Advertisement
Published: June 29th 2007
A child in Cambodia
A child captured on photo by Kirsten in 2001 A couple of years ago a friend of mine - Kirsten Robertson - had a dream. That dream was to take her skills in play therapy and filial therapy (a form of child counselling) into Developing Countries around the world. Kirsten always longed to help free these children from suffering and trauma through the use of their natural language - play.
In 2001 Kirsten visited Cambodia for two short weeks. In that time her skills were in demand and Kirsten was blessed with the privilege of sharing these skills with many human service workers who travelled many hours to reach her training workshop in Phnom Penh.
Each year since, Kirsten has longed to return to Cambodia to provide training for foster carers, human service workers and orphanage workers in filial therapy and play therapy. Each year she has asked me to consider going to Phnom Penh with her and each year the time just hasn’t been right. Well, the exciting news is late last year Kirsten asked me to go to Cambodia with her once again and this time the adventure seemed it might just be possible!
My Bachelor of Social Work Degree required that I filled
a 14 week placement in a Social Worker role. Well, I dared to dream that this final placement could be in Cambodia working with the children Kirsten so often told me about. After approval by my University, in January this year the dream for Cambodia turned into action as we worked on ways to make this adventure possible. Funds were a big issue! Both Kirsten and I would be volunteering our time for 15 weeks and paying our own way. On top of that we really, really, really wanted to provide resources for the foster carers, human service workers and especially the children in Cambodia. Rather than giving up and letting the possible be impossible, we both pursued ideas in raising funds.
In March 2007 this year, we hosted a fundraising art exhibition titled “Life, Love & Compassion”. The exhibition was a huge success in both providing us with a valuable learning experience and in raising valuable funds. I entered two of my artworks in the exhibition - “A Moment Together” and “A Gentle Touch”. Thankfully for the Cambodia money tin, painting “A Gentle Touch” sold.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0516s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
