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 ...

Hallelujah. Progress!

Where did the time disapear to … ?  February was filled with a constellation of events and activities.

Singing the National Anthem

In early February we had The Annual Congress Conference where all directors from the 5 districts together with Education NGO’s gathered to share their findings for the year.   The three common denominators:  provide more money for schools, improve road conditions and encourage regular attendance both from teachers and students.   That is everyone seemed to agree that more money was needed in the rural schools to improve the quality of education in resources and in training.  Build better roads for easier access to schools -to reach the teachers and children.  Added to this, everyone felt that it was necessary for the ministry of education (from top down) to take serious measures with attendance.  In other words to continue to encourage both teachers and students attend school regularly – especially those teachers who teach in schools that are in isolated areas and are hard to reach. 

The Minister of Education addressing the directors

Ironically, a week after the Annual Congress Conference took place, the Minister of Education (from Phnom Penh) came to visit one of the ‘model’ schools in the village.  He also came to talk to directors about the new ‘5 -year strategic education plan’ to improve the quality of teaching throughout Cambodia.  He promised that more money would be spent on Education and that teacher’s salaries will be raised over a period of 5 years.  Another key issue that the minister of education raised was the relevancy for the Multilingual Education programme that is presently being implemented in Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri Provinces.  He wanted to ensure that there was a continued focus on ‘minority inclusion’ in the two main northern eastern domains.

Other news, The Chinese New Year was a big event throughout Cambodia.  Here in MDK everyone was busy with their comings and goings in preparing for the big day.  The two Korean girls who occasionally share the office with us (6 colleagues and I) prepared a big dinner for us all – the education staff.  The main meal consisted of ‘Kimchi’  a traditional fermented Korean main dish made with vegetables and a variety of seasonings described as spicy and sour.  We also had Chinese rice wine to greet the New Year in.

A new teacher who teaches with her baby

Kevin and Tralore went south, to Sihanoukville, to enjoy the warmer weather. (Tralore had a week off holiday with her school and Kevin joined her for the week).   As for me, we conducted more workshops, this time with directors, at the main education complex.  We also had follow-ups and observations in the school villages.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that teachers from a new set of village schools, who were trained a few weeks ago, were present and prepared, even when we came unannounced!  Teachers welcomed the feedback that we gave them.  They appreciated the comments as well as the guidance and even asked for more.  They said that the feedback was extremely useful for their own professional development and with their teaching  ...   Hallelujah. Progress!    

Others however, were absent.  One school was closed.  I was disappointed. 

More to come at a later date ….

A morning with Sophek

Sophek preparing a meal for her family

This morning I paid a visit to Sopheak’s house.  Sopheak was my Khmer 101 language teacher when we first arrived here in Mondolkiri and, who came highly recommended by other VSO volunteers. However, I stopped taking lessons from her because I increasingly became busy with my work and, I felt, at that time, that I wasn’t progressing much with my Khmer 101 lessons.    More to the point, I wasn’t putting it into practice!  

Since I last saw her, last March 2014, Sopheak had called me several times for a visit, for dinner and to think about taking Khmer lessons with her again.  Guilt began to creep in, I hadn’t seen her for almost a year and so I thought it was time for a visit.  

Of course, as per usual we were overjoyed to see each other and, Sopheak as always, greeted me with a cup of tea.  Her smiley 4-year-old son Leidai had grown considerably.  While Sopheak and I talked, Leidai was testing his new bow and arrow that his father had recently made for him.   He ran around the garden and in the two chicken compounds shooting his blunt arrow at banana trees and at anything that moved, until his mother suggested to practice his archery skills elsewhere.   Leidai soon gave the idea up and joined us in our conversation.

Ph'nong children walking to the market to sell their produce

Tea in hand, and Leidai leaning against his mother, Sopheak told me that she was busy everyday with the avocado season, and, weekends were no exception.  She began her day at daybreak, at 5 in the morning to buy avocados from the Pn’óng farmers who traveled every morning on foot, approximately 25 kilometers to the Ph’nong market .    At the end of each week, Sophek loaded her avocados in large crates for shipment to Phnom Penh and to Vietnam, evidently selling them for a higher fee than she had originally bought them for. Though, aware of high competition with other vendors, Sophek emphasized the importance of supporting the Ph’nong people and, if they were times the buying was poor it didn’t matter to her, as long as the Ph’nong people were paid a small commission for their hard day’s work.

