Happy Christmas from Cambodia!

It is the 22nd December 2007 and as I write this entry, I have never felt so far removed from Christmas as I do this year…… and that is not a bad thing! No frenetic shopping, food preparation or over indulgence, as is often the way at this time of year.

I have now moved up North to Mongol Borei to live in one of my new houses, see photo, and to work in the local hospital. My first week has been busy with me preparing two submissions for funding on behalf of the Hospital for training and equipment. One has been successful in that I have secured funding, but the real victory will be when some one from the hospital submits the next application with my support……. success comes in small measures.

I feel very happy here in my house. I live on the top floor and the owner and family live underneath on the ground floor, so that makes feel secure and that someone is looking out for me and my security. I go to the Market most days to purchase fresh produce for dinner. Today being Saturday I had a lie in until 6.15 am! And then cycled up to Sisophon for a few key supplies….. milk as a source of calcium being the main one. I also had good fun walking round the market, trying on jeans with a towel tied round me and joking, yes joking, in Khmer with the stall holders! I have adopted a philosophy that if I try to speak Khmer and make a fool of myself, at least it can be the basis of a joke and therefore a relationship forming opportunity! That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

My next blog will focus on the hospitals, but in the meantime I want to wish you all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year for 2008. I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from lots of you who read this blog, and the good will that is extended to the Cambodian people expressed through your messages. 2007 has been amazing year for me. On the 31st December 2006 I made the decision that I wanted to work overseas, and 12 months later here I am in Cambodia!

Recently someone very important to me asked me what ambitions I had in life. This is my answer:
When I’m old I’m never to say “I didn’t do this” or I regret that.” I’m going to say “I don’t regret a thing, I came, I went, I did it all and hopefully made a difference along the way!”



New-Year? ....Bring it On!

Rural scenes

Mekong Sunset

Evening sun setting over the Mekong

Life on the river

Fisher people on the Mekong!

Village Life

The village wot and Buddha

Cambodian Home-stay

As part of our cultural orientation to Cambodia we spent 24 hours living with a family in a small village, about 18 km away from Kampong Cham. The overall aim is help us understand more about the way of life for Cambodian villagers and support greater cultural understanding in both our work lives and the communities in which we will live for the next two years.

I stayed with a farmer, his wife, and two children. There was an extension to the family unit with his mother-in-law, sister-in-law’s one year old son and another young girl living in the one household. The house is a traditional wooden one, with day to day living happening under the house and sleeping on the fall in the upstairs area. I was greeted as a long lost friend into the family, and I learned so much about Cambodian life and language. I was guided around the wot (temple), the paddy fields and walked to the market the next morning, much to the amusement of the stall holders. I slept on the floor, sharing the same space as the rest of the family but wasafforded some privacy by some pieces of material hanging from nails and my mosquito net.

I will admit to feeling quite cynical about the home stay before hand, but I gained so much from it. I have attached some photos that might help to share the experience.

Grafting hard!

Eric, me and Tim in our Khmer lesson......

Lazy Mekong Days

Hard at it again!

More Crazy Mekong nights in Phnom Penh

This is me doing the Crazy V.

Going Crazy in Phnom Penh

Delia, Tania and me in a tuk tuk I think!

Meet the family

Collette and I seated; back: left to right: Tim, Delia, Eric, Emily and Tania doing the crazy V sign! Don't ask, its a family joke!

Week 6 in the Big Brother House……..

Let me explain. On arriving in Cambodia I joined a group of 7 other volunteers who arrived to work on the livelihoods and health programmes with VSO. Ever since that day we have been living side by side with each other both in the VSO programme office in Phnom Penh and the VSO house in Kampong Cham which is three hours from Phnom Penh. The only time we have had apart is when we have visited our placements for 4 days, and when one of goes off to spend the weekend by the coast or Siem Reap. Hence, at times it has been like living in the BB house! These 6 people have become my surrogate family here in Cambodia and we will provide a great support network for each other whilst we are here over the next 2 years. I have attached some photos of the family for your interest!

So what else has been happening? Well, last weekend I took myself to Siem Reap to run in the Angkor Wat half marathon. I entered the race a couple months when I was at home, as I was worried about getting my regular endorphin fix! I registered on Friday night and pitched up at Angkor Wat at 5.30 am the next day only to discover that the ½ marathon was on the Sunday morning! The police thought it was hilarious……. Bless!

