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Hi all, hope everything is going well for you. This alert has just been released.
Floods affect 1.6 mln Cambodians, Oxfam says outlook grim - AlertNet
Firstly, I forgot to say when writing about our trip to Tonle Sap was that whilst we were sailing away from the selling boat we watched a lady throw into the water a toddler - was it for our benefit or was it a case of everyone living on the water must be able to swim? The head bobbed up and then disappeared again, so the lady had to very quickly grab the child from under the water and pull it to safety! I suppose living on the water is sink or swim, but it seemed a very cruel way of introducing a child to swimming. Will that child be traumatised for life? I suspect not, but who really knows or cares.
Mati and Geoff left on the Sunday morning, and after seeing them off at the airport I decided on a lazy afternoon lying by, and swimming in Frangipani's pool. Strangely enough, I was lying on my back in the pool when I saw their plane flying overhead on its way to Singapore. On my way back from the airport I saw my first wedding of the season - people wait for the wet season to end and then they begin to party. This one was set up half way across one important road through town, so the guests and food would have had to mix with the noisy traffic and people zooming past and the horrific dust there is now that the waters have receded and hot weather returned.
Last Monday we went back to school after many weeks of there being too much water on the roads and around the families homes, so it was too dangerous for us all. However, the state of the roads still precluded us from travelling out to Grace House independently, so at 8am the truck duly arrived to collect the volunteers and the Khmer staff from here. Although I had been out to GH a few times during the floods to help give out the food and to see the state of things, it was strange to be joining the Siem Reap rush hour. However, it was very different to the ones we are all used to - motos carrying least four people, bikes carrying two, three or maybe four, plus all the other amazing loads we see on the back of them - 50 - 60 squawking ducks, a couple of pigs, a person carrying a medical drip, a lady breast feeding a baby, a man leading 8 water buffalo to a different piece of land followed by a few cows. People fishing in any spot of water, whilst others are washing themselves or their clothes in it. I'm sure you can all see why I'm so fascinated with this country. After all the exciting sights, sounds and smells there has to be downside of all the water that has fallen and been lying for so long - that of course is the destroying of the rice crop which the people would have expected to harvest early in the new year. We saw people pulling up their crop and as the week progressed they were cultivating the field using yoked cattle or buffalo to pull the plough. Other people were pulling the damaged crops up by hand and in one or two places we saw new plants being planted. If you want to survive therre is no time for sentimentality or regretting what has befallen you.
The day began with another 70 people queuing up for their allocation of 15kg rice, 100g of both sugar and salt and a bottle each of soy and fish sauce. As usual the people were so grateful, but their look did reflect the dreadful weeks they had lived through. Some children were at school, but it took until the Thursday for everyone to filter back. Although the children talked about the floods being bad and how difficult it had been, but others had enjoyed the swimming and fishing. As everything and everywhere had been closed for so long the children hadn't been able to attend their state schools either, so we had exercise books, pens, pencils, rubbers, pencil sharpeners and rulers to give to them all. Grades 1 to 6 needed 8 exercise books and everyone else 13 - all books are millimetre squared, they must be so difficult for the younger ones to use.
Two new volunteers, Alison and Alan have arrived from the Wirral and are here for 6 months, both retired headteachers and fitness fanatics, who gratefully accepted the lift in the truck in the morning, but choose to walk back after school. This suited me as I've missed walking and cycling, so I joined them for the one and a half hr walk back every day in the great heat which has arrived as the rains have diminished. It was horrible walking and seeing all the damage that has been done to the homes and most of all the lanes the people live on. In places the road had collapsed and were enormously deep holes about 8 feet across full of stagnant green water - great breeding places for the mossies. Again wherever there was water, people were fishing. One amazing sight was an enormous tub of live eels, but a guy had turned the back of his van into a swimming pool using plastic sheeting and was transferring there for transportation. Eels are a great Cambodian delicacy. Most people shouted 'hello' to us or smiled broadly as we passed them - they just cannot believe that we choose to walk, they know how to live in their own heat - they do not perspire as we do or look the wrecks we do. They now refer to Nov, Dec and Jan as the winter months and I cannot believe that they feel the cold as much as they say they do at the moment. I think it is hotter than when I first arrived and certainly hotter than all the time the water was here. Hoodies, socks and gloves are now in evidence.
An organisation had chosen Grace House to receive 30 bicycles, 50 bicycle helmits and 1000$, so on Friday afternnon 90 people arrived, they wanted to help some children assenble the bikes and have photos taken with them, but they did not want any publicity. The bikes are very smart, black, pink, red or blue and come with a second seat, bell, basket and footrests for the passenger. The lucky recipients will be children who do not have a bike of their own already - I hope the smartness and fashionability of them does not cause any problems or jealousy. However, it has taken Alan and his elecrical boys a couple of days this week to ensure that every bike has been done safely and securely.
On Wednesday a Cambodian lady and her daughter were murdered and another survived a savage attack. Their throats were slit, fortunately, the assailants have been arrested in Battambang. I don't know whether it was an opportunistic killing, a planned one or revenge. The lady owned a bottled water business, so presumably was wealthy, but had she trodden on others toes to become successful?
Both Thursday and Friday were quiz evenings for GH, Thursday at the Warehouse and Friday at Rosie's Guesthouse, although we didn't win on Thursday we managed to on Friday, so celebrated by drinking the two jugs of beer we won. Nearly 400$ was added to the rice appeal.
A week of volunteers leaving and others arriving, it was good to catch up with Ian from Perth, as we spent two weeks here together last year. As yet I haven't managed to catch up with Lindy, but have seen her about. You cannot go about Siem Reap without seeing people you know and people who's names you don't know calling at you, and of course the tuk drivers are always keen to speak and tell you that they know where we live. It is an extremely friendly place and Cambodians seem to remember faces and people well, particularly if they know/believe that you are helping them.
We have got Thursday and Friday off for Bon Om Tuek, the Water Festival which has been cancelled! So I will try and write another installment then, but my computer has died on me again tonight, so it will be back to using the Globalteer one and no access to Skype.
Take care, love to all, J x
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