Onward and upward with her day, typically by the time Sopheak arrived home from the market, her husband Sophal, her 15 year old daughter Lyn and her son Leidai awoke to her call for breakfast.   When Sophal left for work and Lynn for school, Sopheak spent her morning home schooling Leidai.  

During my visit with her, bright and early that crispy Saturday morning, Sopheak proudly showed me around her 'organic' vegetable garden, her passion fruit vines hanging abundantly on her trellis, her strawberry patch, her chickens who shared their space with turkeys and, her pigeons on the hill, some protecting their young.   She also pointed to the eggs that were sat on day and night for 21 days by mother hen and, to her chicks that were pecking the ground searching for bugs, Leida remarked .  

Pumping water from the well

Next, she excitedly pointed to her new house standing high on the hill, in the sunlight that was under construction.  Her present house metres away from her new one was being demolished for the wood, for the building materials that Sophal planned to use for his new (two-storey high) house.   Sophek announced that she couldn’t wait to move in, mostly for the view.  However, it maybe awhile before it’s completed, because her husband only had weekends to work on the house.   

While we continued touring the garden, Sopheak and Leidai watered the plants while sampling 'unripe' strawberries along the way.   They also, fed the chickens with ‘home made ‘rice meal mixed with water.  Sophek made a point of telling me that her chickens were free range and well fed.  However, they were unusually smaller than the chickens at the market because her chickens were not injected with hormones.

Fresh eggs

As I was about to leave, escorting me to the (light weight) bamboo gate, Sopheak gave me a bag of fresh eggs and declared that her eggs were rich in texture: the yolks were a deep orange, they were tastier and meatier than the eggs from the market.  We hugged, and I promised that I’d visit her and her family a little more often;  clearly to chat, to pick up more Khmer from her and to taste her delicious cooking. Oh yes, we had already made plans to attend a mutual friend's wedding together the following weekend.

Since I last saw Sopheak, her avocado, her vegetable-fruit garden and poultry business had expanded.  Aside from her ongoing avocado enterprise, more people were buying from her, especially her eggs and passion fruit.    

Sophal, with his perfect English was now manager of an NGO.  In fact, the whole family spoke ‘impeccable’ English.   Lyn was doing much better at school as a result of receiving private lessons.   Leida was enjoying home schooling and undivided time with his mother.  Though this is only a small window of the life of Sophek, all in all she seemed happy to do as she pleased in a now ‘free’ nation, where people were left alone for the first time, in more than a decade.

More Later …

More of here and there

- and everywhere

Milk-apple tree

The dry season is now in full swing.  The wind, the dust is here to stay.  Though today seems to be a little different, the wind has (temporarily) shifted to the east.  Hence, the sky is unusually crystal clear with sun rays pouring through.  There isn’t a trace of smoke anywhere.  Birds are chirping - bouncing from branch to branch – some are bouncing from one electrical line to another showing off their yellow, white, grey -bluish coats.  There’s a black crested bird peering at our verandah to tell us that he’s returned to his usual spot, to tell us that he’s pleased to be back, now that the construction at the 'petite' clinic is done - at least for now!   Down below, in front of us, cows walk along the road in a straight line although some go astray heading for the field.    Children run in between them attempting to push them aside to climb the milk-apple tree and to sample the fruit that are now in season. 

Multilingual Education - Two Bunong children

Our gaze is soon interrupted when the landlord and landlady tell us that they will be away on an overnight trip to Kho Niek to visit their son.   They have asked us to keep an eye on their house: their petite clinic and spa.  Of course, we smile, nod, shake hands and secretly wonder in delight, ‘if, during their absence, there’s a possibility of ‘risking’ a good night sleep without the disturbance   of loud noises (from the spa) travelling through the cracks of our bedroom floorboards?’

Both December and January came and went with a flash.  This always happens.   

Co-teaching at one of the village schools

In early December we had an Annual Volunteer Conference in Phnom Penh where all VSO volunteers in Cambodia met to share their experiences in their field.  Two of my close colleagues and I did a presentation on ‘Where we work – what we do” and more.   We talked about some ‘hot’ issues around education, the successes, the milestones and of course the never ending topic: the 'challenges' that always seems to be on everyone’s mind.

