One day in the life of … Hello my name is …

Monday morning, I asked my Line Manager for the key to the POE Resource Centre. This was to prepare for the Saturday BEL workshop.  With a smile he replied ‘Do not worry...  You will get the key by Thursday or Friday of this week’.   Pointing to the other POE building he said,  ‘Find the ‘cheerful housekeeper’ and she will give you the key’. 

By Friday morning, I became a little anxious.  There was no sign of the  ‘cheerful housekeeper’ who throughout the week had promised me the key.   Finally, she appeared with a tangle of keys wired together and dared me to try and separate the one I needed.   I sat on the steps outside our office and like everyone else before me, I did a few twists and turns to separate the keys when  ‘Voilà’ – Success!  

Once I had the key, there was a mad scramble to get the room prepared.   Mop in hand and bucket in the other, together, Kevin my husband, Savy my translator, the ‘cheerful housekeeper’ and I, we began to clean the room. 

Preparing for the workshop

We opened the windows, washed the floors; dusted walls, tables, chairs; placed chairs in a horseshoe shape ...  I even washed the garbage container and positioned it at the entrance of the door as a reminder to keep the room clean.  Finally, it was!      

Unfortunately, the toilets were not functional, apparently, the man who had authorized the water supply was in Phnom Penh.   What the participants did remains a mystery, although the POE complex has many walls to hide.

In total 27 Directors and teachers attended the workshop.  They came from 6 different districts in Mondol Kiri Province, some traveling up to 135 km by motorbike on rutted dusty roads.    At first they appeared to be just as nervous as me because of their limited English.   However, they went away with a few simple English expressions such as:  ‘Hello my name is …  I am from …’

Posting survey charts

Creating survey charts

In the end, the workshop came altogether.   

Kevin and Savy had created charts with questions for the participants to respond to and taped them to the walls.   
We had enough BEL materials for all participants.  The water and snack -banana fritters and sandwiches arrived as planned.

Picking a partner ...

Most importantly, the teachers had joined in most, if not all of the BEL
activities, contributed to discussions and had fun in the process.

Hello my name is … Part 2.   

Savy - midwife and super lady ...

Back on the ranch, the highlight of the day
was to discover the wail of a new born baby that had newly arrived in our little community.   Savy, our landlady and midwife (not to be confused with Savy my VA), had just delivered a baby in her little shed below our house.   Though she looked a little wary, in her English she said, ‘baby’ -  ‘proh’.  I answered with a nod, ‘baby boy’.   She repeated, ‘baby boy’.  And we never did know his name.

More later ...