Sarapeen's story

Sarapeen is only six years old, but she has already been through traumas that few adults have had to face. Things started to go wrong for Sarapeen when both her parents died, most probably of HIV/Aids, one of Cambodia's biggest killers.

Her grandmother took her in, only to turn her out onto the streets, forcing her to beg for money around Poipet, the notorious town on the Thai border. With no other family to turn to, Sarapeen did as she was told, living on the streets during the week and returning on weekends to her grandmother who expected a good return for Sarapeens work.

When Hischild, a Cambodian orphanage and street outreach programme, found Sarapeen on the streets of Poipet, she was very weak and covered in scabies from head to toe, a result of many nights spent on the dirty roads of Poipet.

Since rescuing Sarapeen from her hellish life in Poipet, her smile and health have returned as she has received the love and care from her new family at the Hischild orphanage in Takhmau, south of Phnom Penh.

Laura and I had the priviledge of visiting Hischild and meeting Sarapeen and some of the other boys and girls, around 50 in all, who have been rescued from the streets of Poipet and brought into a loving, Christian community.

If you want to find out more about Hischild, visit www.hischild-international.com or drop me a comment on this post.