Post from the field #1

This place is insane. So much has happened in my first 19 days. Everyday is packed with stories, starting with my motorbike ride to the slums and into the Center (AKA the Orphanage).

My first week was magical. Walking down the narrow alley of rickety walls peering into people’s houses to get to the Center is surreal. The kids that I am working with are really quite happy, greeting me enthusiastically every day. There are a lot of big personalities in their little bodies. The kids all do traditional dance or make music (they have to) every day, and they perform anywhere, anytime for money (even when should be in school). They love to dance, and I suspect it is this daily routine that gives them confidence that sets them apart from the other kids in the slum.

The Center is a community of 97 people. There are about 18 adults, and a lot of late teen boys that are approaching adulthood, unfortunately without much chance at a future. There are a few families, and several single moms who cook and clean. There’s lots of orphans, kids who’s parent disappeared, couldn’t take care of them, thought they’d be better off there... I’m still trying to get a handle on who is who and how things really operate there. There’s little structure, and it is often frustrating trying to understand why the kids aren’t in school, where the teacher is, who’s responsible for what, why kids from 5 to 11 are all in the same class... More on this later.

My first Saturday there was lots of momentum to get work done. Mr. Ta pulled out a bunch of broken desks and we started to repair them. Some older boys started to help and really showed initiative. Other boys started practicing their hip-hop routines next to us, doing flips and acrobatics, providing great entertainment for those working.

Later, I went to play football (soccer) with some boys, and bought them a new ball. The field where they played was unlike any I’ve ever seen. The kids all played barefoot, and there were about 20 trees, planted in rows on the field. Kick the ball and it would often bounce off a tree, which made it a different game really. The tree’s trunks came out at an angle and the branches ran parallel to the ground. The trees were good for climbing and gave the field a serene feel, like trees from the Hobbit or something. The trees had beautiful flowers, so when the ball is kicked into the tops, it rained down wonderful smelling white flowers that look like lilies. After half a game I was so drenched with sweat I took a break and climbed a tree in the middle of the field. In the background, Buddhist chants whaled over a loudspeaker as the sun set. It was a moment to remember.

There are 2 women who work in the community to help whoever needs it, and they make regular visits to te center. Clara is from Bangladesh and works for United Methodist Church, and Vivian is an independent retiree from Australia. Both have been around for 5 years and have many stories. Vivian told how one boy’s wisdom teeth starting coming in. She couldn’t get him to go to the dentist (there is a lot of hesitance to visit Western doctors), but gave him codeine for the pain. Eventually, he bit on a stone to dislodge the teeth. Yikes!

Another kid that she let move in with her, Boom-Boom, got very focused and she sponsored him to get his degree in accounting. Afterward, he got a job with a company paying $300 per month! The standard garment factory wage is around $50 per month. On payday, the boss gave him $500 cash to take to the other plant to disperse the payroll to all the employees. En route, he and the secretary were stopped and robbed at gunpoint. The boss didn’t fire him, but will take the money out of his wages. So, he’ll end of making $50 per month for the first 2 months. It was very likely an inside job orchestrated by the boss. That’s Cambodia!

All the women at the Center want to feed me everyday at lunch, and I never like to turn down free food. Meals are almost all rice, with some sauce or soup and these little river fish they buy, which look like a catfish. They’re grilled with the guts in them, and after about 6 of us split one there’s only 1 real bite of meat each. They also get fish and animal bones from the hotel and fry them up in a sauce. I got grossed out when I was eating the “beef” and cauliflower one day, going for thirds to show them how much I liked it, when I realized it was some type of organ. After a long discussion and a drawing I realized it was pig spleen. They eat some really weird things here, more on that later.

I’m staying at the Okay Guest House. It’s OK; very basic but has everything I need and is less than 1 mile from the Center. Some people have lived here for years, and I meet many travelers. There’s a restaurant – most meal are $1.70, internet for $1 per hour, and my room is $6 per day. I’ve made it this long without air conditioning, but that may change soon. April is supposed to be REALLY hot (up to 44 C). I may make a trip to the mountains of Vietnam soon to get out of the heat and renew my visa. I’ve been sick twice already.

I went to my friend Sophy’s (a tuk-tuk driver at the guest house) wedding in the countryside at his wife’s family’s farm. The wedding was a crazy experience, with lots of beer drinking and toasts, like every 30 seconds. There was music and dancing, and a security guard showed up with an AK 47 to guard against gangsters for the late night. We all slept on the floor of the farm house/hut. In the kitchen, the head of the cow they slaughtered that morning was hanging and gave the front half of the house a strong smell. They also slaughtered a pig, chickens and duck, and the food was great (see pictures of the cooking).

I’ve had some great moments to more than offset the frustrations. One evening as I was leaving some boys starting talking to me and practicing their English, which is very basic. Lamoon, 15, and Tong, 20. I invited them to join me for pizza, which I was sure they’d never had. I pointed for Tong to go put on his shoes, but he said he loaned them to a friend, so we started walking, him barefoot. He motioned me to a women selling used clothes in a pile, and grabbed a pair of well worn sneakers and even more worn socks. “How much?” I asked, and $.62 later he was walking for pizza with shoes that were 2 sizes too big. They were kind of amazed to be in a restaurant, and Tong ate his first slice upside down.

One day I was walking with a Sokchea, 8, to get him signed up for English lessons at a private school across the street. We signed up a lot of kids now, $2 per month, 1 hour per day. For these kids, it is their only glimpse at civilization. Sokchea’s clothes were absolutely filthy, so we stopped at a used clothes rack and I bought him a new shirt and shorts; $.75. He really lit up, and wears them every day for school.


To see my pictures is a 2 step process.
1. Go to;
http://www.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=41357838
2. Use my password "drewmcdo" and select the Cambodia album.

Here are some notes to correspond to the pictures;

Woman selling palm juice off the back of her bike.
Making the window.
Sick pregnant lady (I’ve been buying her groceries and paid for her to see the doctor – she’s 44 and seems to be better now).
Picking lice – a daily routine.
A teacher’s (Naroth) last day. She had been there for 4 years and left for more money than her $55 per month. The kids whaled unlike any crying I had ever seen.
Fried cockroaches and various insects. I bought one just to watch the woman selling them eat it.
Cows and dried rice patties
Sophy’s wedding in the countryside. I bent my knees to get down lower but the height differential is still great.
Baby chicks – pre-hatched – eaten bones and all.
Chinese/Cambodian medicine (glasses on back).
Building the latrines. Clara with baby.