Apologies for not having written anything for such a long time. Things have actually been quite busy at work, even though it’s still the school holidays. As well as helping the VSO staff set up new placements in good governance and health for next year, we have had lots of workshops and, more recently, have been working on school enrolment campaigns. These take place during the last fortnight of September to sensitise parents and communities about sending their children to school. The weather this week has been terrible, though, and we haven’t always been able to attend the campaigns, but we did go to one at Pu Tang village on Tuesday.
This was organised by the school director and they didn’t have a banner, but there was quite a good turnout from the children, who walked through the village with a loudspeaker and posters. It was nice when other children came out of their houses to join them.
The walk was about an hour and the girl in the picture above (who I think came up to my knee) managed the whole thing. I felt very sorry for her though as she probably has to do this another three or four times before she’s old enough to enrol herself.
We’ve also made a leaflet with ideas for community involvement which we are distributing to all the schools. And one day in August we had chicken, which is a very rare occasion as it’s expensive here. They’re slightly cheaper if you buy them alive, so we did, although I didn’t enjoy driving him home: he wriggled a bit and broke my eggs. I hope they weren’t related. At home I put him in the spare room, gave him a plate of uncooked rice and called him James; Tak and Eng slit his throat, plucked and gutted him. James nearly had the last laugh though as he’d left a bit of poo inside which the murderers got all over their hands. But he wasn’t laughing when he came out of Jeltje’s oven.
Anyway, I think I mentioned in my last post that my placement is being extended until March 2011. As a result I’ve decided to step back from Cambodia’s collective alcohol problem, which until now I’ve been participating in quite enthusiastically. I’d always thought it was impolite to say no, and that a year wouldn’t do much harm, but now that I’m staying longer I’m going to be more careful – especially as times are hard and we can usually only afford the lethal 70% rice wine. (Last time I think it burned through some of the lining of my stomach and gave me acid indigestion for days, so I’ve given it up completely.)
Next week it’s Pchum Ben which is a big holiday in Cambodia and most people go back to their home villages. Mine’s a bit far away (although I’ll be home from 17-30th December), so I think I’m going with Dave to Preah Vihear which is a famous temple on the Thai border. I haven’t been to the northwest year apart from a short trip to Siem Reap so that should be good.
