Heartache & Hope

As a result of war, land mines, poverty, and prevalent diseases such as AIDS, Cambodia’s orphan population has continued to escalate. These Cambodian orphans are forced to beg or forage through rubbish for food and are often the victims of serial predators and violent assaults. Life for these defenceless children seems hopeless but luckily there are orphanages which provide love, shelter, food and education and allow these children hope and the chance of a new life. 


Orphans are found in many of the poor and underprivileged Third World countries but Cambodia has a significantly high proportion of orphans and abandoned children. This disproportionate number of orphaned children is a result of around thirty years of war, foreign occupation, civil war and the infamous Khmer Rouge Regime which had some dramatic and deadly effects on the people of Cambodia. 


Cambodia is a country with one of the highest occurrences of death by land-mines. In addition, deadly diseases such as AIDS, coupled with the scarcity of health care resources, compounds these problems into leading causes of death which all contribute greatly to the increasing orphan population in Cambodia.


This book highlights the plight of the orphans in Siem Reap showing their miserable existence on the streets of the city scavenging and begging. The contrasting upside of my story was then documenting the rehabilitation of orphans at an orphanage where they were given accommodation, food, care and importantly education to help them in their future life.