The next morning I caught my tuk tuk back up to the start. It was really busy was there was a series of races including ½ marathon, 10K, 5km and 3km….. something for everyone. I set off, and led until 18km….and then I blew. For the last 3 km I could all but keep going. I committed the cardinal sin of racing. I let the occasion go to my head and completely abandoned my original race plan. I ended up 4th woman and have a nasty blister on my left foot just to keep me reminded of my stupidity. But hey, it happens to the best of us including the greats such a Lance Armstrong and Haile Salassi, so I’m not on my own on this one. Racing aside, I got to run round one of the most amazing and mind blowing historical sites in the world…. a real privilege, and it somewhere that I will be returning to spend days exploring the ancient complex and temples. Siem Reap is quite a nice town too with nice places to eat out, shops etc. but it is full of Berang ( the term is used widely to describe all people with white skin but actually means French!)

On Monday it was back to basics and there is no where to hide from Dara our Khmer teacher. It is amazing, but we are all so worried about being left behind that we catch up on notes if we miss a class and do homework religiously every night……. If only I had worked so hard at University!

This weekend we go on a “home stay” meaning, we stay with a local family and have experience of local family life in the community, how people live, cook and sleep. Should be interesting and I will let you know how we get on!

These are our brilliant house staff at the VSO house in Kampong cham: Supal on left is a fantastic cook, Sokheng on right is a brilliant teacher, and I don't know the name of the lassie in the middle!

This isn't me......its a farmer bathing his cows!

Me doing my washing in Kampong Cham....told you I'd show you the mundane!

me in a cyclo

Me in various guises

Outside VSO HQ in Phnom Penh

Fluent in Khmer....not!

Emily from Holland and Collette from Cork with a monk who couldn't understand their Khmer so spoke to them in English!

Big Bhuddha at the wot

This elderly chap insisted I took his photo at a wot!

Images of Cambodia as requested by Louise

The coast at Shianoukville

some of my new colleagues

Getting Down to Serious Business……..

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve added to my blog spot but let me explain: after the last addition, I’ve continued with my Khmer lessons, and, if I might say so myself, doing quite well. I am able to make introductions, ask for most things in shops and take my leave in an acceptable fashion. This has been useful when it came to the serious business of going to visit my placements where I will be working in my capacity as a Health Management Advisor.

I will be working in the region of Banteay Meanchey which is in the north west of Cambodia next to the border with Thailand. I will be working in two hospitals. The challenges of both placements will be very different, and will draw on lots of my management skills. I will be rotating through the hospitals initially, on a monthly basis, with another VSO volunteer, Mary, who is acting in the capacity of Nurse Advisor. Mary is from Kenya and will add to the interesting multi-cultural problem solving appraoch in the hospitals.

Because we have two placements that are removed from each other, Mary and I will share two houses, one in each village. Oh the joys of two home ownership! We already have established the contracts for renting the houses, and there is plenty of room for visitors in both.

This week, I and my six VSO colleagues who are in the same cohort, are back in Phnom Penh for more in country training. I know it may seem a bit long before we get on the job, but I’d rather learn about some cultural norms in the comfort of a learning set than by sticking my size sixes in big time! There is a big festival on this week with nearly two million people flocking into the City…..I’m getting out on Friday morning to the coast! Can’t bear the thought of all those people! I’ll let you know what I think on my return.

I’ve received a plea for more photos from Louise in Leeds. It takes ages to upload them onto the internet and that is one reason why I haven’t got many on the site. That plus the fact I actually don’t take many photos……but they will follow, I promise! Keep the e-mails coming; they really help to keep the spirits up.

Please note, anything I have written in the submission does not represent the formal views of VSO.

Dara makes our brains ache......

This Dara our Khmer teacher who keeps us at it at a furious pace. He is however a very skilled teacher and my Khmer is better after 5 lessons than my french was after 5 years......! Lessons are based on spoken word as writing Khmer is probably way beyond only the most bright berang ( white person or french person). It will look great on my CV when I return and very useful too! The others in the photo are Delia, Eric and Tim.

Mekong Sunday, Don’t Stand under the Coconut trees, Kiki the dog, the frog in my shoes and other tales……..

First things first, apologies to any of you who thought my blog would be an intelligent expose of Khmer culture and society. Far from….. my blog is to communicate the day to day and mundane to any one who is remotely interested. My philosophising and reflections are confined to my written journal, and therefore for my eyes only!

4 November 2007 – Mekong Sunday
Its 12 noon as I write and my second Sunday here in Kampuchea (Khmer for Cambodia), and whilst I have already established a daily routine, in which comfort can be derived from my own sense of order and control, I am keen not to loose my heightened awareness of daily events and happenings here to the blindness of routine.

