Distributing Water Filters

Trash is a serious issue here. Water is contaminated, so there is an endless use of water bottles by tourists, and even some locals. Trash is everywhere along the shores and in the waters of this beautiful archipelago.

Water shortage in the dry season is also an issue. I mentioned earlier that the Song Saa Foundation has put in some water tanks to store rain water during the rainy season, and they are in the process of getting filters in the homes of the vulnerable who can't purchase one for themselves.

A few days ago we accompanied Laurel, a Song Saa Foundation director, to a neighboring village to distribute filters.

We boarded one of the common taxi-like boats off of the jetty for the 45-minute ride.

(These Cotopaxi bags are getting some serious use!)

As we pulled up there were stacks of water bottles next to our water filters. There is some educational work to be done!

A typical village shoreline.

As we entered the city we were assaulted with love and joy by a little girl. She is not mentally whole and couldn't speak, but her heart was certainly whole! She couldn't stop hugging and smiling at us.

After an hour or so of her physical love, it became a bit much, but from the look of how the villagers treated her, she was seen as annoying, so we did our best to love her.

Everywhere you look there are stray dogs and cats, and puppies and kittens. How any of them survive is a miracle. They usually have sores and scars. It is a hard life. They are often lying in the sand, trying to keep cool.

Each village has a chief who is voted in by the villagers. He wins votes by paying them the most for their vote.

When we arrived to pass out the free filters, the village chief hadn't done anything to inform the people we were coming. We should have called him the day before to remind him, he said. We asked if he could gather some village men to bring the village to a designated gathering place. How much will you pay us, he asked? Laurel reminded him that we were GIVING the village filters to help the people, and we would not pay. Soon the filters were in push carts being moved. The chosen location was in front of Cambodia's one political party's village headquarters.



The same party (and prime minister) has been in power since the 70's. He was put in place after the Khmer Rouge (a post for another day). During this upcoming "election", a new party was formed. The party was forced to shut down, leaving only the ruling party as the sole option.

We played with the village kids while we waited in the hot sun for the village chief to gather people. It was not a quick process!

Ceci had some stickers.

We went off to find a bathroom, always an adventure in itself! One rule: always carry your own toilet paper and hand sanitizer. My blind eye is getting really strong here!

We found a small cafe run by foreigners who had captured a monkey. We didn't get a great picture, but the poor thing is tormented by the children, who are looking for the smaller dog to beat. The owner tried to get the monkey to attack the children back!

Back to our gathering place.

We should have gathered at this lady's restaurant, because she had a robust business cooking on this little stove! We would have doubled our attendance!

Ok, we finally decided to start with our small group of villagers. The gentleman representing the filter company educated them on the importance of clean water and how to use the filter.

We were introduced as the family that would pass out the filters.

We got to work assembling the filters. Each individual person was called by the village chief, their fingerprint was taken and they signed a paper before receiving the filter. One by one. It was a LONG process!

Ceci was a machine! She worked the entire time.

The villagers loaded them on their motos and were off with the promise of clean water.

Our boat was rented from the Palm Beach Bungalows (where we are staying), and due to the delays in the village we were late, so we had to go pick up incoming guests. This included a stop and wait at another village. It got us home an hour and a half later.

We saw some bioluminescent plankton on the way home! They looked like sparks in the water as we dragged our hands along! Apparently they are easiest to see when there is no moon, which isn't happening during our stay here, darnit!

We were so dirty from all of those kids climbing all over us, we were so tired and hungry and ready to SIT after this day. AND, it was really insightful to see some of the challenges of a non-profit, hear what Geoff would do differently, and great to work with some of the villagers who were very appreciative of the gift.

Teaching English

If we were here longer, we could teach a consistent English course, either in the schools or in the community. So far we've only had time to teach once, but we're hoping to do a few more classes before we leave. Working with the kids is the best part of Cambodia.

We were told one evening at dinner that we had a class of 1st and 2nd graders the next morning at 10:00 for an hour. We didn't know what they knew, and we didn't really know what English would matter in one day of teaching, but we figured we could teach them some basic phrases like "How are you?" and "I'm fine thank you". Their normal schooling is rote memorization, so we had them get up and move around. We weren't super effective, but they had fun, and so did we!

This cutie wasn't allowed in for some reason. No uniform? Boy did she hunger to go to school.

 

Other kids watched through the doors and windows.

Cambodian children go to school for half a day, since there aren't enough schools. In Preaek Svay, the elementary kids go from 7:00-11:00AM and the middle grade kids go from 1:00-5:00PM. That isn't much time to teach much, so outside "extra" classes like English are really helpful.

This school is typical of a Cambodian primary school.

We've met several young people who were taken off of the streets by organizations that teach English and hospitality skills. They seem to be the most educated we've met, all starting off as extremely poor, street kids. There are so many people in this world trying to create opportunities to better the lives of others. It is inspiring.

A trail of students following us to the village one day.

The Community Library

One project the foundation wanted help with was cleaning out the foundation storeroom, which is off of the small community library, located above the Sala Song Saa (Song Saa School).  In addition, the local librarian had to leave with the late stage of her pregnancy, so the library hasn't been open since before Christmas. We could open that up too.

The store room was like a neglected outdoor shed, full of too much unused STUFF. On our initial clean up one afternoon Geoff and Ceci came across an enormous spider as they moved things around. We didn't get to far that first day, feeling like some work gloves and pants and shoes might be a good idea.

A few days later we spent and entire day tackling that room. I couldn't capture the whole room with its piles of stuff, but here is a corner.

Big spiders are sort of my limit. Actually, small spiders are my limit, so Adele and I relegated the storeroom work to Geoff and Ceci who valiantly stuck it out for hours until the job was done. They wielded shovels, killing several large and fast spiders, a scorpion, several big cockroaches and accidentally a lizard's tale (wrong place at the wrong time...) It was outright heroic in my humble opinion.

Whenever we have been there the kids come streaming in. We set some books and art supplies out and they sprawl out all over the filthy board floor and spend hours coloring and reading and trying to sneak away with a few markers.

During our long day, Adele and I tackled bags and boxes of books, slimming down and sorting; we organized the art supplies; and Adele generally kept the kids busy when their being there was beginning to create a faster mess than we could contain. I think they were discovering all possibilities of what was contained in the back room as it was pulled out, and they wanted to try it all: balls, jump ropes, white boards and markers, puzzles and games. It was quite a job to keep it all contained, and Adele did an amazing job shepherding them all in her gentle, loving way. They love her. I didn't get any pictures of that messy day, but there was about 15-20 kids at any given time.

The kids stay after we leave and play around. One day some girls were playing "jacks" with small rocks. We figured out that they had an organized gambling game going on, passing small bills (like coins) to the winner! It has been fun to get to know the kid's personalities!

Some fellow guests at the Palm Beach Bungalows, from Australia, came to help us clean up for the last few hours of our long day, and boy did we welcome their help! We were able to finish the whole project. It was hot, humid and DIRTY work. But here is what six hours in one day will do!

We took the coastal waters home. Blessed coolness!

The other option is a 25ish minute walk along sand. I swear it is 200 degrees on that route! So water from now on (when the tide is low).

We'll get to go back and open the library a few more times before we leave!