- in getting a hair wash
the Khmer way ...?
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| Bunong market |
Tap Tap Tap. Hands frantically
beating motorbike seats, to brush away the red dust that's accumulated over a
brief stop to shop at the now shrunk little Bunong market on the open airstrip.
Tap Tap Tap. With already 'dusty' cloths, colleagues at work, hit their desks several times a day to clear the
dust away from their books, their computers, their documents only to find that
the reddish-brown powdery dust landed on their faces.
ta-ap ta-ap ta-ap. Careful not to
intrude on the talcum powder dust, carefully stepping one foot forward on the dusty
stairs, the dust still bellows up and lands on our feet, legs, everywhere
:)
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| Bush fires everywhere |
February was no different than the last two months; we had dusty, blustery cold
days, accompanied by continual fragments of loud shutters banging against
walls, dogs yelping day and night, motorbikes roaring past, endless talks and, laughter – a good
problem, from the community below, and more of this and that, that rolled
together like a ball and landed onto our veranda. Added to
the racket, earlier this month, some of our neighbours who are of Chinese
descent marked the Chinese New Year by lighting firecrackers and burning paper
money for good fortune, happiness, longevity... Despite the good
intentions of this worthwhile celebration, the remains, the ashes from our
neighbours, blew in the air and swiftly landed in our veranda. Not to
mention, the combination of our well-known ‘friendly’ reddish-brown dust,
together with smoke from nearby bush-fires that too, quietly snuck in the house
when we weren’t looking :) Despite, it's never-ending vortex of action in and out of
our house, at sundown, our eyes will naturally divert to the peaceful
brilliant sky that offers stunning sunsets and lets you forget all, at least for
a short while.
It’s been a month with many activities and
events, in particular with work. In courtesy of VSO Cambodia, I gave
another presentation to the new VSO volunteers during their ICO (formerly ICT)
training, this time, on ‘Networking in the workplace’. While we were
in Phnom Penh, Tralore and I had another unique ‘hair washing’ experience, the
Khmer way, at the diamond in the rough little salon. As always we were greeted
with a warm welcome. And of course, while Tralore and I were having a good hair 'scrub', together with a good head-shoulder-neck massage. Wow., Kevin spent
time talking to the local men that soon surrounded the little salon. (See post: March 21, 2015 - Diamond in the Rough) During our short time in Phnom Penh, we
also, had the opportunity to reconnect with Dararoth, former VSO education
manager to play catch-up with our by-monthly news.
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| Rubber tree plantation |
On our return to Mondolkiri,
from a workshop in Phnom Penh, as per usual, during our 5 1/2
hour minivan ride with Virak Bumthum Express, the journey still
seem to be composed of three main parts with the view that changes with the season. On our way out of Phnom Penh,
though the roads have improved 100%, we inevitably hit a traffic jam just
at the bottom of the Tonlé Sap ramp before our ride begins to speed up to the start of the first stretch from Phnom Penh to Memot. The country side is mostly made
up of flat open rice fields, now mostly bone dry in the scorching hot sun, due
to lack of rain; In the horizon are buffalos looking for, of what’s left, trickled water here and there to cool themselves off, ox, and, beautiful pink lotuses, in sync
with the wind, barely dance in the now trickled water that will soon dry up to cracked soil, that will sadly
resemble the rice fields. The second stretch of the
journey, from Memot to Sneoul changes and is replaced with rubber tree
plantations, Kempot pepper farms, cassava farms that line the main
National road. The last stretch to the beautiful hills of
Mondolkiri, my favourite part of the journey, the view is composed mainly
of dense forests, open green lush grassland dotted with humble homes in
the highlands, skylined with bright coloured attire working in the fields.
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| Training workshop on the value of education |
Back in Mondolkiri, February was a month
where we did a number of workshop trainings and follow-ups in and out of the
villages and at the education complex. This included the 3
rd week
of this month, aka Technical Thursday, where we went to Kaov Seima district to train
teachers, school directors and village chiefs on the document that was printed last month; On the
value of education. The training was done in two parts: what
sustainability in the school system looked like - keeping children in school,
equity and inclusion, and, how to best implement this tool, these activities in
the classroom to raise awareness on the value of education. The second
part of the workshop entailed why children dropped out of school and
what educators and the community can do to overcome these
problems.
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| Winner of poster competition |
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| Wood for building a new school |
Elsewhere in the villages, we also went to
Sre Y Village school to train teachers, the school chief, students and members of
the community with the same aforementioned topic, and, at the same time to hand
out the books ‘The road to prosperity
–my education –my life’
to teachers and to the winners of the poster competition. Unfortunately, the first
winner was unable to collect her book, because she was out in the forest
collecting resin with her family. We did however, return to the school
later for a follow up, and luckily the 13 year girl who was away collecting
resin with her family, was at school for the follow up activities and to collect her
book. Moreover, during our follow-up visit at Sre Y village school, we
were told that Caritas, a long term NGO who had
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| Follow-up activities |
previously helped this village
with a number of health projects, had planned to build a brand new
school for the people, for Sre Y Village School now that the road to the
village is in better condition and equipment can easily be transported to the
village. We saw wooden planks strewn everywhere and children who
saw the school, temporarily, transformed into a huge playground, bounced up and
down these planks using them like teeter totters or seesaws . The school
chief, not at all amused by this, had to repeatedly remind the children to stop
playing on the planks, because the newly cut wood was for building a school,
a brand new school for them - the children. Construction is to
begin the first week of April, during the children’s 3 week Khmer New Year
holiday :)
After one of our training at the education
complex in Sen Monorom Town, my helmet mysteriously went missing for an
overnight ride. The traveling helmet travelled from one village to
another and ended up, first, at HunSen Sen Monorom School ,and finally landed
at one of the cluster chief’s house in Sen Monorom. Rationale:
someone had confused it with someone else’s motorbike helmet :)
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| Baby Alice |
Other news, GreeN garbage containers made
out of rubber, from nearby rubber trees, now line the streets of Sen Monorom
Town. The town recently won a prize for being green and keeping the city
clean. Indeed a definite milestone for Cambodia!
February was a month of delight, where we,
Kevin and I went to yet to another wedding, this time, to one of our
neighbour’s wedding. We sat with a group of jovial men who wanted an
English lesson from us, asking if they could practice their oral English with
us. Added to this delight, of asking us for a small favour, one of
my Khmer translator - Voleak, one of my assistant’s mother who had a beautiful
baby girl, had asked if she could name her newborn baby, Alice.
Further, as a way of celebrating Valentines’ day, my Khmer/Bunong women
colleagues from work, took me out for a surprise lunch, for a delicious
bowl of Khmer vegetable noodle soup with spring rolls, at the little family food stall just off the Hun Sen Sen Monorom High School campus. We were gone
from work for more than two hours - from 2 to 4:30 pm - and,
went home from work at 5 pm :)
On that delightful note, Happy Valentinés
day to all you – wishing you fun reading and lots of laughter ..
More later:)
