I'm back in Siem Reap and taking a little time with the Family Support team because I have been concerned for some time about the kids working the streets outside Moms (my local bar), picking up spare cardboard and cans etc. So on Friday myself and a couple of members of the team hit the streets at 10pm to see what we could find.

Of course it transpires these children are all known to the project and we are already working with some of their families, and this is indeed their only income. So on we went up to the Old Market where I had seen a couple of potential ‘yum yum’ kids earlier, who seek food rather than cash.

One does come out. An almost naked little girl aged about nine and working on her own. Again begging food we give her a phone number and tell her to call in the morning if possible, so we can arrange a meeting with her family to see if we can help. No call comes and she is back again the next night as I pass through, and I admonish her and indicate she should phone the given number. Amazingly we get a call from her sister twenty minutes later and we set a meeting for the next morning.

We go to the appointed area to meet the elder sister, who is married. She describes her husband as useless: he never works, and forces the younger children onto the street to beg. Her father is dead, her mother has run away. So we have two young orphans being cared for by their sister. The home is a small hut which is rented for 50c a day. It's bad, with no chance of keeping out the winter rain. It is possible we may consider admitting the younger two children to the orphanage should the elder sister agree.

It's 95f outside and getting hotter everyday which is not helping our new project, the Coffee House, which is set to open Friday. We have the beer, the wine and nearly got the Coca Cola. The rep has driven seven hours from Phnom Penh with the approved contact for signing - no fridge though. He has driven back to the Penh, file the contract, collect the machine and drive all the way back again. TIC as we say here. (This Is Cambodia.)

Our coffee machine is delayed in Singapore due to last week's Chinese New Year celebrations. Beer, wine and nibbles it will be then. Just two more weeks in Siem Reap before a quick return to Kampot then back home. No more people chasing me up the street shouting ‘Took Took Soor.’ And offering a range of, er, sundry services, One aspect I won’t miss.