I am not a naturally child-friendly person. I have no patience and I can't deal with snot making it difficult for me to be around these small people. Nevertheless it is difficult not to feel some obligation to protect them and shield them from harms way. In Siem Reap this was somewhat tested.
When we arrived in Siem Reap in Northern Cambodia after leaving Si Phan Don (Laos) one of the most obvious differences between the countries was the amount of beggar children. When we had breakfast at a street cafe on our first morning, at least three children approached us trying to sell books or postcards. Many were landmine victims themselves or had lost their families to landmines. I am ashamed to say how quickly we became immune to these horriffic stories; after that first day we would smile but politely and firmly decline the wares on offer.
It was our first day in the city, and my birthday, and not feeling quite up to the temples yet we wandered around the market and then, when it was too hot at almost 38oC, we headed to a nearby pool which had a little bar and restaurant attached.
The pool's entrance was almost hidden behind palm trees and when we entered the bar it seemed like a small oasis outside the bustling heat of the town.
We ordered ourselves two local beers and headed to the poolside.
The pool was absolutely full to bursting with children, screaming and playing with various inflatable toys. It was terrifying. One of the barmaids told us that it was an afterschool club for kids to keep them off the street and generally help them get a better life. I couldn't begrudge them that. I swiftly got into the pool, despite being gawped at by the children, to cool down.
Soon, I began to throw a beachball back and forth with one of the young girls and, to my surprise, had fun.
I turned around to see Lizzie surrounded by at least six young girls all shouting questions at her. The eldest couldn't have been more than twelve but their English was incrediblyy good. From what I could make out they were asking things like "Where are you from?", "How old are you?", "What's your name?". The standard questions.
It was only after these questions had been exhausted that they moved onto "Do you have a boyfriend?" to which Lizzie replied "No", to which they answered "But you old!" Apparently being single anywhere in the world carries a certain social stigma.
It was then that things got a little confusing. The children had already begun to climb over us and pinch us (inappropriately to say the least) but then asked Lizzie, "Where is your baby?" Lizzie was obviously even more confused, "Ï don't have a baby". Lizzie looked over to me for help but for once I was just glad to not be the focus of embarrassment. At this point a harmless young German man walked past and the children began pointing, "Does he have your baby?" The poor German looked even more confused than we did. "What? No!" Lizzie said while I just tried to shrug at the poor fellow to show we had no more idea than we did.
The German guy looked very confused and went back to sit by his girlfriend. She didn't look too happy.
Thankfully, the children were all retrieved from the pool and went home. It was a lot quieter after that. We are British and therefore have certain rules about personal space. These children managed to violate all of said social protocol.
In the evening when we went out on the road back to the hotel children were being sent out by their parents to beg. They would grab hold of your arms and beg to be bought food. There is no way to justify your reaction to this. If you ignore them you are being cruel but if you buy them some food will they not be hungry tomorrow?
Not knowing how to deal with this I walked quickly ahead only to turn around and see a child of about 5ft 3in climbing up Lizzie like she was a climbing frame. I gently tried to pry the child off her before quickly heading back to the guesthouse.
On another evening Lizzie refused to give money to a child and he smacked her bum really hard and then mine just for good measure. We did pity and try and empathise with these children but we did seem to attract a lot of (what we deemed unnecessary) physical abuse from them.
This I will admit is probably the blog that, so far, has been the least amusing. The way these children acted was funny only because they made us feel so uncomfortable and we were so stunned by their actions but if they were starving or relying on begging as an income I suppose they would try anything.
Saying that the children from the pool didn't really have this excuse. They just seemed to really like Lizzie.
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