This morning the small group of rookie VSO volunteers, of which I am one, is doing homework. After 3 days of intensive Khmer lessons with a great Khmer teacher, we are all doing our Sunday homework. It is a long time since any of us studied a language so intensely…….in fact, I never studied a language intensely like this before. Needless to say the Sunday homework brings memories of cramming homework in before Monday flooding back……! The dread of Monday morning is however absent, for now anyway.
Sundays are also marginally quieter than the rest of the week, but not by much. The cockerels start at 4 am as usual, the music blares from the Wots and the weddings from early on, and the ever present mottos (motor cycles of various size) start up, and many people going about their usual business.
The other great thing about this morning is the weather: overcast, bit of drizzle, and temperatures dropping to the mid- 20’s (in new money). It’s very comfortable.

And onto the other short stories:

Don’t stand under the coconut trees!
Having lived in Ireland and England all my life, I never actually appreciated the hazards posed by a coconut. Our little compound has a nice yard, with several coconut trees on the periphery…….very pleasant. The washing line is located under the trees, and whilst I was pinning out my washing, our teacher kindly explained that falling coconuts (they fall from a great height) occasionally result in severe injury or death from time to time. So no more chilling under the coconut trees and hanging the washing out is now a speedy exercise.

Kiki the dog: Kiki is the little brown guard dog that is a sweetie but takes her job of warning us of any bike that might come near….which is many. Kiki has taken a bit of a liking to me because I slip her scraps now and again. She’s got my number in terms of missing Poppy, and that I’m a soft touch. Reports of Poppy for those who know her is that she is doing well, and has settled in her gang of dogs walking in Roundhay Park, Leeds every day. She is not however, too keen on the frequent bathes Dee is inflicting on her. So, Kiki is my surrogate for Poppy for a short while.

The frog in my shoe: Some of us will remember a children’s TV programme with a frog called Kiki……answers on an email please. I don’t think this frog has a name. As part of our in country health advice we are advised to check our shoes before we put them on in-case something took refuge in them. Let me explain, when entering the house and most Khmer buildings, including temples and shrines, shoes are removed and left at the door. This morning as I was putting my running shoes on, I stuck my hand in my shoe and yelped as it met the soft body of a small frog! Now, the reason why this is a good lesson is obvious. I was reminded of the need to check my shoes all the time, and lucky for me, there was nothing more than a small cute frog in my shoe today. Getting used to unusual things such as Geckos on the bedroom ceiling and frogs in my shoes is a bit of a challenge.

I’m going to close here. If you want to know something about Kampuchea (Cambodia) you can put in a special request via email. Otherwise, I’ll just keep on telling you what I think is of interest on the banks of the Mekong River, including the mundane.

The first week

The views expressed in this blog are my personal views and not those of any organisation or individual.

31.10.07 Halloween in Cambodia.

One week on in Cambodia, and time has both flown and stood still at the same time: flown in that it does not seem like one week since I survived the traumatic journey between Manchester and London Heathrow terminal 3…..getting through Bangkok and Phnom Penh was easy in comparison; and moved slowly in that I have already adjusted to life in Cambodia. PP is a compact but busy city, and you can get just about everything you may need with a few exceptions like a decent mountain bike…..I feel a trip to Bangkok coming on! I also found a great swimming pool and gym (no air conditioning) to get the exercise fix….but why there is a sauna and steam room I have no idea.

Early observations are that the Khmer people are gentle in their ways, never raising there voices except in normal day to day conversational levels, which are generally higher than we use in normal conversation at home. Also, they appear to be coping with rapid development and modernisation. I am sure I will have more observations to make as time goes on.

Getting used to the chaos of traffic, that comes towards you in all directions when trying to cross the road or cycle……Phnom Penh is unbelievable, and at times I just closed my eyes and went with the flow of the wheels. Riding around the city in a cyclo (like a rickshaw except you are pushed in front of the bike) made for an interesting day out, especially when meeting articulated lorries head on….but some how they always or nearly always manage to miss you!

However, the traffic on the road between PP and Kampong Cham was light, the journey therefore not too hard on the nerves. Now we are up in Kampong Cham for most of the coming 4 weeks or so, learning Khmer and having the opportunity to stay with a Khmer family over night.



1st November 2007 Kampong Cham

The day starts with a 6.20 am run along the Mekong River, as the sun is slowly rising and the small boats go about their business. There is a massive bridge spanning the river that was donated by the Japanese government. This is the time to go out to avoid the traffic and the heat, oh and the dogs!

Our first teaching session in the Khmer language took place this morning…….it went well considering Khmer is not constructed like more European languages, apart from the occasional word….. a hangover from colonial days! And now to let loose on the poor local Khmers in the markets and shops to practice.

Photos will be posted when I have worked out how to down load onto this blog! come on, give me chance......this is new IT territory for me!