Programs & Events
Children’s Party Kicks Off Holiday Lights Display
U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh
November 27, 2007
To commemorate the start of the holiday season in the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh hosted a party for nearly 150 Cambodian children from the Little Folks program and Mith Samlanh/Friends. The party included the official launching of the Embassy's holiday lights display and an appearance by Santa Claus, who distributed gifts provided by the Sailors and Marines stationed aboard the USS Essex, which is making a port call in Sihanoukville November 26 - December 2, 2007.
The special guest of honor for the event was HRH Princess Marie Ranaridh, Senior Minister in Charge of Special Missions and President of Samdech Raksmey Sobbhana Women's Foundation. Other special guests included H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, Minister of Women’s Affairs, and H.E. Ith Sam Heng, Minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.
In his remarks Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli stated, "Last Thursday was America’s Thanksgiving celebration. From Friday to Sunday we celebrated Cambodia’s magnificent Water Festival. Now we begin the Christmas season. But what draws us together today is that one aspect of Christianity that overlaps with and also defines Buddhism: compassion. This is the great virtue and principle of life that all great religions share in common: kindness, a concern for the weak and the poor, a realization that while even one other person suffers, our own happiness is incomplete."
The Little Folks Program helps children, whose family life has been seriously impacted by HIV/AIDS, to attend public school. Often such children drop out of school and do not return without strong encouragement. The Little Folks project provides this encouragement through field workers who visit the children's homes and by providing food supplements, extra classes, and vocational education. At its Little Folks Center in Boeung Tumpu, the program provides remedial classes, training in traditional dance and martial arts, grief therapy and various counseling programs.
Mith Samlanh/Friends International provides training to over 800 children through its Training Center/Remedial School, while approximately 300 children live at its Transitional Home. All of the children study at Mith Samlanh's Educational Center where they are prepared to reintegrate to public school and their families.
