Visiting Happyland

 

The clinic at Happyland Orphanage

 

 

Today we journeyed to the "Happyland" orphanage. It is located 37km from Phnom Penh. This orphanage houses about 400 children. Some attend the orphanage school while others attend the local public school.

The younger children had severely decayed teeth and most of them required multiple extractions. Many of the older children were brought in from another orphanage which we had visited last year. These children required little work, fluoride only, which was terrific because we were exhausted by 1pm.

 

 

Taking a break with my new friend.

 

 

 

The open market at the Phnom Penh Central Market.

Though we worked hard, the children were extremely well behaved and organized; quite different from the children that we saw in the villages the past two days. Much of this was a result of the orphanage staff helping us with logistics. The "Tom and Jerry" cartoons playing on a laptop didn't hurt either. It seems television has a universal hypnotic effect.

With another group arriving I will continue later.

Clearly I spoke too soon about being exhausted. Wow did we work this afternoon. We've just arrived back to our hotel. We have grande plans about what we want to do this evening, but may lack the energy to turn our ideas into reality. Jamie favors a massage then dinner. While the massage may be well deserved, I'd rather catch an early dinner. Looks like I better search for a snack........