Little Sprouts

The big news in the neighborhood was a paved street. This paving didn't actually reach the Little Sprouts office, which is just as well, because someone dug a 3-foot deep ditch in the road leading to the office. Needless to say, we traveled to the office by foot. No one in the Little Sprouts team seemed to know why the ditch was there at all, but the people working in it smiled at us in a pleasant way. At the office the children can come to use the computers, get attention and instruction from adults, and get medical check-ins. The children need medical check-ins because they are all HIV positive.

Mostly because of disease or death in the family, a large number of HIV positive Cambodian children are left with no place to turn. Little Sprouts finds these children homes with relatives, if at all possible, or takes care of the children in a family-like house setting. Fr. Kevin Conroy, a Maryknoll Associate priest, showed us around one of these houses. The children frolicked and chatted with Kevin, so energetic you'd never guess that some of those kids had arrived at the house quite sick, and all had HIV.

We met the smiling caretakers, who welcomed us with warm smiles and cold glasses of water. Kevin assured us it was safe to drink. The caretakers do there best to make the place feel like a real home, which must be a challenge considering how many children we saw running about. Medication twice a day is part of the standard day for the kids and it generally works, although there is still the problem of the virus becoming resistant to the drug, leading to an infection. For the most part, though, the kids lead a normal life. Little Sprouts also provides a high quality day center for all the kids in the program. Aside from the hoards of mosquitos, the pre-school we peeked in on looked just like the preschools I've seen in California. The center makes sure the kids are fed regularly, which is extra important for children with HIV, and keeps them engaged and learning. At snack time all the children had to have their hands washed and be sitting on a mat before they could sing the eating song that precedes the meal. We couldn't understand, but Sr. Regina said they were singing about washing your hands before you eat.


One of the little boys complained of an ear infection. Kevin picked him up and made sure he got to the medical center.

Looking back on the experience I can see how it all fits together. While these children don't have the benefit of their parents care, Little Sprouts does what it can to fill that role. From home, to school, to the doctor, these kids have many caretakers. It's the village raising the child.