Goodbye kids...

24th October: Phnom Penh
Friday was my last day at the orphanage. We 3 volunteers decided to all wear our 'I love Cambodia' T-shirts which amused us possibly more than the kids. I took in a second hand stereo for them and a pile of dodgy CDs that I bought in the market. I got some requests from the kids beforehand, so I can only apologise for actually buying Sean Kingston, Britney and a few other choice albums. I presented it to the co-ordinator and his response was 'how much did it cost?' Errr, I think 'thank you' would be the correct response here. Grrr...

My morning class were fairly underwhelmed by my departure and only seemed to show emotion when I produced a bag of sweets. I did get a few lovely messages from them though. For those of you wondering about 'needle girl', she made me a beautiful card with an origami flower. She wrote me a note saying how sad she was that I was leaving, asking me to come back and never to forget her. You know what, I don't think I will. Oh - she also showed me a picture of a sewing machine that she wanted, but I'm not that much of a sucker!

We got all the kids playing with a multi-coloured parachute which was brilliant. They were so excited and we had such fun. My afternoon students were great. They taught me how to make very delicate flowers and butterflies out of wire and netting. I made an effort but I think I shall leave them to it in future. The ones that they presented to me were really gorgeous. They all keep asking when I'll be back and I feel rather callous saying 'probably never'.

So after lots of hugs, I left the kids and the farm orphanage for the last time in the tuk tuk, feeling a whole wave of different emotions. Two minutes later we were stuck in the mud and had to push the tuk tuk out. I really am going to miss this place!