More than 400 children across 10 slums in Phnom Penh are cared for by Riverkids, with schooling provided

She was born and raised in Singapore, one of five children of two expatriate New Zealanders. And though her family may have all moved back home, Dale Edmonds is still here.

“Singapore is home, and I can’t imagine living somewhere else,” says Dale, 32, who married a Singaporean and is now a Singapore citizen.

“Whenever I come back [from travels], there’s that moment at Changi when you drive down the expressway, and the roads stretch out all neat and orderly, with the greenery and trees just so, and something in me sighs in satisfaction.

“The punchline is that I’m the only one in my family who doesn’t like Asian food,” she adds. “Chicken rice and roti prata are about as exotic as I can get.”

She has worked as a freelance writer and editor, but these days Dale is busy with a labour of love – Riverkids Project – that came about after she and her husband Jimmy Yap took in their four adoptive Vietnamese children, all siblings. 

The children’s parents had left Vietnam for Cambodia, and then split up, with the father taking custody of the children. He subsequently gave them all up.

After Dale and Jimmy had adopted their first two children, a boy and a girl, they set about looking for the children’s other brother and sister. When they finally found the children’s elder sister, who had been given away by her father as a maid to another family, they adopted her and even assumed support of the two children she had been taking care of.

In doing so, the couple learned of the harsh realities of child trafficking and abuse – including forced entry into the sex trade – in Cambodia.

“We got involved because our [own] children had been trafficked for adoption,” says Dale, whose friends and family initially persuaded her not to get involved in this situation, and to “move on”.

“We’ve [seen cases of] kids trafficked, raped, beaten and horribly abused. Human trafficking in Cambodia in the slums is just another way to survive [but] the real money goes to the rich people at the top. The families and the children involved get scraps.”

In 2002, Dale and her husband started Riverkids Project, supporting and shielding children from traffickers, and sending them to school in the process. They soon had 27 slum-dwelling children on their hands.

Eventually, the couple could no longer fund the endeavour on their own. They registered a formal non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Cambodia in 2007, the Riverkids Foundation. It is in turn, funded and managed by Riverkids Project in Singapore, and now cares for more than 400 children across ten slums in Phnom Penh.

No quick fix

Riverkids aims to prevent the sale and exploitation of children, to find non-exploitative labour alternatives for them and their families, and to transform communities so as to stave off poverty and keep exploitative practices at bay.

It also runs children’s and adults’ programmes in the areas of education, health, social work and sustainable business enterprises.

According to Dale, Riverkids was one of the first NGOs to face up to the human-trafficking problem. And she knows all too well that patience and perseverance, along with continued support from donors, volunteers and other good samaritans, is needed.

“It takes time. We can work with a family for three to five years before seeing a change. We work with the worst families [who are unwilling to seek help]. We’re not there for a quick fix, to find families that want help. We deliberately look for the families that are rejecting help, that are hurting their kids.

“They’re the ones who need help the most, even though they’re the hardest to reach.”

Riverkids takes up so much of Dale’s time that she no longer does freelance work. Her husband works as a full-time editor and writer, while she calls herself a “full-time volunteer” for the NGO. Aside from their four children, the pair of animal lovers also keep three dogs and five cats.

Living in Singapore has been a boon for Dale in terms of raising her adopted children.

“I think Singapore is the best place in the world to raise children. It’s not just things like safety and a decent education — it’s having a culture that’s truly inclusive and rich, where families are central, but differences are understood.

“My younger daughter recently visited a mosque with her friend’s family. They dressed her in the tudung, and she shared the experience happily, despite being of a different faith. And my elder son thinks studying and being class monitor is cool – despite being a hulking teenager glued to his iPod.”

Our most expensive child

As a base of operations for Riverkids, Dale says Singapore is a "fantastic" location.

“Singaporeans are deeply involved in Cambodia, both in business and as visitors and supporters. It is just over an hour to fly there, and Cambodians view Singaporeans as fair and reliable, so it makes my work easier.

“For donors, having our administration and financials (which are made available online) managed out of Singapore brings a sense of trust and transparency, too.

“We don’t benefit financially from Riverkids at all,” Dale stresses. “In time and money, Riverkids is basically our most expensive child!”

She intends to expand the organisation, handing over most of her current duties to full-time staff and long-term volunteers to focus more on fundraising and improving programmes.

Currently, there are still more than 50,000 children at ‘high-risk’ [living in slums with abusive families] in Phnom Penh, and they have “such a bleak future,” says Dale.

“Even if they can escape the brothels, they have almost no way out of repeating their parents’ mistakes. Riverkids could break that cycle.”

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* All photographs courtesy of Dale Edmonds

This article was written by Yong Shu Chiang and first published in Singapore Magazine (Oct-Dec 2010 issue).