But I knew that Ann realized at that moment that none of these orphans who were watching had a mother to kiss them on their birthdays."
Compared to getting comfortable with the Cambodian children, assembling the ultramodern playground set, with its towers, slides and climbing wall, was a breeze. ``We bought tools at tiny stalls in a traditional marketplace in Phnom Pen h ," Ann said.
The whole family worked together, side by side with employees of the orphanage, in humid 100-degree heat. But no one can doubt that the results were gratifying. ``The minute the structure was completed and the kids were allowed to try it, they ran," Hendrie said. ``I have never seen so much happy pushing and shoving. They whooped with joy. It was amazing."
As they worked, Andrew and his sister, Jacqui, also were making friends. Each of them bonded particularly with one child of their gender at the orphanage and became so close that Ann invited the two Cambodian children into Phnom Penh one day for lunch and a swim.
Afterward , she took her two children and their two peers for a little shopping excursion, giving each child $5. The younger Trudeaus watched with fascination as their friends spent their money judiciously -- Pharoth on a pair of shorts and Vuthea on an English grammar book.
Hendrie, who refers to her current phase of life as ``a retread, not a retirement," likes to remind people that, while the Roteang Orphanage tends to attract the most publicity, it is only one of many endeavors she has underway in Cambodia.
The Sharing Foundation also includes a computer training school and a sewing school that teaches adolescents vocational skills, an English language program that more than 500 children attend after school, an agricultural project to help villagers become successful farmers, a number of public health initiatives, and an educational sponsorship project that draws upon charitable donations to send a select group of young people from Roteang to high school.
In fact, thanks to The Sharing Foundation, the first 10 students from Roteang Village ever to attend college matriculated at a university in Phnom Penh last year, and The Sharing Foundation will provide complete financial support -- including room, board, tuition, textbooks, and living allowances -- to inspire them to complete their college educations. The Sharing Foundation's annual budget is just under $300,000, with funding coming from individual donors and small family foundations.
``The 10 students who are now attending college are pioneers," Hendrie said . ``But the youngest children in our English language program see them going off to university and dream of doing that someday themselves. It sets an example and an expectation. That's why education is really the most important thing that we do."
Hendrie smiles when she pictures the Trudeaus taking their adventures back to school with them in the fall. ``While all the other kids talk about their trips to Disney World or Lake Winnipesaukee, the Trudeau children can say that they built a terrific playground at the Roteang Orphanage."
Ann Trudeau said her whole family looks back on a summer vacation that they will never forget. And she can't imagine a better learning experience for her three children.
``They are already tired of hearing us say, `I'll bet you appreciate what you have now,' " she said. ``But, of course, that's the biggest lesson they learned there -- that not everyone lives the same way, but you can be a happy person in lots of ways. You can be happy without a ton of stuff in your bedroom.
``That shopping trip we took with Vuthea and Pharoth -- they'll never forget that what Vuthea wanted most with his $5 was a grammar book. And the other big thing they learned is that you can change the world. Anyone can. Just look at Nancy Hendrie."
To learn more about The Sharing Foundation, visit www.sharingfoundation.org.
1 comment:
God bless all the foreigners that go to Cambodia! Amen
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