Harvesting Playgrounds, Planting Joy
Eighteen months ago, our friend Trudy came to us with an idea.
Through Rotary’s Overseas Recycled Playgrounds Project (RORP), playgrounds in Australia were being harvested—carefully dismantled at the peak of their usefulness and prepared for a second life. Instead of being scrapped, they were sent to communities in need.
What a perfect way to describe it—just like fruit picked at the height of its ripeness, these playgrounds were still full of fun to give, ready to be enjoyed by children who had never before had the chance to play on one.
Trudy asked: What if we could bring them to Cambodia?
YES!
That question and answer sparked an incredible journey—one that required navigating Cambodian customs, securing tax exemptions, and handling countless logistics. (At Heartprint, we had to learn the entire import process from scratch. But learn it we did! Wendy and Pheap feel like they could open their own import operations system!)
Rotary agreed to ship the playgrounds, and Trudy and her husband personally covered the cost of trucking the shipping container from Sihanoukville port to Siem Reap, a distance by road of 522.6 kilometers on sometimes sub-optimal roads.
When the container finally arrived from Sihanoukville, we hit an unexpected roadblock: no way to get it off the truck’s flatbed! After a frantic scramble, we actually found a crane operating just one street over, and they kindly maneuvered around to help us out the same afternoon!
Before long, the container was on the ground and we were opening its doors to reveal 12 playgrounds waiting to meet new children in the Kingdom of Wonder.
From Storage to Slides
Our youth group and staff jumped in immediately, unloading, logging receipt of pieces, and transporting the playgrounds to Heartprint’s warehouse, where they would be freshened up and prepared for installation.
Members of Rotary Peninsula 2.0, the Phnom Penh Rotaract Club, and the Heartprint Youth Mentor Group teamed up to revitalize the first playground. With the support of Rotary Peninsula 2.0 including Trudy and Russell themselves, the Heartprint Build Crew successfully installed the very first playground at Sambour Primary School. In just two days, the playground was ready for the children to enjoy.
The best part? Almost 1,500 children now have access to a space designed just for them to play. Watching them climb, swing, and laugh reminded us why this project is so very important. It adds a whole new level of living for these kids.
Houses and toilets and learning in our Community Centre are all critical and offer a solid base from which families can more safely close in on opportunities for a better life.
Playgrounds - not a common sight in Cambodia - offer joy. The pure, flying-through-the-air joy that comes from playing.
Anyway, we could barely get the playground installed and secured before the school kids descended upon it. We were practically setting up barriers to keep them back until we were sure everything was steady and safe!
If only you could have seen their faces and heard the laughter! If bottled, that sound would be the most priceless product on any shop shelf.
One little boy was swinging and playing on the monkey bars and slipped — right into a big puddle of mud leftover from our final washdown of the equipment. But instead of crying from the unexpected jolt and splatter, he and the other children burst into laughter and just kept on going.
That’s what a playground should be—full of joy, adventure, and shared moments of happiness.
The kids finally had to head into their classes and we packed up to return to Heartprint. Then we realized our staff weren’t gathering their things to come with us.
They were playing on the slides and swings and monkey bars.
Ranging in age from 19 to 38 or so, our Heartprint team was playing on something actually designed for play - for the first time in their lives.
Planting more Play
With 11 more playgrounds waiting to be revitalized and installed, our next goal is broader than school yards.
We’re working with the Siem Reap governor to place these playgrounds in public spaces throughout the province, ensuring that more children — regardless of wealth or background — have free and equal access to a safe and creative place to play.
Trudy and Russell are sponsoring the rent on our old Heartprint Community Centre building so we can store and work on the playgrounds there. It is incredibly generous and allows us to spread out and get this done as efficiently as possible. After all, we are in a hurry to let more people play in Siem Reap.
Play It Forward: the details
Heartprint, an Australian-founded non-profit (ABN: 70 609 238 351), has partnered with Rotary Peninsula 2.0 to launch Play It Forward—an initiative that harvests decommissioned playgrounds from Australia and relocates them to disadvantaged communities in Cambodia.
Without this project, these playgrounds would end up in landfills. Instead, they are being reimagined and revitalized — giving children (and the Heartprint staff!) the chance to dream, explore, and simply be kids.
Garry O’Brien, our co-founder shares the heart behind the project:
“A playground is more than just a slide or a swing. It’s a gateway to adventure, a space where a child can escape the pressures of life—even just for an hour. For many of these kids, it may be the only time they feel truly free.”
Want to help us bring more playgrounds to Cambodia? Stay tuned for ways to get involved!
With love and gratitude to you, always,
Your Heartprint team