​Life in our village is usually busy and we could have very well lived without the added stress and worries that we experienced in ​October 2021. Despite our virgilant approach to keeping Covid-19 out of our village, a number of children and staff tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Most importantly, we are relieved that everyone who was infected has completely recovered. All staff and most children, except for the very young ones were already vaccinated against Covid-19 at the time of the outbreak and all cases hence had a relatively mild course of disease.
Covid positive cases in Cambodia are required to quarantine in a government facility and we were grateful to the authorities that they arranged for our staff and all children to be quarantined together in a government facility.
It goes without saying that tensions in the village were high for a number of days and the management team implemented measures that successfully stopped a further spread of the virus in our village.
School children in the older year groups who are expected to write important exams at the end of the year are allowed to attend school in person since September 2021 again. Whilst we are thankful that there is a slow return to normalcy, it is likely that one of the students that are back in school caught the virus and the team at the village will be vigilant to avoid further clusters from spreading into our village.
Anti-pandemic measure
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To stop further transmission of the Coronavirus, the local management team of Kinderhilfe Kambodscha tightened their hygiene protocols.
In addition to our regular cleaning schedules, all areas of the village are disinfected thoroughly.
Ambulance ride to the quarantine facility
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​After our initial case tested positive, all children and staff were tested. The patients were then transported together to the nearest Government Quarantine facility, to minimise the risk of further transmissions. Thankfully all our children and staff were able to stay together for their quarantine, so that they were surrounded by familiar faces during this challenging time.
Food donations from our local communities
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Kinderhilfe Kambodscha is well integrated into the local community and we occasionally receive support and food donations. In October the vice-governor of Sen-Sok District payed us a visit and the rice and noodle donations he brought along were well received.