H.O.P.E RECONNECT

A Nation Helps Find 350 Faces.

Do You Recognize These Children? 🇰🇭

In 2007, I spent days crossing Cambodia with a camera and a tuk-tuk. No schedule. No fixers. Just the road.

I photographed 350+ children — in orphanages, street schools, floating villages, hospitals, rice paddies, dusty roads. Children running barefoot through schoolyards with a freedom that luxury resorts will never manufacture. A boy gripping a microphone like he was about to change the world. Girls waving through fences with smiles that needed no translation.

Those children are now adults. Mid-twenties to early thirties. Some have university degrees. Some have their own families. Some have left Cambodia entirely.

I want to find them.

THE ORIGIN

How This Started

2007. I was a photographer based in Bangkok. I had just completed a major project for Philippe Starck's resort in Phuket when Mitch Webber, Director of Ogilvy Action Bangkok, proposed something entirely different: "Come to Cambodia. There are children you need to meet."

The entry point: Sunrise Cambodia — an organization founded by Geraldine Cox in 1996, caring for over a thousand vulnerable children. But the photographs extend far beyond Sunrise's walls. I documented children everywhere — in the streets, in classrooms, in markets, on roads no tourist has ever seen.

The series received an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards 2007. Then the photographs went dormant. For nineteen years.

THE SEARCH

This Is Where You Come In.

I'm publishing hundreds of photographs from 2007 — week by week — across dedicated galleries on this page.

Look carefully. You might recognize a face. A place. A smile.

If you recognize anyone — if you ARE one of these children — if you are a parent, a relative, a neighbour, a teacher — if you grew up in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, or Sihanoukville between 2005 and 2010 — if you know someone who did:

Fill out the form below. It takes two minutes.

Every identification brings us closer.

Every share multiplies our chances.

THE PROJECT

H.O.P.E — THE Return

H.O.P.E stands for Happiness, Obstinacy, Purpose, Education.

In 2027, twenty years later, I return to Cambodia. Not to repeat what I did. To find the people I photographed and complete the story.

H.O.P.E — Happiness · Obstinacy · Purpose · Education

cazeba.com/hope-cambodia

Browse the Photographs

New selections posted every week. Click a gallery to view the full set.

New selections posted every week. Click a gallery to view the full set.

[GALLERY ONE — Cambodia, 2007] The overview. Villages, schools, orphanages, streets, hospitals. Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville. 67 photographs.

[GALLERY SUNRISE — Sunrise Cambodia, 2007] The children of Sunrise Cambodia in Siem Reap and Kandal Province. Inside the orphanage, the classrooms, the courtyards. 80+ photographs.

[GALLERY SUNRISE II — Sunrise Cambodia, 2007] ← NEW More moments from inside Geraldine Cox's program. The in-between moments when no one was performing for the camera. 80+ photographs.

[GALLERY SIEM REAP SCHOOLS — LHA & Caring for Cambodia, 2007] ← NEW Two schools. One morning. Ten minutes apart by tuk-tuk. Sewing students at Wat Damnak and children in CFC uniforms on red earth. The women of 2007 will sew the school bags of 2027.

[GALLERY SIEM REAP — Coming Soon] The temples, the villages, the rice fields, the roads. Siem Reap beyond the schools and orphanages.

[GALLERY TONLÉ SAP — Coming Soon] The floating villages. Life on the water.

[GALLERY PHNOM PENH — Coming Soon] Streets, markets, slums, hospitals. The Cambodia beyond the walls.

H.O.P.E RECONNECT — GALLERY ONE
La Petite Agence Web La Petite Agence Web

H.O.P.E RECONNECT — GALLERY ONE

Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2007 — First selection of photographs. Hundreds of children and families members documented across villages, schools, and orphanages. Do you recognize anyone? Scroll, look, and help us find them.

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