Floods

The Stung Sen river in Kompong Thom burst its banks near to the CoDeC office two weeks ago. Now the only way to get to work is to park my motorbike 100 metres away, roll up my trousers and wade! Beneath the water, the mud floor has become extremely slippery, and it is very hazardous for me to walk through the water carrying all my valuable possessions, particularly my laptop and mobile phone which will get ruined if I slip. I have watched two colleagues get a drenching so far – hope I won’t be next! In the photo I am standing with another VSO volunteer who will be providing training in HIV / AIDS to my CoDeC colleagues in the near future.

Worthy causes

There are so many worthy causes in Cambodia, and it’s easy for VSO volunteers to support them. While at our conference in Sihanoukville, I found out about the work of the Cambodian Childrens Art Project, a local NGO that helps vulnerable children who sell trinkets on the beach to have an education, a daily meal and to understand their rights. It also teaches them to paint, and provides materials for them to produce pictures which are sold to tourists. I arranged for the Project to exhibit some paintings in our conference hall, which raised awareness about the Project and also some money from selling pictures. The children were so excited that their work was being shown in a posh hotel, and those who helped to carry the heavy display stand to the top floor were thrilled to travel down in the lift!

We also arranged for the local blood donation service at Sihanoukville hospital to come to our conference hotel, and 15 people gave blood in the lunch hour. In general, VSO volunteer blood is better quality than that of local people because we are more healthy, and Khmer people only ever give blood to save their own relatives, so there is a desperate shortage in the hospitals.

Another thing I did was to ask VSO volunteers and staff to collect their hotel room toiletries each day. I have now given a huge bag of toothbrushes, soaps, combs and shampoo to the local NGO which runs the Happy Happy Club in Kompong Thom. The orphans and vulnerable children who attend the club each month learn about the importance of hygiene, and at their next meeting will be given these small gifts.

Conference Fun

After months of frenetic preparation by the VolCom committee, the VSO Cambodia annual conference finally took place in Sihanoukville to much acclaim! The committee members and I arranged a full week’s programme designed to develop the skills, professional knowledge, networks, ideas, team work (and lots of other admirable objectives) of the volunteers and VSO staff, but the main goal was to have fun!! I arrived with the committee to the seaside resort a day before the rest of the 80 participants to prepare the meeting rooms, hotel and evening venues, working until 11 p.m. making posters and decorations. One of my jobs in the week was to give out prizes for ‘significant achievements’, which ranged from the volunteer with the best suntan to a group of volunteers who saved the lives of some Khmer teenagers who got swept out to sea by the unusually dangerous undercurrents. Shockingly, six people drowned in Sihanoukville the week we were there – our volunteers heroically saved the lives of at least four people.
We organised evening entertainment every night, including the much anticipated fancy dress party with its theme ‘Something beginning with P’. The week ended with elections for the new VolCom committee, and as I could only serve for one year, my term as committee member is now over. Being a committee member has been an interesting, worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

All dressed up

Last weekend, four VSO friends and I went on a Khmer style photo shoot. This is a popular activity in Cambodia, particularly for brides and grooms. The proceedings started with some eyebrow shaving - bad - but the make up, hair styling, dressing and photography were brilliant fun. Hair pieces and jewellery were provided, and we ended up hardly recognising ourselves!
Here's the before and after shots....

Bird flu scare

Two weeks ago, a Khmer friend told me in passing that 80 of his 100 chickens had died in the previous few days. He was only concerned with the loss of his chickens for food and income, and had very little interest in why the birds had died. Could it have been bird flu? I asked. Well, he said, yes maybe....

Naturally I was very anxious so I reported my concerns to the authorities even though he did not want this. Staff from the Department of Agriculture went to his house and took a chicken away for analysis. I was promised that I would be informed of the outcome. I’m still waiting to hear, and as I’ve waited so long, am assuming that my worst fears weren’t realised....

Gas

It was my birthday last week (thank you to all those who sent good wishes), and to celebrate I invited some friends round to my house for a meal. The guests had arrived and the dinner was cooking when suddenly the cooking gas ran out – the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here. As the food was not yet edible, I considered taking us all out to a restaurant, but in the end I phoned a local shop keeper (in my best Khmer) and arranged to meet him at his house to escort him back to mine to install a new gas bottle. All went to plan, and dinner was finally served a mere 45 minutes late.

I love Cambodia.... where else would you get a shopkeeper to open up 3 hours after closing time and then deliver and install gas for you with no call out charge or complaint and just because you’re in the middle of cooking ?

Kirirom National Park

Last weekend two friends and I visited Kirirom National Park, a high, cool and picturesque spot only 2 hours from Phnom Penh. We had a fabulous sweat-free weekend walking around pine clad hills and lakes! We climbed to the top of a waterfall where we watched Cambodians at leisure splashing around in the water fully clothed. One of the villages in the park has established a very successful eco-tourism enterprise, and it was really interesting to see how community-run tourism can bring such sustainable benefits to the people and to the local natural resources.