Teen learns hula, plays soccer and gets to ‘practice my English’

» Darceys reach out to Cambodian orphans

Meta Torn, a 16-year-old orphan from Cambodia, never had eaten a hamburger, seen an escalator, or visited a beauty shop or done any number of things that American teens take for granted prior to her recent visit to Hawaii.

Yet, like many of her American counterparts, Meta dreams of getting an advanced degree and one day finding a good-paying job.

"Hawaii is very beautiful and modern. I liked learning how to hula and play soccer and practice my English," said Meta, a top student at her orphanage, who dreams of one day returning to Hawaii to study international relations and tourism. But for now, she was just happy to be the guest of Nancy Walden, who opened her home and her heart to Meta during her stay in the islands.

Meta left Oahu on Thursday to return home to Cambodia.

"When you meet her, you just can't help but be taken by her," said Walden, who was instrumental in helping Meta get a scholarship to participate in a four-week cultural exchange at Punahou School.

Volunteers from the Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunrise and Email Foster Parents International paid to bring Meta from her home at the Future Light Orphanage of Worldmate (FLOW) in Phnom Penh to Hawaii.

Now, they are bringing more Cambodian children from the orphanage with the hope that they will sing and dance their way into Hawaii's hearts and pocketbooks. Approximately 25 dancers and five musicians, along with eight adult chaperones from the orphanage, will be in Hawaii from Sept. 3 to Sept. 17 as the first big fundraising effort on behalf of Email Foster Parents International.

"They'll hold a performance to share their culture with Hawaii and to raise money from the program," said Hal Darcey, who came out of his quasi-retirement to turn the Rotary project Email Foster Parents International into a legitimate nonprofit.

While many of Cambodia's orphans are lost souls doomed to wander the city streets begging money from foreigners and stealing food, FLOW children are thriving with a little help from their friends in Hawaii and elsewhere. The children of FLOW have food and shelter, but their founder Phaly Nuon worries about feeding their spirits and creating a program where they can be proud of their culture and of who they are.

She has taught many of the children the ancient skill of silk weaving and now, with the help of Hawaii volunteers like patron Masa Edamura, has started teaching more of them the traditional art of Cambodian music and Apsara dancing.

"It makes them so happy to learn Cambodian dances and play their music," Edamura said. "They feel very proud."

It's also satisfying for Nuon to see traces of the Cambodia of her youth in the purposeful steps of her young dancers. Like much that was good in Cambodia, Apsara dancing was nearly obliterated by the Khmer Rouge who sought to create an agrarian society by killing the educated, the entertainers, the teachers and the professionals.

An estimated 1.5 to 3 million Cambodians were killed during Cambodia's killing fields, the largest genocide in the history of the world. While the Khmer Rouge fell from power in 1979, the fighting, unrest and civil conflicts continued until 1997. As a result, orphan children represent more than 9 percent of Cambodia's population, and with the spread of HIV/AIDS that number has continued to grow.