The future of SreyNich is in Disneyland. So her boss Paul Wallimann called the tourist resort Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia. If you want to see the famous temples of Angkor, stay here.

There are hundreds of restaurants and hotels, spas and shopping. The central "Pubstreet" is buzzing with disco lights flashing from the bars, and Sean Paul's bass lines mingling with Oasis songs. As a test of courage for tourists, women offer fried tarantulas and scorpions.

The garden, about 1.5 kilometers away, where SreyNich is just clearing a table, is an oasis of silence. The 18-year-old has been working for four months in "Haven", a training restaurant for socially disadvantaged young people and orphans. The excitement is to be noted the young woman. Concentrated, she pushes glasses onto a tray.

"Most apprentices have never been to a restaurant before they came to us, they have to learn a lot from scratch," says Paul Wallimann. The 50-year-old Swiss man founded the Haven together with his wife Sara, 42, eight years ago.

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Restaurant tip for Siem Reap: Haven of Hope

Cambodia knew the two of them from a trip around the world, where they volunteered for an orphanage for a few months and realized that many children and adolescents have no chance for a self-determined life. "They are well looked after as long as they are children," says Sara Wallimann. "But we asked ourselves: what happens when they are of legal age?" The answer of the operator? A shrug.

At some point the couple realized that many children are not orphans at all, but are being loaned by their parents to the home operators. The business model: Homes open their doors to visitors, they bring donations. The "orphans" become a tourist attraction. The poorer they live, the more money goes into the coffers of the operators.

"Just before we moved here, we revisited the home we had worked in. Everything was run down, but the operator family suddenly had gold jewelry and their own home," says Sara Wallimann. The Swiss were shaken.

"At some point they are not the sweet children anymore"

Shortly after the last visit to the orphanage, they founded the Haven. In the meantime, there is a third Swiss girl, Steffi Feierabend. "We teach our apprentices that they have to do something to make money, and at some point they are no longer the sweet children with whom everyone has compassion, there is nothing that makes them more proud than taking care of themselves." says Sara Wallimann.

In Cambodia, there are other restaurants that train apprentices from difficult backgrounds - such as the "Friends" in Phnom Penh. All have different concepts. The role model of the Wallimanns is the dual training system in Switzerland: trainees learn theory in adjoining training rooms and practice in the restaurant.

Her apprentices recruit the Wallimanns through organizations and social workers. Eleven trainees employ them - one of them is SreyNich. The young woman grew up about 20 kilometers from Siem Reap. Her father grew rice, but that was not enough to feed the family. Her brother Visal also harvested coconuts - for about 20 cents a piece. One day he crashed at work, broke both his legs and stopped at school. Through the mediation of a social worker, he finally landed in the "Haven".

Today he is cashier in the restaurant, eventually he will take over the management. He caught up with his sister four months ago. "I'm happy and very proud, I never dreamed of having such a job," says Visal. In the beginning, language was his main problem, meanwhile he speaks fluent English.

Cordon Bleu and Zurich sliced ​​meat

To make learning easier, Wallimanns work with a Cambodian chef. He does not only cook local dishes. The menu includes local specialties such as amok and Lok Lak, as well as Cordon Bleu and Zurich sliced ​​meat with tofu.

Unlike SreyNich, most apprentices are trained in the kitchen. In the first weeks of a vintage the restaurant is closed. The young people learn the basics of hygiene, English and the correct use of social media. Even though the apprentices were in school until the 12th grade, there is often a lack of knowhow, says Paul Wallimann: "One must not forget that under Pol Pot a whole generation of knowledge was wiped out."

The dictator had hundreds of thousands deported from the cities in the 1970s. Intellectuals were persecuted in the Maoist peasant state. Up to two million people died as a result of forced labor and hunger or were executed. Even today, the country is de facto still a dictatorship - despite supposedly free elections. This affects the mentality of the inhabitants. "It's easy for us to teach our apprentices to cook, but to give them creative thinking is extremely difficult," says Paul Wallimann.

At least they seem to have learned to dream in the "Haven". "I want to be a good waitress to earn money," says SreyNich, "so I can go to college, I want to become a lawyer."