An early start this morning, as Ian, Ivy, Suzanne and myself caught a 6.35am flight to Phnom Penh for our visit to CSC (Children’s Surgical Centre). Getting up was a real struggle, but a distant memory at 5am when I was sitting in Starbucks inhaling caffeine!

The flight was uneventful, but the scenery was breathtaking, as from 35,000 feet all the way to landing, you could see the ground…

We breezed through immigration and baggage collection and went from plane to outside world in about 10 minutes! Emma was waiting for us, and after we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we came straight to the surgical centre to get straight to work, and the reason, after all, why we are here in the first place.

It was a typically busy Monday morning with scores of people waiting to be seen, and the clinic was even more efficient than I remember from my previous visit with patients ranging from shortened legs due to an untreated break, to kiddys with cleft lips. CSC never fails to drive home the fact that medical treatment is too easy in the western world, and I swear i’ll never again complain about the NHS! Here at CSC, there’s not a hyperchondriac in sight, and to quote “if it’s not blindingly obvious what’s wrong with them in the first few minutes, then we probably won’t be working on them!” The people that come through here understand hardship, and it’s great to see that every penny of the funds raised from the White Collar Boxing is being spent well!

Around 11am, we went to the new CASC (Cambodia Acid Survivors Charity) house set on 1 hectare of land about 22 kilometres outside of Phnom Penh. This house is the latest vision of the ever inspiring Dr Jim where he intends to not only house acid attack survivors, but also rehabilitate them with training, and give them some independance through growing and caring for crops and livestock.

Besides the fantastic potential the house and the land have, they are also building additional housing for the residents. The pictures below don’t quite do them justice, but you can get a good idea from them.

In the afternoon, we went into the operating room where all three operating tables were occupied with a hip replacement, cleft lip surgery and an acid burn victim. It’s a real priviledge being able to get so close to the work these amazing people do, and with my near-obsession with cleft lip/palate surgery, I am constantly in awe of these guys who can work, what I consider to be a miracle. These gorgeous babies are given the gift of their smile, and in a country that seems to have a significant number of cleft lipped kids, CSC is a godsend for each and every one of those little beauties that pass through.

After a few drinks in my favourite Phnom Penh bar, FCC and dinner at Cantina, it was an early night after a very long and gratifying day