Download the May 2010 News from Children of the Forest Foundation

Children of the Forest providing shelter, protection, education and health care for orphaned, abused, abandoned and at risk stateless children living along the Thai/Burmese border.

Angkor Hospital for Children provides free pediatric care to more than 300 children each day; trains thousands of healthcare professionals each year; and strives to restore Cambodia’s healthcare infrastructure. Every child has the right to a happy and healthy life!

Helping Change the World for Children in Rural Cambodia

Dr. John and Nina Cassils are co-founders of the Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund that advocates for clean water, healthcare, education and income generation in South East Asia. Having traveled extensively throughout South East Asia since the mid 1980’s the Cassils formally co-founded the Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund with Wieland and Susan Wettstein in 2005. Together with the Wettsteins, the Cassils are committed to projects in SE Asia including the Angkor Hospital for Children. Their philosophy is to work directly with those in the field. In 2003 Nina learned about a Canadian involved at Angkor Hospital for Children and their unwavering commitment to work with AHC began. The Cassils continue to visit all their projects in SE Asia annually.

“We are honoured to be part of the 10th anniversary of AHC and witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the new satellite program. We have great admiration for the personal achievements and sacrifices made by Kenro Izu, David Shoemaker and the 28 recipients working at AHC since its inception to make AHC a center of excellence in pediatrics. AHC has played a key role in rebuilding Cambodia’s health and medical educational system and is a model hospital for all of SE Asia.

The new satellite program in Sot Nikum is of great importance allowing swift access to medical treatment without the exhorbitant cost of transportation thus encouraging families to seek treatment before their child is seriously ill. With 30% of AHC patients coming from this area, the new facility will take some of the pressure off the already heavily tasked AHC in Siem Reap. We congratulate the staff of AHC, the volunteers and donors for making Kenro’s dream a reality.”

Dr. John and Nina Cassils on behalf of The Cassils Wettstein Asia Fund

Download a PDF describing the 10 year history of AHC (11mb)

At the Center for Friends Without A Border (Friends Center), visitors will have a unique opportunity to learn more about the impact of Cambodia’s recent history and the dramatic progress being made today through the medical care, education and outreach programs provided by Friends.

The Friends Center symbolizes a nexus of caring for the community and of ecological sustainability. The design of the center represents a gesture of openness that invites visitors to connect with the mission and learn about the projects of Friends, while allowing Angkor Hospital for Children to maintain the dignity and privacy of the children and their families.

The award-winning design of the Friends Center was developed by the internationally renowned architectural firm, Cook + Fox. The design and construction were grounded in the cultural belief that there is an inherent link between the health of Cambodia’s people and its environment. The Friends Center itself demonstrates an ethos of cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability, honoring the Khmer legacy of wise stewardship during the Angkor period. Rainwater is captured for reuse, bamboo louvers and roof overhangs are angled to the path of the sun for temperature control, and the roof is engineered for solar photovoltaic power. Renewable biofuel derived from the jatropha plant will be used to help generate the power necessary to operate the Friends Center.

The Friends Center theater features educational videos. Visitors can learn about the history of Friends and AHC, and how it has become a leading pediatrics hospital in patient care, education, and outreach programs, dramatically impacting Cambodia’s national healthcare infrastructure.

The Friends Center also houses a rotating gallery of fine art; every three months, the works of different prominent artists from around the world are featured in the Friends Center’s stunning gallery. Many of the artists featured have become long-time supporters. A permanent exhibition of Kenro Izu’s Angkor images will also be featured at the gallery. It was during these earliest visits that he became inspired to found Friends Without A Border and the AHC.

Visitors can also visit the donation lounge which offers beautiful books of Cambodian photography, greeting cards, and other unique gifts designed for AHC. Donations and proceeds from sales of the gift items go directly to fund the hospital and other programs of Friends Without A Border.

The Friends Center was made possible by the generosity of Sterling Stamos Capital Management, a private investment firm committed to reinvesting in the world through corporate philanthropy.

Five weeks passed very quickly at the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We were tasked with producing a report on malnutrition, and thus sifted through about 150 patients’ charts to gather data. Our supervisor, David Shoemaker, also dispatched us often to follow-up on patients and, in the process, to see the ‘real Cambodia’: a conservative society revolving around the family and the field. It was a world apart from our native Canada; when we reported that a child, admitted to AHC in 2007 for malnutrition, had since been crushed to death by a cow, we were told that this happens frequently in Cambodia.

The chart review itself was equally fascinating. Written into the charts were family trees as large as they were complicated. The notes described murder, incomes below one dollar a month, fluctuating family sizes, appalling malnutrition, abandonment, and cases of HIV transmission via wet-nurses’ breast milk. And so, over five weeks, we were introduced to the private life of Cambodia.

For volunteers though, life in Siem Reap has few hardships, as the city boasts a tourist infrastructure capable of handling the Angkor Wat crowds. Only during working hours do volunteers see the ‘real Cambodia’, whose families travel from all over the country to take their desperately sick children to AHC. The hospital staff are charming, and the lingua franca is English (which, owing to great differences in sound and structure from the Khmer language, led to delightful phrases in the charts such as, “the road was very pumpy” and “some food was lost because of dog biting”). In short, AHC is a wonderful place to volunteer. The only risk is that, as some have found, you won’t be able to tear yourself away. (By Rebecca and Nicholas Canadian Volunteers Summer 2008)

QUOTES from Visitors to AHC

“There is hope that Cambodia can be a model for the rest of Asia and perhaps the world….” – WILLIAM J. CLINTON

“Cultivation of a child will spark a flame that lasts a lifetime” – QUINCY JONES

13/03/2007 6:54 PM
Email from AHC volunteer – from Vancouver, Canada

Sheila Anzarut wrote:

Hi Nina,

I should have written before but I have managed to keep busy and time has just flown by.

Being here has been the most amazing experience for both of us. André has seen children with neurological conditions and diseases which he teaches about, but are not seen in Vancouver. The doctors are all so friendly and everyone on the staff goes out of their way to welcome us. I have had lots to keep me occupied from preparing Power Point presentations for a doctor from the States who arrived earlier this week, to going out with André when he did the clinic at the floating village, to spending time taking photographs all over the hospital, as well as on home care visits and at a primary school (grade 1 learning dental hygiene).

Our hotel is a great oasis – we can walk home at lunch time to freshen up and, at the end of the day, being able to go for a swim is marvelous. They serve us afternoon tea while we sit by the pool and relax. It makes such a difference to have a quiet space after the busy bustle of the hospital.

I just wanted to touch bases with you and to thank you again for asking us to take the meds for David last year. The chain reaction from that has been absolutely the most special thing we have done in years.

We’re home on Sunday (can’t believe the time flew by so fast. All our best to you and John and I will speak to you when we get home.

Sheila