The subject of this post is sadly the only phrase I remember from the two hours we spent at the local high school in Takeo, Cambodia. Not to mention we were supposed to be helping them with their English...I think we needed way more help with our Khmer. We had a blast trying to pronounce their language and playing twister and pictionary with the class of seniors! Later that day we played basketball with competitive girl's team coached by the Peace Corps volunteer Derek that was also staying with Siphen and Mach, we found out a couple days ago they just won their province championships! Yay Tigers! The school is home to over 2000 students who study their from 7 to 11, bike home for lunch, then from 2 to early evening. We were brought to the school by Siphen and Mach, our homestay parents for the three nights we spent at their house. And their house is like no other! Where else can you relax on a grass thatched open air patio watching Planet Earth on a projector screen hearing the birds and crickets outside mingle with the sounds of the movie. It was surreal!
Overall, an awesome way to begin our Cambodian journey! Since then we have discovered the not so pretty side of Cambodia. My visits to the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields in
Phenom Penh were both intense experiences of learning about the Khmer Rouge. And the fact most hard to believe is that these events did not happen too long ago. And then to experience Cambodia's extreme poverty like we did today going to the Stung Meanchey rubbish dump...really drags on your soul. We all wore blue masks on our short walk into the horrific smell. Out of the smelly haze little shacks that people call home started to appear and then workers appear with their bags of garbage treasures, mostly recyclable materials that earn them about $1 a day per family. Little kids ran barefoot, barefoot!, on the heaps of disgusting trash. Some piles smoke and burn. It is hard to breath. I can't even imagine the lives of these families living off the dump. The worst part is the children. Most families force their kids to work night and day collecting trash to support their poverty lifestyle. However we joined up with an NGO organization that provides relief, education, fun, and three meals a day to the rubbish dump children. A lucky 15 kids partnered up with the 15 of us Pacific Discoverers for a fun day at a puppet show! We watched the show of brightly c
ostumed puppeteers that jumped and danced a story of epic porportions! Then learned how to make puppets, play the instruments, dance, and put on our own show. It was so much fun! But the hardest part was watching the bus depart with our new little friends, knowing they were headed back to the dump, leaving me humbled by their happy and enthusiastic good byes despite the circumstances. It might have just been 15 children that we got to treat to a fun day, but every little bit is something.That is all on Cambodia for now! I wish I could have talked more about Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields but it was too intense to blog. Pictures will hopefully come eventually. The internet isn't too great here. Until next time!
(Picture of the monument at the Killing Fields)
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