Posted 25 Jun 2009

Being left without parents and infected with the HIV is not enough to make orphans in Cambodia give up their hopes of leading fulfilling lives, in the opinion of one journalist.

Writing for the Telegraph, Clive Graham Ranger relates the details of his visit to the Cambodian Country Club outside of Phnom Penh where a group of young girls are brought to try their hands at horse riding.

They are from Anakut Laor, a house set up in 2005 in Stung Meanchey to provide shelter and stability for girls from poor rural areas who have no immediate family and are HIV positive.

"For kids with no background or experience of horses, never mind riding one over jumps, they are fearless," Dr Kaing Sophal, the director of Anakut Laor, told the journalist.

Another journalist to marvel at the steely nature of Cambodia‘s residents recently is Peter Greenberg, who runs a website of the same name. He stated that a visit to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum will leave gap year travellers’ with an altered perspective on life.

Category: Asia