Tai Meng

I’ll be going to Cambodia in two weeks and visiting Wat Opot again. Wat Opot is a “children’s community” caring for children orphaned by AIDS. About 30 percent of the children and most of the staff are living with HIV, including the girl in the picture.  They all attend regular school, and they have supplemental classes at Wat Opot. The supplemental classes are important, because the quality of education at the school is very low.

Teacher at Wat Opot

This is one of the teachers for the supplementary classes. This conveys her personality — serious and kind (but mostly serious). In the morning she teaches the youngest kids (kindergarten age), and in the afternoons she works with the elementary school kids.

Studying by window light

This is Tai Meng writing in Khmer on a slate board. There is no elecricity, so she works by window light.