Our meeting with Sreykeo

While planning their trip to Asia, Morgane and Quentin discover an article about Children of the Mekong in their travel guide. Following in Morgane’s parents’ footsteps, they decide to become sponsors and go meet their sponsored child…

Sreykeo tells us she wants to become a nurse… just like me!

We were going on a trip to Asia for a few months, and while leafing through the backpacker’s guide and its ‘NGOs’ section, I came across an article about Children of the Mekong. I already knew the charity because my parents had been sponsoring children in Cambodia for a long time. When I was younger, I used to participate in letter exchanges with their sponsored children.

During our trip, we passed through the city of Battambang and quickly decided to sponsor a child! Sreykeo is 12 years old, her family lives 40 km from Battambang, and she had just arrived at the Children of the Mekong centre.

Flore, the French bamboo volunteer, welcomed us there! We were a bit intimidated at first, but she quickly put us at ease! Flore gave us lots of information about the children’s lives at the centre. The students are between 12 and 17 years old, attend the secondary school next door and live here at the boarding school, where they have good conditions for working and developing: they have access to extra lessons, play sports and take part in many activities… We feel that the well-being of young people is at the heart of the association’s concerns!

Before she returns from school, we have time to buy a few things for Sreykeo and her friends. We are very moved to meet her and she is also a little intimidated, but the other students applaud and are happy for her. It is a very special moment of our trip!

We chatted together with the help of a Khmer staff member from the centre who acted as our translator. We explained who we were. Then Sreykeo told us about her family and said she wanted to become a nurse (like me!).

Saying goodbye was a little sad because we knew we may not see her again… but we will continue to write to each other!

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