A thief in the night ...

During the month of March, Kevin had periodically reminded me, that it’s been unusually bitterly cold in Canada, with wind chills falling to a low of  -25°C.  Having the luxury of living somewhere warm, year round, it’s hard to believe that weather conditions back home can be so frigidly cold with snowstorms, ice,  you name it...  While here in Cambodia, it’s been a comfortable 25°C to 30°C high.  

Early March was bit of a roller coaster, a major high and a major low.  At daybreak, at the start of the month, Kevin and I took Léah, daughter number 3, to the airport to see her off.  Naturally, we were sad to see her go.

Tralore with her students

The same day, at the reading festival, at Tralore’s school, Tralore, daughter number 1, who had organized single handedly the reading festival, did a fabulous job.  All the teachers and students had a costume contest.  Tralore was disguised in her favourite character ‘A Case of the Bad Stripes’,  and was one of the winners.   That evening we went to the riverfront to celebrate her success.  Sadly, Tralore had her bag snatched while we leisurely sat at the riverbank, talked and recounted our day together.  Evidently, we were not paying attention to thieves lurking around us …

Unfortunately, bag snatching has become a growing problem in Phnom Penh and, Cambodians and Foreigners alike have become victims of this nightmare.  A Cambodian colleague told us that two professional black helmet men, on a motorbike, sped up beside him, to grab his iphone off his ear while his was talking to his friend outside a busy market.  Not only did he lose his iphone, but also, he was badly hurt in the process.   Recently, a friend riding her bicycle to work, had her bag snatched, once again, from two speeding black helmet motorbike thieves.

Gift swapping

ICT gang

On a happier note, we were invited to ‘bubbly’ Anie’s farewell party in sleepy Kratié. The party was held at one of a VSO volunteer's home.  (Unlike Phnom Penh, it's somewhat safer to sit on the riverbank in the evening with friends.  So, while we briefly chatted on the riverbank with Anie before leaving for the party,  we were in no danger for our purse to be snatched!).   It was great to see Anie, to play catch-up and to hear of her future plans, and of course, to meet up with other VSO volunteers.  A rarity in Mondolkiri that we  so miss, now that everyone has gone home.   Our ICT gang has now shrunk from 12 to a mere group of 4; two volunteers, two accompanied partners are now left to hold the fort – so to speak.  

Girls' football team

Other news.  Throughout February and March, the education complex had ongoing football matches between districts and communes in Mondolkiri.  The Kho Niek and the Kiev Sema girls’ team ended up with a tie.   The OuReang’s boy’s team won the cup.   During those two months, everyone got in the swing of cheering, betting for their favourite team … WoW, what an active two months it was!  

In general, Cambodians love to play sports. Other than soccer, volleyball is another favourite pastime for them to enjoy, and, they are really pros at it, too.

Follow-up received with enthusiasm

As for work, we had a Part 2, two-day teachers' workshop on one of the weekends, followed by more follow-ups and observations at the village schools. 

School Directors and Teacher Trainers

Throughout March, we also conducted several Teacher Trainers’ sessions, training teacher trainers to guide and work closely with new teachers.  

We also alternated training workshops, between teacher trainers and with the same group of school directors that we worked with last month.  This is to support the two linked pilot programmes and, to address both what students learn and how well they are learning

Two week sessions in school villages

Further, during the last two weeks of March, we held intensive early literacy programmes, lesson planning and portfolio sessions in the school villages, where there were no cell or Internet connections.  Hooray...!  It was a real breath of fresh air to see teachers become the focal point of the workshops, instead of letting the Internet or the cell phone rule their lives. I was further overjoyed to see that media had NO place during these crucial training sessions.  

More later ...

A diamond in the rough

  –a place to chill.   Not far from the guest house, (where we normally stay while we’re in Phnom Pehn), there's ‘O’ Russei’ Market that sells produce, second hand clothes, costume jewelry, tech supplies, nick naks and anything that you can possibly imagine from the hundreds of stalls that lay inside and outside the market …  You name it and they have it!   

