The best moment... the best smile :)

I appreciated a lot of things about my team. Fun, positivity, genuineness, and willingness-to-serve being high on the list among those. And general good-natured-ness. But what has really stood out about the team, over, above and beyond what I would’ve imagine, was their initiative and generosity. They took a lot of initiative – to get to know the workers, to learn Khmer however imperfectly and hilariously, to play with the kids, to creatively turn the school construction site into an adventure playground. They also were generous – with their finances, buying everything from ropes for swings, tennis balls for poi, food for the village party etc without second thought – and beyond that, with their own time, energy and themselves.

I previously put up two posts… one about Ran’s family and what we'd had a glimpse of, of real struggle with poverty. And another one I had put up before, a vague one about something very special.

Here’s where those come together…

The last day that we were in Pursat, before we were about to head back to Phnom Penh (the capital city of Cambodia, 3 hours away) the next morning, the team approached me and asked if there was something we could do for Ran’s family, who we'd met a few days before. Well, she should hopefully get a well within two years or so, I told them. I knew as well as them that two years.. getting by one day at a time in ill health.. is a long time. Installing one of the HOPE bio-sand water filters we’d seen as a less-expensive temporary measure was not really an option, as there are so many other families (without a source of underground water for a well) also in desperate need for water filters for clean water… and Ran is hopefully getting a well soon-ish.

It was also Saturday, when the HOPE staff should’ve been having their rest on the weekend – they work long and hard during the week! I called Ly. Well, she suggested, you could go to the market and buy a temporary clay water filter... it won’t last forever like the biosand filters – maybe two years. But by then, hopefully Ran’s family will have a water well.

Hurrah! With two of our favourite (not that we actually played favourites, they are all very awesome :) ) HOPE staff that willingly gave up their time with their family to come help us.. we went to the market.

And picked out a water filter! (Plastic bucket with a special clay pot insert that filters the water as it drips through)

The guys also picked out the biggest bag of rice they could find –  50 kg worth!

…and some pork (which, along with some dried fish – a common part of Cambodian diet, for those who can afford it – and multivitamins, would hopefully help nourish Ran with the iron her body needs to overcome anemia)

..and some soap, sugar, salt and basic supplies.

We can barely fit back into the tuk-tuk with all this stuff. Perfect! :)

And we packed up the HOPE truck and Pheap (Ly’s husband) drove us back to Ran’s family...

Where we had the privilege of giving them these few things we’d got.

And the much, much greater privilege of seeing a beautiful smile and eyes lit up with life from Ran and her mother.  – This – is my absolute favourite photo from the trip.



What a beautiful smile. :)   ...especially in contrast to how we'd known Ran last.

A few more memorable photos

Trying out the water filter

 More beautiful smiles

This last one.. hands together saying “Awkun!” – thank you!

We were really just as thankful, to be a part of her life, for her to be a part of ours. We shared a few words, saying just that we wanted very much for her to be well – her and her whole family. That we want her to have clean water and be able to be healthy and have a good future full of hope. That we hope that the few things that we had brought would help her family. And that even when the rice runs out, we hope that she would know that she has friends in Canada that care about her, and want to see her be well.

We weren’t heros. We were just friends.

And really, we hope these small tokens would help… clean water will give her greater freedom from typhoid, cholera, fever, diarrhea, fever, stomach aches and a greater chance for her son to heal from some kind of muscle infection. Some meat in her diet will also hopefully help her overcome anemia from iron deficiency. The extra rice to supplement their meager daily portions will hopefully help nourish their health and daily work in the fields.

Until Ran gets a water well, she still doesn’t have access to a water source.. and as the wet season comes to a close (now-ish) and rain no longer runs off her roof into a collecting canister, it will still be a long dry season, maybe two, ahead where the family won’t have water to put through the filter. They will probably still have to ask for it. But they might be able to do it with more dignity and vivid hope that day when they are no longer begging for the basic need of water (which, by the way, is a human right signed into international law as of this year!). And they can look ahead and see possibility and dream for a better tomorrow.

And for me, the best part (one of the all the best parts) was that Scottie, Adam, and Kat took the initiative to make a difference - THE difference - that we were able to be a part of. It wasn't me nagging them, Guys, we should really do something here. But it was them, responding to need they saw, taking initiative to extend compassion and generosity. And they made a difference. :)