Founder’s message: Jenny Ciucci

15 Year Anniversary Children’s Future International

In 2007, I traveled to Cambodia for the first time. The road was being newly constructed and consisted of a stretch of half-flattened dirt that would be impassable at the first rain.

My plans to visit Cambodia for one month were thwarted by a bout of food poisoning that landed me in the hospital. Too sick to move, I spent several days in fear of a giant spider jumping from the ceiling onto my face, and of the nurse succeeding in poking me with previously opened mystery syringes she kept approaching me with.

Had it not been for that chicken curry gone bad, I might never had had to extend my visa and would have missed out on the most humbling experience of my life.

The following years were spent learning and doing our very best to meet the needs of a community of children and their families in rural Battambang. Founding Children’s Future grew out of a vision Andrew Wolff and I developed as we tried unsuccessfully to secure support from existing NGOs for children in urgent need of safety, healthcare and access to education.

It took months of learning Khmer, visiting families in the countryside and being invited to spend hours in homes made of bamboo to learn about the children that were missing. Invisible amongst the rice paddies, palm trees and stunning sunsets were the children that weren’t there. The reasons for their absence were often uniquely heartbreaking, and the result of a complex series of systemic failures, socioeconomics and personal tragedies.

Siblings told me about their ten-year old brother who had been sent away to wash motorbikes. He slept on the concrete floor, alone, for a pay of 10$ per month that he sent home to his parents. Another sibling group had a sponsorship from a well-known organization but spent their days collecting trash instead of attending school. They told me matter of fact that they had school uniforms, but their sponsorship didn’t cover food or school costs, and since their mother’s death their father regularly beat them when he drank. Two 10-year-old girls were being sent away to a border town filled with brothels “to sell fruit” after having been raped, neither them nor their parents batting an eye at the inevitability of that decision.

Too often to count, children told me of parents that had left years ago in search of work in Thailand. One boy said, “my mother used to call me twice a year, but now it’s been three years since I’ve heard from her. I can’t remember her face. I don’t know why she stopped calling.”

In response to an urgent need for safety, education and healthcare, as well as long-term support for children, their families and community, we founded Children’s Future.

With a group of incredible staff members, volunteers, donors and board members, we were able to grow the organization to what it is today. I am forever humbled by the outpouring of support from around the world and the achievements of our Cambodian staff members, working in circumstances that can often be exasperating.

I am also in awe of our former students, who have grown into some of the most inspiring young adults and role models for their communities and beyond. They personify what we can hope to achieve at our best and inspire me daily with their own visions for the future.

A few years ago, I stood in the garden and watched children of all ages play. Staff members were chatting with some of them, some kids were chasing each other, and others were playing soccer.

It struck me that every single one of these children, in that moment, was safe to bring forth their unique gifts and personality. Something so simple, yet so fragile, that we aim to protect every day. We can do our best to provide the support, safety and love. But the ripple effects of supporting children to grow into who they may be will never be known. Thank you to everyone for your support.