Little girl who greets us each time we come

However, tucked in behind the bustling, huge, labyrinth, noisy market, where you can easily get lost, there is a little dark narrow lane dotted with hair salons and other services.  We (Kevin, Tralore and I) stumbled into this place when we first arrived in Phnom Penh.  Now, we look forward to our visit there whenever we’re in the ‘big’ city! 

As always, the little girl, who normally helps in the shop, and, with the owner’s children, runs to the entrance of the lane to greet us.  She excitedly holds our hands to hurry us to ‘our’ usual salon that has become a place for us to chill from the heat and noisy Phnom Penh.

Working hard at the salon

Whilst Tralore and I have our hair washed, with a good head massage at that!  Kevin sits outside the hair salon with a group of men (one of them the owner of the salon), and passes the time of day drinking beer, sharing stories, and practicing his Khmer with the locals.   The local chief who likes to boast about how many children he has, often has joined in the conversation.   While the men talk and drink, the women work hard in the salon: from washing hair, to styling, to pedicures, to applying make up and more.

Outside the salon, there’s a group of children who run up and down the ‘cool’ lane squealing with laughter.  Out of breath, they periodically take a break to take a quick sip from their fizzy soda of some sort, before they eagerly return to play.

Other locals join in bringing beer and other food from their shop. Everyone knows each other, everyone is related to each other in some way or another and everyone takes care of each other. It's a real community!

Though this place is not a marked up fancy store, with all the bells and whistles, like O’ Russei’ Market, it is in fact a diamond in the rough where a community exist!.    Where life is centred on family.   Where there is trust and a strong bond amongst this ‘large’ family that exists in this little lane.  Where this family will listen to the ‘wisdom’ of elders such as the local chief in this little community that we have come to know so well.   Where this community exists in the 'diamond in the rough' Where a wonderful 'gem'  has been noticed by many.

More later …:)

The shirt off his back

–a conversation piece …. Over the past year, Kevin had several short sleeves shirts made. They were cheap and cheery and he’s been very happy with them.  

Christmas was fast approaching and another made-to-order shirt, this time with long sleeves, would be a great gift and, effortless?  

One of the staff here at our office always comes to work handsomely dressed and everyone jokes about it, because the rest of us dress very informally and I mean, informally ...   Hence, through my translator, I asked my colleague for the name of the tailor that made his shirts, making a point of telling him that I would look after it the ins and outs of getting it done.  Appreciating the complement., he laughed, waved a hand and said ‘Ote paniaha’ no problem – I will arrange this for you.  It will be $5.00 for the material and $10.00 to make it’.   In the end, I agreed and gave him one of Kevin’s long sleeve shirts for size, together with the full payment.  He assured me that the shirt would be ready by December 25, and if not by the end of the month. 

The 'mysterious' shirt

Time passed. December, January, mid February… Feeling somewhat awkward, not expecting any miracles to a tall order, I plucked up the courage to ask my colleague if there was any news with the new shirt  -was it ready to be picked up?  A worried face surfaced.  He paused for a moment, and said that the market didn’t have the material or colour available that I wanted.  But, he had a plan!  He told me that he knew of a shop in Phnom Penh that had exactly what I needed.   Reassuring me with a wave of a hand once again with his  ‘Ote paniaha’ he told me to expect the shirt by the end of the week. 

Spending the weekend in Rattanakiri for Kevin's birthday

And so it was, on my return from the village a week later, a well-creased pink shirt awaited for me on my desk (together with Kevin’s shirt that appeared to be untouched).  My colleague explained that his daughter liked the new shirt so much that she wore it and left it on the side of her bed.   I must admit that it took me sometime to figure out what really happened.  My colleague had given me  ‘his shirt off his back’ for $15.00.

Today is Kevin’s birthday, and yes I gave him the mysterious 'custom-made' creased shirt that is a size too big for him.  However, Kevin said that he'll wear it on special occasions, in particular to show it off to our friend, our colleague (who originally gave us the shirt ) on days when he too attends  those special events :)   I've no doubt, that his  ‘brand new’ shirt will in the future,  become  a conversation piece...  

On that mysterious note, a very Happy International Women’s day to all you.  And, to the men who stand behind you, to be the woman -the great person you are today….

More later ...