The Kids on the Bridge

Arriving in Siem Reap City, Cambodia, September 2014, I immediately became employed entertaining at resorts, restaurants and bars.

I soon discovered the penniless masses of Khmer people roaming the streets and decided to take my guitar and just sit somewhere and sing for them or whoever came by. I chose a pedestrian bridge which crosses the Siem Reap River.

I began to play, and an audience gathered quickly, many Khmer and tourists passing over the bridge. A young English-speaking Khmer woman sat next to me. Soon six very young, disheveled children appeared, dressed in rags and with a few trash bags full of plastic bottles, which evidently they collected for a few Riel.

I asked them, through the young woman, if they were hungry, and they all nodded yes. So, I took them to a nearby street food cart and bought them noodles and a bottle of water.

Returning to the bridge, I resumed singing and soon seven more children came along, and I got them noodles. That was the beginning of feeding the street kids most every night for the next five years. I very soon hired young Khmer women (I called “my girls”) to feed the kids while I earned the money from tourists.  I think 37 was the most children we fed in one night. My friend, IT wizard Sage Greco, in Thailand, created kidsonthebridge.org.

Then Covid19 came and closed down Siem Reap City completely. I never saw those street kids again.