National Geographic Special

Today we signed up for the day trip to a local village, including ox-cart ride. We had no idea what we were getting into.

We met our host, Mr. Kunn, at 8 am. He brought around a mini-van, which sounded good since 30 km in a tuk tuk sounded far. We fought traffic, turned down side streets, cruised past fields, and bumped along little dirt roads. Finally we turned down a dirt tiny lane and stopped. He introduced us to Sambath and was gone, promising to come back and get us "later."

Sambath turned out to be head of his own community center/English School, called the Self Help Community Centre. They serve 12 little surrounding villages, providing an hour of English classes per day per student, plus additional classes in sports, basket weaving, organic farming and music. All the instructors we met there had their own stories, but the common themes were difficulty getting access to education growing up, and as a result really struggling to make a good life for themselves. They hope that by teaching kids English and fostering them to really learn, they can fill Cambodia with working people instead of beggers. It looks to me like they are succeeding!

After talking to Sambath awhile, he turned us over to his brother and mother, to prepare a traditional village lunch. We shopped in the market for a few extra things, though his mother was pretty well set when we arrived. The cane juice, fresh from the cane juicer, was a lot yummier than I expected. They usually drink it on ice, but it wasn't boiled water, so we skipped that. The juice came in a small bag with a straw.

Lunch was delicious. We helped chop vegetables and pork, and shelled little tiny shrimp. After making a soup and a stir fry, all in pots headed with wood fire, Sambath's mother made spring rolls. She showed us how to also. Meg's was pretty pathetic, but mine passed muster, so I got to make the rest of the pile.

After lunch we headed back to the school, where we visited with some of the teachers. As the 3 pm class arrived, they divided us up, and sent us each to help with one of the three classrooms. They're clearly used to putting people to work! My class was delightful. I sat with the students and helped them when the teacher, a fellow traveler from Ireland who came to Siem Reap for 2 days and has been here for two weeks already, was working with the other side of the room.

At this point I should tell you abut the facility. It's a compound, with a long low building on the left containing the library, a tiny office, and the music room. The center area was filled with organic gardening, with a lattice creating shade and covered with gourd plants. And the right side was another very open air building with three classroom spaces. They also have a ball field and a brand new building-in-progress that will house the preschool program as soon as it's finished. The picture shows my mom helping to teach "her" class. As you can imagine, Meg was in heaven to get to dive right in and teach.

I also want to comment on the kids. People say that Cambodians are the friendlist people around, and I see that. But I'd actually say that Cambodians are the most enthusiastic go-getters I've seen in awhile. These kids are so eager to learn! It was fun to watch.

If you're curious about the school, check out their website (http://www.shcccambodia.org/ ). A big highlight of my day was helping post a few things.

Classes ended at 5, and we were off to the promised ox-cart ride. Sambath's brother was waiting for us with two ox carts and we climbed aboard. It was a kick. We thought the whole thing was amusing, and so did most of the village. There was a lot of laughter! But this was also the part that really felt like a National Geographic special - riding through a tiny Cambodian village on ox-cart, being passed by other oxcarts, kids on bikes, families on motor scooters, and workers on top of bales of hay.

Mr. Kunn sent a tuk tuk to pick us up. It turned out that we weren't very far away after all! Tomorrow we catch a bus at 7 am for Phnom Phen. More adventures to come!