Training in one of the village schools

During the month of December and January, we (my translator and I) had training sessions with teachers, both at various education sites in the villages and, at Technical Thursday Meetings that are usually held the last Thursday of every month.  We also visited several schools in the villages to observe lessons, co-teach, design programmes with teachers and more.   Teachers on average are eager to learn, welcome new ideas and are able to implement what they’ve learned in the classroom.   It’s a treat to witness both teachers and children pick up the concept easily and to see that they are genuinely having fun in the process.   It's equally delightful to watch children giggle shyly and clap when someone has given an answer – particularly the right answer at that. 

Bunong children enjoying their lesson

January has been a month where our daughter came to see us, and as a result juggling work with having fun was a bit hard for me as I’m easily destructed by the fun part.   However, Léah did come to the villages with me to meet teachers, students and to see some of the things I do.  Oh yes, she also learned to ride my motorbike and was a natural …  Anie this is for you.  I’m afraid that I haven’t yet mastered the motorbike nor am I the queen of Mondolkiri - not yet.  Just maybe – Just maybe one day it will happen. I will definitely keep you posted. 

More later ...

A birthday party for Emmie

- a princess indeed!

A very Happy New Year to all you.  Thank you so much for your warm and well wishes through Skype, emails, phone … from the other side of the world.

Protecting myself against the 'harsh' elements ...

All is still very well with Kevin and I, except for a minor eye operation that I just had (shared with many of you), due to a persisting sty, swelling and dry dusty weather.   As a result, I did convalesce for a couple of days, which was very much needed.   I now have joined the rest of the ‘rural’ crowd here in MDK and wear sunglasses and a scarf wrapped around my head/face/eyes to protect my eyes from dust. I have even considered wearing goggles … especially when riding to the field.

Other news, during the holiday festivities, we went to a couple of dinner parties, had fireworks and joined our little VSO group to see the New Year in.  We had a great time.  

For Christmas, we went to an expat’s house for a communal dinner - with all the yummy trimmings included.  Everyone pitched in.  There was roast turkey, baked potatoes, gravy, quiche, pies, cakes and more -- with wine and beer 'to be merry' of course.  It was a real treat to have ‘Christmas’ cuisine right at your door step that we so much craved for and missed.  What was even more amazing is that Kevin and I left the party at 1:30 a.m., a rare event for us, as we are normally in bed by 7 - 8 p.m.  That's what country life in the highlands does to you ...  

The festivity theme continued the following eve when a group of us Mondolkiri expats who are regulars at one of our local restaurants –a.k.a. as the $100 dollar club, were invited to join the Khmer/Australian owners to celebrate their daughter's first birthday party.  Their daughter Emmie was fitted with a white princess dress and 'Ruby' sparkling red shoes.  Definitely a princess!  I must say we had exceptionally scrumptious food.  During the course of the evening, it was amusing to watch human nature unfold, to the expat tribe automatically gravitated toward each other and sat at one end of the room (together with the Australian owner), whilst his Khmer wife, her family and friends sat at the other end. 

For New Year’s Eve, we saw the New Year in with a few glasses of local champagne -it was very nice indeed.   At the airstrip, thousands of people gathered to bring the New Year in with fireworks, paper lanterns, music and more.  It was awesome to see the lanterns being lit, slowly being released in the air to join the countless shining stars.  By midnight the sky glowed with a 'cheer' -with lit paper lanterns and fireworks to mark the New Year… 

The next morning however, the morning we looked forward to sleeping in, we were instead 'abruptly' woken- up by the earth shattering sound of a wedding that lasted 3 days. And, by the way, the wedding tent was installed (literally) on our doorstep!  By day, other than escaping to town to run a thousand errands … Kevin and I spent our time lip reading with each other - straining our ears to hear -trying to hear what the other was saying, because the ear shattering sound was drowning our conversation.  By night, we either wore earplugs or escaped, to our local restaurant for a break in hopes that the pounding music had stopped by the time we had returned home.

Equally ear shattering, at the crack of dawn, we were further woken up by loud voices that travelled through the cracks of our bedroom floor boards; we were woken up by the spa down below us that the landlady had recently opened up (by what now seems to be a common theme in our little community), for a flow of, (what appears) incoming traffic -mainly women- who without a doubt come to socialize before a hard day's work....  Ah the sounds of la Vie Quotidienne in the neighbourhood … 

On that note, our darling daughter Léah is visiting for 6 glorious weeks - during that period of time she plans to travel to the neighbouring countries.

More later …