Time goes quickly. It’s hard to believe
that Kevin and I have been here for almost 10 months. It means that
we’re still having fun … working out in the field, organizing workshops, taking
trips to Vietnam, Kep, Kratie and lately, taking
several trips to Phnom Penh trying to get my laptop (that crashed recently)
fixed, celebrating, organizing induction plans for new VSO volunteers (while
sadly biding farewell to others)… Not to mention the sounds of la
vie quotidienne from our little community down below who are still working on
the new house that began to take shape a while ago. Though we’ve
had many activities on the go, I have no real excuse for not writing. My
motto is to procrastinate until guilt creeps in to tell me that it’s time to
put pen to paper.
For the Khmer New Year, Kevin and I spent a
week (via Kep) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Though we were warned
that Saigon would be like a ‘zoo’, we welcomed it with open arms after camping
for nearly 10 months. It was indeed a nice break for us.
On the way to Ho Chi Minh, we spent the
weekend in Kep. Kep is known as the ‘little French Riviera’ of Cambodia.
It’s a popular place for tourists and it is the place to relax,
sleep and soak up the sun on a sleepy afternoon. The best part of the day
is taking a stroll to the sailing club for a drink and to end up at the crab
market to watch the sunset while eating crab slathered in Kempot pepper sauce.
As for work, we conducted several workshops
to build the capacity of State/community teachers, directors and cluster chiefs in education: reading, math, science, social justice and inclusion; Healthy living, some English (here and there) in the villages, in Sen Monorom town and in Kratié, our neighbouring province. In late June 2014, VSO Educators from the 3
northern Provinces (Stung Treng; Kratie, Ratanakiri) joined us VSO educators here in
Moldolkiri Province to discuss and to possibly link a VSO English programme to the new Cambodian
student book that was published late last year - November 2013 and was put into action in some village schools here in Mondolkiri province in January 2014. A follow-up of the workshop
was done in Kratié where teachers were given the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned!
Now that the rainy season is here I’ve been
staying in the villages for longer periods of time to work with teachers and
directors. Sometimes the teachers come to school and other times they are
out in their farms harvesting mung beans, planting cassava, or working in rice
fields. Seasonal food production work is critical to the village
people and salvaging their crop will always be a priority for them. For
example, if the village people don’t harvest the beans before the rain comes
they will spoil. So my VA and I plan our activities around the
teachers’ schedule. However, it’s good to know that when I’m in the
village for several days, teachers do come to school and will let me know ahead
of time when they plan to work on their farm.
Elsewhere in Mondolkiri, on the way home (to Sen Monorom) from the villages, on one occasion, when we
thought it was safe to return home from our village visits in several schools, we were caught in a
heavy rain storm and got drenched. Rutted muddy roads turned to rivers, high
cliffs on the outskirts of Buch'ri Commune converted to a cascade that contributed to rivers, and, my camera
got soaked. I was able to salvage some of my photos, however, I lost them
all when my laptop crashed just recently.
On the positive side, in courtesy of Kevin
and our daughter Tralore, I had a month long birthday celebration at home and
in Phnom Penh. During one of our many trips to Phnom Penh to find out the
cause of my laptop, why the operation system failed and crashed, we took a river
cruise along the river. We noticed that the direction of the
Tonlé Sap flowed backward because of the high waters of the Mekong.
More later … promise!
photos will be posted at a later date.
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