“Some days are OK, some are good and some will stay with me forever.” -Scott Neeson
When Hollywood marketing executive Scott Neeson embarked on a sabbatical between jobs in 2003, he couldn’t have imagined how it would change his life. On a trip to Phnom Penh, Scott saw hundreds of children and their families living and working on the Steung Meanchey garbage dump, one of the most toxic environments imaginable. It was a moment that changed his life.
Scott had a 26-year career in the film business, including tenure as President of 20th Century Fox International. Scott thought he had it all – a powerful role in the film industry, celebrity friends, a big house, fancy cars and a boat.
But in 2003, Scott’s view on life changed completely when he found himself looking out across the Steung Meanchey garbage dump at hundreds of children scavenging through garbage.
Soon after, Scott made the decision to resign from his job, sell all of his possessions and focus his energy and passion into the Cambodian Children’s Fund. Twelve years later and Scott’s journey still captivates, inspires and bewilders people from all over the world.
Note the two girls in the red t-shirts in first photo. These Junior Leaders are responsible for the welfare of their designated granny, ensuring she has sufficient rice, freshwater, medicines and that overall she is in good health and not lacking essential needs.
The granny on the left is 98 years old and the first grandmother I “sponsored” when I arrived here. She is as spirited, warm and as sharp as the teens who help care for her.
The granny in the second photo has seen enough suffering to fill a dozen lives, losing her family during the Pol Pot years. These two grannies, for the first time in their lives, have a safety net, knowing the worst is well and truly behind them and that they will never lack the essentials of food, shelter, clean water and people who care. There are more than 50 CCF grannies with this same sense of security and certainty. That explains the tears. How is this for a transformation? And so quickly too. These two were living in such abject squalor and it was by pure chance we crossed paths. There is of course a joy in allowing such a tiny child to thrive. But I have this gnawing anxiety, something that plays over and over during the night: what if we hadn’t crossed paths that day, and today’s bright-eyed girl was never given the opportunity to thrive. The thought of her enduring this life for the rest of her childhood…? How many more did I miss that are still out there?
If I express this, people inevitably say, “You can’t save everyone”, and I know they are right. But we have to try, don’t we?
The Photo of the Year! Yours to keep and/or share! I know it’s only January but this photo will be hard to beat. Our Grannies, with the help of a generous donor, made the trip to Angkor Wat. Their lives are already pretty full but they wanted to see their Cambodia heritage while they are still able. In this photo, our 94 year-old Yay shows her selfie-stick talents.
In my former career, I spent time with a lot of famous people and (how to say this without sounding egotistical?), quite a few kings and queens. Mostly, these are underwhelming experiences and the monarch is clear that he/she is doing so as an obligation.
I had the honour to meet Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni. He was the most disarming person… warm, gracious and with a genuine care about the Cambodian people.
He expressed his gratitude for our work with the poorest communities several times. You sort of expect that but his sincerity and gentleness threw me off guard. I wanted to get up and hug him (but I didn’t).
In terms of life experiences, meeting with King Sihamoni is one of the highs. So proud to have met him.
One of the realisations of being here for 13 or so years is that there are no absolute truths.
A motivation for our Day Care and “Nursery Drop-In” centres was to avoid the hazardous journeys kids would make when a parent had no-one to care for them during evening scavenging trips. It was wrong that a parent would have no other option, so we fixed it.
Today these programs and centres save lives. We did good. Late one Sunday afternoon, I saw this exuberant littlie, heading in her chariot for a big adventure in town.
At her age I had a TV to entertain me. You probably have social media and messaging. Years ago, I would look at her and see poverty and feel pity. Now I see joy and feel a little envy.
This elderly couple was living in a dire environment under the Steung Meanchey bridge. We gave them a new house and our community youth put them on the list for weekly house calls.
The couple has since passed away but they did so in the clean, cool surroundings they always deserved. My only regret is that we didn’t find them sooner.
This elderly woman lives in this dank, grey corridor of rooms. This stretcher bed is her home. It is a sad image. However before you start hitting those sad and teary emoticons, please read on. There is more to this than meets the eye. In fact, this granny lives a pretty remarkable life.
As part of CCF’s granny program, her food and medical needs are covered. She receives a stipend; multiple visits by our youth; and attends weekly monk blessings. That is a good start. She has the option to move to a nice CCF home but she chooses to stay here with her extended family and people show knows. That is common here. You can see my framed photos on her wall. She is one of our CCF family.
Now really good stuff: under her bed is her school bag. She studies Khmer language each evening in our satellite school, with 10 -15 other elderly folks. She can write her own name. That’s another of Leanghoin Hoy’s initiatives. See that white certificate above her bed? That certifies that she completed Microsoft’s Hour of Coding. Yes, she has written computer code! Thank you, Microsoft! She attends swimming lessons twice a month and joined CCF granny tours to various Buddhist sites.
In December, she made a visit to Angkor Watt with 25 other grannies (!), funded by Hong Kong Broadband Network and led by our own Leanghoin Hoy. A full and meaningful life. Sure, someone could clean the place up, give some colorful paint but that’s simply is cosmetic.
So what’s the point here? Well, first of all, if you do see the old and the vulnerable in such conditions, you should stop, inquire and do what you can to help. This woman is an exception.
I think the point is that we should not assume that such dire situations and seemingly hopeless people are beyond our help. We shouldn’t assume that they don’t have the potential to help themselves if we give them a hand up.
You can interpret the contrast between first-look and the reality any way you want. The only thing I’m certain of is that this is a great success story and shows the result of hope meeting opportunity.
It’s not just what we do, it’s how we do it. Like many communities in Cambodia, Steung Meanchey had an increasing number of drug-dealers moving here, those who make money by selling the highly addictive, methamphetamine-based drugs.
Meth-addiction is a horrible thing, as many of you would know, and people of all ages were becoming users. We believed that the only way to effectively address the problem was with complete community buy-in.
The below images are one of our “Town Hall meetings” where we discuss the problems and proposed solutions with the entire community. Around 700 people attended this one.
On-stage with me are officials from the various police departments and local chiefs. Bringing the community and police together allowed the locals ask questions of the police. In return, the police explained the process and provided a 24-hour phone number for locals to call police with information on the drug dealers.
Once people had a chance to discuss and ask questions, there was a vote on whether we should continue to target the drug sellers here. This means a regular police presence and with that ongoing intrusion into their villages, day and night. You can see the numbers who voted to continue targeting drug-sellers. Everyone! So how is our community-based model working? Well, with over 300 arrests, including some big drug seizures, the numbers of new sellers setting up shop has fallen. For the remaining drug-sellers, it is a matter of time before their turn comes.
In my opinion, we are on the right path but this isn’t something we will “win” – it will be an ongoing battle. And sadly, those drug dealers who move from here, are now targeting other communities.
If you have the same concerns, consider the same solution, getting your community and police departments together. I know there are lots of hurdles in getting this done – I have been through them – but if I can do it, so can you. At least try.
One giant milestone. Of the 180 or so wee kids who came into CCF back in 2004 or 2005, about 120 are in University. We had our first graduation ceremony, for our first 25 students who have completed their university degrees. It was wonderful, emotional, fun – and a little sad to think the journey is complete.
