Brooke Williams

When I tell people that I am helping build a hospital in Cambodia, they always seem a little confused. I thought you were a photographer? Well, I am and so is everyone else here in the New York Friends office. To me that is what makes this project so incredible is that it illustrates what we human beings are capable of.

Dealing with the paper side of the project over the past year, I admit that at times the hospital has seemed abstract, almost unreal. While Kenro has been well guided by our medical advisors, on some occasions we had to wing it in between calls. I will never forget the morning Kenro told me to start ordering medical equipment that had to be shipped over before the hospital opened. When I asked him what I was supposed to ask for, he thought for a minute and said, We'll need an operating table, operating lights and those things that you put on a person's chest that make that boom boom noise.

In March, I finally got the opportunity to visit Cambodia. It was amazing to see a very real, functioning hospital. From the plans, I had no idea it would be so big (apparently neither did Kenro) nor so beautiful.

With hammers pounding in the background, the hospital staff have turned the building that was given them into a nurturing teaching hospital. It was so inspiring to see children being tenderly treated in the outpatient clinic while Khmer nurses learned medical terminology in a makeshift classroom down the hall. The hospital staff talk passionately about dental programs, nutrition gardens and outreach programs. They have taken the project further than I could have imagined.

While I was taking pictures in the hospital waiting room, mothers would point to their child's stomach or head trying to communicate the problem to me. The concern on their faces was unforgettable. There were so many sick children, and some whose parents just needed to be reassured.

Corruption in the Cambodian medical system has allowed doctors to make money by prescribing medicine. Tragically this has tricked people into thinking they need antibiotics for every cough or fever and many children are now immune to some life saving medications. Our hospital staff is working hard to change this thinking.

At the time I visited, construction was still pounding on and the hospital was only prepared to offer outpatient care. It was frustrating for the medical staff to see so many sick children and not be able to give them the intensive care they needed. Now, only a few months later, the inpatient service is open and the hospital is offering surgery. The hospital is off to such a great start, but so much more is needed to sustain this momentum.

The American newspapers always tell the same sad stories that leave me with a sense of despair about Cambodia's future. My visit to the Angkor Hospital For Children left me with a strong sense of hope.