Visit to Wat Opot

"There were days when these were always hot," said Wayne, 66, owner of Wat Opot Orphanage, touching the black metal crematory doors. Chills made my body tweak  as he described how back in the day, there was no medicine at all for HIV/AIDs patients, so they just died, "thousands of them." In fact the reason why Cambodia's HIV/AIDs statistic had lowered drastically in the last decade can be largely attributed to death.

When Wat Opot first opened, it was basically a hospice for infected patients, "a place where people came to die," as Wayne put it. Now, more than a decade later, one would never guess that this place has seen so much death or sadness. Wat Opot, just two hours outside of Phnom Penh, is essentially a haven of all havens; a place where orphaned or mistreated children (ages approx. 4-19 yrs.) can grow up in a stable environment. "Take pictures," Wayne told us, "so that people can see that AIDs can be happy." Wat Opot is an orphanage that cares for both infected and non-infected children. It's a mixed bag, and Wayne would like to keep it that way. He explains that many communities are plagued with AIDs discrimination and that many children and adults do not live fulfilled lives, as they are often outlasted or treated differently. Even though some kids at Wat Opot may have flaming open wounds, no one seems to notice (in a good way) and life goes on. In Wayne's philosophy and in the philosophy of any compassionate human being, this is the way things should be. 

Wayne is quite modest about what he's done in the community, how many lives he's affected. He told us about the 2003 visit to Wat Opot from The World Food Program. It was that visit alone that altered WMF's worldwide policy of donating food to AIDs patients. Before, WFP offered no donation of food to patients, but their visit to Wat Opot changed the policy so that it would donate to AIDs patients; that visit alone did it. After spending two and a half days at Wat Opot, I can say that it is truly, entirely, and undoubtedly so much more than just any orphanage. Plus, there are only two full-time staff members for 55 kids! I could try and describe it, but I think the mural the children painted represents the place perfectly: the white floaty things represent the kids' free spirits and ability to have freedom, the lotus flower symbolizes purity, the skeleton is for death and the green leaf shows a new birth/hope (death & birth are one in one), heart for love, and the Buddha and cross symbolize spirituality and that there is no one way of believing. Wayne just asked the kids to paint what they thought of Wat Opot. Such beautiful thoughts.

To top it all off, the kids have a little stage, strobe light, and music equipment because they LOVE to dance. They're really good too. They love all kinds of music, especially pop and hip hop, good music. So, every night they have a little dance party and the kids go CRAZY, I mean, balls to walls dancing. It's not only the funniest thing I've ever seen, but also hands down the best dance party I've ever been to.