1 school, 2 swings, 1000 smiles... and a whole lot more

There’s quite a story to tell…one that is pretty darn awesome. Maybe many stories that make up the story of our UNION team's experiences over the last week. I don't really know where to start, so I'm just going to give 'er and see where it goes! So...  here goes my attempt to share what it’s been... in little bits and pieces.

What has our second week in Cambodia looked like? It’s looked like a lot of things. For one thing, it looks like a school that’s been built up a whole lot more. With a lot more pillars and walls...

 ... some door frames

...some windows

... and a foundation of rocks waiting to be filled with cement. 

We’ve continued on with our brick laying, cement mixing, rock carrying, mud hauling, and all that goodness...

Devising our own (Jungle Book-inspired) ways to cool down when needed

But, we’ve also been doing other things around the work site – like hucking ropes into trees…

tying some knots…

and singe-ing the ends…

 ... To make a set of rope swings off the big tree in front of the school!

Fun for all ages! 

Whee!! Really! When's the last time you took the time to play on a swing? Definitely conducive to general well-being, I'd say!

Unfortunately our creation wasn't always so perfectly conducive to peacebuilding... but I guess I'll let this one slide ;)

 Fun even for our monkey-friend Sok! :)

and just because this monkey is so funny, haha... 

Needless to say, we’ve been part of building a lot more than just a school… the team has transformed the school from a pretty bare construction work site… into a KID-filled, FUN-filled adventure playground! All of our waking hours (and more than definitely, even after we’ve crawled into bed, and well before we’re up again), the school yard is FULL of kids running around (usually with us, until they tire us out!), swinging on swings, kicking around soccer balls or feather hacky sacks that we brought.

So fun to look out over the once-empty work site, and just see it full 24/7 of laughing, screeching kids (and workers too - I think we might have decreased their productivity with our instigation of constant breaks for fun). But I’ve been so impressed by the initiative of this team. They see needs & opportunities, and mesh those with their initiative & creativity and make things happen. And we’ve built a lot more even than schools and swings… we’ve built some amazing relationships and shared a lot of smiles, laughs, fun and friendships with the workers and kids. We're still barangs but we're definitely no strangers anymore!

Adam's human swing!

My hair salon...

Kat, Poi extraordinaire, teaching the kids the fun & art of swinging tennis balls on the end of a string with colourful ribbons off the end, and making all sorts of designs.

Scottie, getting a Khmer lesson from the kids, with a whole lotta laughs.

(Hmmm.. this video isn't uploading right now. But I'll try it again in the

morning - you should definitely check back and see it!!)

The community threw us a big dance party our last night in the village – very much fun. Very much hilarious. Unfortunately the best videos got deleted off Adam’s camera, and we’re trying to salvage them. Hopefully we will, because they were really so good! I'll put one up for sure if I can get 'em back!
 
Playing catch-up now, with all that's happened. But, definitely, more to come....

xo
Rainbow

Somethin' special

If words could express what the last week here in Cambodia with my UNION team has been... I don't know what they are yet!

Even a thousand words in a picture don't quite capture what it's been. And I have a lot of pictures to choose from.

Here's one picture... which has a whole lot of a story, that touches on so much that's happened this week, to go with it.

I haven't quite figured out how to share it all yet. For now, I can just say it's been nothing short of  something really special.

I'll hopefully share more... soon.

xoxo
Rainbow

All work and no play....

would make for some sad barangutangs, so, we make sure we have lots of fun on the job site...

Everything from brick-carrying contests (I think Adam holds the record at 20 bricks in one go)

To soaking up some sun... and getting water poured on by the lively little lady that cleans our clothes

Team yoga in the afternoon rain storms...

and rain-time break with the other workers for volleyball over the electrical wire

Finding some critter neighbours

Learning how to blow bubbles from the stem of a leaf!

Us barangs giving it a try

Making our own hammocks..  

Tree climbing... (As the team leader in charge of team safety, I definitely did not see this, or the tree jumping that followed ;) )

Meeting a neighbour's monkey...

And some newborn can-barely-stand-up baby piglets!

Watching a late-night movie with all the kids in the village powered by a generator, after an evening of slugging mud up from the river

Basically... just a whole lot of great team building!

We are heading back out to the village in a half hour, after a weekend in the town of Pursat... until next time! :)

xoxo
Rainbow

Team Barang-utang

Meet my team...

Adam, Scottie, and Kat... we crazy barangs seem to be a bit of a spectacle everywhere we go and Adam's coined us nicely. (If any HOPE staff are reading, we didn't drive the moto, just a photo op! ;) )

I could NOT ask for a better team. I am super thankful for them - these guys are amazing. They are the most positive, good natured, enthusiastic, genuine and easy going bunch probably to have ever been on a UNION team. They are so pumped for everything we do and can't stop grinning from ear to ear and pouring out their enthusiasm to everyone around us. I have one great team!


So... what have we barangutangs been doing over the last week? Oh so much! :)

Well, for one thing, we've been building up this primary school, which will serve maybe 200-300 kids in the village.

Look how far we've come since the beginning!

We've been carrying some bricks...

Laying 'em down...

Carrying rocks over from the big rock pile...

Filling up the foundation...

Mixing cement...

Pouring it into molds (?) for the pillars (?)  - might be a more technical term for it - my construction site learning curve is just flying! There's re-bar or something inside, which I remember by rhubarb, as in strawberry-rhubarb pie). As an aside, I also learned the word 'trowel' the first day when we started laying down the bricks - "We need more of those spatula things" "Trowels" "What are they called? Truvels? Tralls?" "Trowels, Rainbow, like towels with an R!"

Anyways... it might not be fast, and it might not be pretty... but I know how to lay me a brick wall!

...and look fantastic my giant sun shielding hat while I'm at it! (not really, but I do what I can! :)  )

And even slug basket-fulls of dirt up from the river bank to bring to the school into the night!

Well, for all we've done, we certainly haven't been doing it alone... we've just been working alongside the local workers...

Who have become great friends!! :)

These guys just LOVE Scottie & Adam especially, joking around and getting the barangs to carry the heaviest bucket of dirt or cement! :)


Our real contribution really is probably not what we can do - they can lay down 3 rows of perfectly straight bricks in the time that I can lay down one crooked one! But we can encourage them with our presence, bring a sense of joy, fun and excitement about work, show them by our helping alongside the dignity of their skills and expertise, and just have a great time together! :)

A bunch of the village kids came out to see us on the first day... and have been back every day since!

And they LOVE to help out! :)

Even the very little-ist ones!

Everyone loves to help out, and work together, and I think that's what's made this team and this time "working" at the school such a great time for all.

Even in the heat... yes, that's us laying bricks in 44.5ºC

Adam, sad at 44.5

Oh and it gets hotter! 56.5ºC!!

But, heat and all, we've been having a great time. I just love how happy everyone is to be here. We've had some great 'group chats'... and, for some of the team, this has been the best trip or best thing they have ever done. In ways that they can't even quite put words to, our time in Cambodia has been an experience of joy in sharing smiles, serving and loving people, asking some big 'life questions', reflecting on & sharing 'why are we here?'. That makes me smile! :)  Just look at this enthusiasm... what more could I ask for? :)

Ah.. there is so much more I could share...  but it's about 1am now! So I should head to bed. As always... more to come! :)

xoxo
Rainbow