Thursday, April 7, 2011

sad news

Unfortunately the child who had been diagnosed with TB and HIV died today.  All the children, cooks and housemother  were sad and somber for the rest of the day.  The deceased's sister (age 13) returned with the body to their grandparents home where the body will be on display until the funeral.  All I know is traditional Khmer rites are being planned, but as of this point, I don't know what these are besides what I read on the internet.

What was surprising was that no one touched this child while she was sobbing.   I hoped it wasn't too culturally inappropriate, but I did hold her until the one staff mother took her from me and placed an arm around her shoulders.

This is so very sad and it has been a week of sadness with this on top of two other deaths in my social realm.  Maybe the touch was more for me than for her.

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