When Cambodian grandmothers in a rural village invite you to lunch

 

Yeah Yap, 85

“If people want to see the real Cambodia, please get out of the city,” is advice we heard. And so we did on a visit out of urban and sophisticated Phnom Penh to a rural community near the river city of Kampot where OEDDO, a non-profit, family-run organization caters to the needs of elder, orphans and the disabled. They greeted us with smiles, open arms and a lunch of whole fish, fried eels, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves and much more.

The woman pictured above is Yeah (the Cambodian word for grandmother) Yap, 85, the oldest elder either living in or being served in a community run by OEDDO, Orphans, Elderly and Disabled Development Organization. The family-run non-profit is supported by Betsy Guinn, a fundraiser and OEDDO USA director based in Eugene, Oregon as well as Friendship with Cambodia, the group we have supported since taking our first trip to Cambodia 19 years ago.

Khmer Rouge genocide survivors

All of these women pictured above are widows. They had husbands, brothers, even children who were brutally murdered by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s. Still, they smile. I asked why. They told me they are happy because they are at the age where they no longer have to worry about anything, thanks to the support of the OEDDO center and in some cases, their grandchildren.

Yeah A and her granddaughter who became a nurse

This is Yeah A, 78. Her family was driven out of their home in Phnom Penh by Pol Pot, and her husband murdered after they were forced into labor in the countryside. 

“I can’t believe I am still alive today,” she told us. But she very much is. She rides a bicycle, celebrates her new glasses, and is proud of her  granddaughter who became a nurse with the help of an educational scholarship provided by Friendship with Cambodia

Hieng and his sister and her husband, both doctors

OEDDO has many projects planned for the future, including equipping this new hospital built with donations from U.S. sponsors and hospitals in Eugene.  Above is Hieng, middle photo, 32, and the son of Vanna, who started OEDDO in 2000 to care for AIDS orphans in her home. Flanking him are his sister and her husband, both doctors are volunteering their time in the community where otherwise health care is scarce and unaffordable.

At lunch at OEDDO with Hieng

The OEDDO staff prepared a lunch for us, the centerpiece of which was a whole fish. Hieng, who has an MBA, works as a consultant to foreign companies who want to locate in Cambodia. He and his siblings volunteer much of his time helping their mother run OEDDO, planning new projects and keeping in touch with sponsors in the U.S.

OEDDO staff and FWC director Bhavia Wagner at the entrance to the community in the village of Trapaing Kyong. Trapaing Kyon means Snail  Pond