The Art of Living After Poverty

This is the infamous Steung Meanchey waste disposal dump. Two things are true of every child in this photo. Each has lived and worked at this dump, and each no longer does, because every boy and girl here now lives at the Center for Children's Happiness.

Earlier this year, VZW de Stortkinderen http://www.stortkinderen.be (Friends of CCH, Belgium) arranged for the famous Belgian photographer Hans Roels to come to Phnom Penh and take this photo of all of the CCH children posing at the dump site from which they came. Some came to CCH only a matter of weeks ago. For others, nearly 7 years have passed.

You are unlikely to see such a shot of CCH children ever again. The logistics of getting over 100 children from CCH to the dump, and then posed, were formidable. But the imagery is powerful. Every child you see is a real life saved from the poverty of this dump. The photo was taken in an extremely high resolution form. More information may be obtained by contacting VZW de Stortkinderen at the website link above.

This Hans Roels work of art sets the theme for our June Monthly Report. The rest of the issue is devoted to art produced by CCH children.

CCH Photo Journalists

We are pleased to introduce our new CCH Photo Journalists, Ravuth, Piset, Theara, Sokunthea and Sambath. Trained in and armed with single reflex cameras, their monthly assignment will be to take interesting photos for you! Many photos will be of aspects of CCH life, but others may simply be portraits of life in Cambodia, as seen through the eyes of these young people. Each photo has been chosen by the photographer, based on his or her assessment of the artistic quality and interest of the photo.

CCH Photo Journalists

Piset emailing some pix to the CCH Monthly Report

Sokunthea's Photos

Library Time at CDCC

Goodbye to a Visitor

Piset's Photos

Boys at CDCC

Road Show Moment

Sambath's Photos

Study

Village Girl at a Road Show

Ravuth's Photos

Hop Scotch Squares

Playing Hopscotch

Watermelon Time!

Practical Arts

CCH Director, Mech Sokha, helps Sophal, a CCH Youth House occupant who now works for the orphanage. This is a common scene at CCH---young people receiving practical training in manual arts, in this case, building a metal table.

Child Artists at CCH

I never ceased to be amazed by the quality of art produced by CCH children. Below is a gallery of this work, depicting traditional Cambodian scenes, cartoons, still lifes, portraits, and foreign inspired images.

Traditional Scenes

Cartoons

Still Lifes

Portraits

Foreign Inspired Images

Pippi Longstocking!

Nordic Skier

Easter Basket

Piglet

Venice? Paris? Kyoto?

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Contributors to this report:

Content: Elia Van Tuyl

English Editing and Layout: Elia Van Tuyl

Photos: CCH Photo Journalists, Pho Phaneth, Elia Van Tuyl

Artists: Too many to name!

"Gee, why can't we go to CCH?"