And everyone really did come out! It started pouring rain just as we were about to start, so as best we could, we all huddled into one room (where we had slept), and with Ly’s translating help as well, we got past our Khmer how-do-you-do attempts to actually thank everyone in the community. An impromptu speech – but more than easy enough from our hearts!
Thank you for letting us spend these last two weeks in your community. It’s been a great joy for us to be part of your work, part of your play, share in your smile and dancing and fun. Every day has seemed like a party!! We have felt so welcome and have been so impressed by your hard work even late at night, and we have learned from you not only how to build a school but how to help and share in everything.
We have learned a lot from you and we will always remember you and our time together.
We hope the very best for all of you, and especially for the children. We hope that with the new school, they will be able to study hard and reach their dreams.
Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your community!
Here's one of my favourite pictures... the kids in the village that we'd grown to know and love... who are all going to be going to the new school we were building together.
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Hands up, in response to my question: Who's going to study hard at your new school?
And then… let the party begin! We asked for the help of the local village women to prepare a bigggggggg pot of chicken stew and asked the little shopkeeper next to the school (who sold soap and pop, etc, in a little hut if he would get a nice big supply of pop for us to buy. A very locally-supplied party! :)
One of the awesomest things – in the many previous nights of slugging mud up from the riverbed for the foundation of the school, there was a woman who would come to sell fresh hot boiled corn. I can’t remember for how much. Maybe 5 cents a piece or something. On many occasions, we’d buy the whole lot of it, and then share it with everyone working hard together all night to hoe the river bed, pack down the wicker baskets, and carry the heavy soil up from the river to the school. I asked Ly if we could find that lady and ask if she would prepare enough corn for everyone in the village for the party. Sure enough – no problem! Ly wasn't there any of those nights when we were mud-carrying and corn-buying but she called the Village Chief, who then asked around to find out who was the Corn Lady. And sure enough, Corn Lady was found, and big warm baskets of freshly boiled corn arrived at our party!
Friends... some of whom we'd gotten to know by name. Most of the guys on the school construction site we knew. This guy on the right we affectionately called Tarzan for his ability to scale ladders, roofs, support poles, or anything and everything on site to fix something up high. :)
And.. that was it! Some hugs and handshakes (and a bucket of water on my head) later, we packed up the HOPE truck and hopped in the back one last time and waved our last goodbyes - (until next time.. )!
Luckily we haven't really left them behind. HOPE is still very much a part of this community and the school should have been completed not long after we left... the kids should all be back in school now... learning new things, gaining new skills and knowledge, and preparing for themselves for a bright future ahead in their beautiful community. I'll look forward to seeing where these kids and families are at in a couple years!
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