New village, new school..

... but just as exciting!

 

Our new school project!

We’ve jumped in at about 2 weeks into the building progress, which is kind of fun because that’s about where our 2010 team left off last year (in a different village – the school’s done and full of happy kids now! See my last post! :) ), and also because we’ll be here for 3 weeks, and we will get to see the school *almost* through to completion.

Gettin' to work!

Our team.. note the (awesome) matching flower work shirts :)

Lots of work building a school…

Dirt scooping (and carrying!) out of classrooms to get a flat foundation

Filling up empty classroom floors...

... with giant rocks

Lots of rocks!

Smashing rocks...

Me with a sledge hammer (that I can barely lift over my head)… I felt like Fred Flinstone

... rock bed smashed to smithereens

Covering up all the rock bed with sand...

Some brick laying, of course! 

And brick throwing up to the other workers for the parts we can't be trusted to build without falling

A mighty solid toss, if I do say so myself :)

Tying rebar for the cement posts

 It IS hard work… mostly  because it is probably about 50 degrees out! The thermometer on my alarm clock read 48.5 the other day – and I don’t think that includes humidity (and it is HUMID!)… I put my clock away before the team could get more smothered by KNOWING how hot it is! :

But, it’s really not so bad! We get lots of help from the kids in the village who can’t wait to get their hands on deck (and never seem to tire out)!

Making a chain game of dirt carrying

 

 

And, anyways, the purpose of our time here is very little about getting a school built – the school will be finished whether we are here or not. But it is about serving side by side alongside Cambodians building their own local community, giving the best of ourselves and in the process, connecting with the local community, learning about need, and getting a real picture of our place in the world to respond. It’s about learning to love people, witnessing poverty first hand, experiencing some kind of personal growth and development, hopefully leaving inspired to keep engaging with the poor.

While we were sitting around preparing the rebar that would go inside the cement posts and chatting, someone asked me if what I am doing now is what I had wanted to do when I did my studies in international development. I smiled: well, no not exactly – when I was studying, I hadn’t quite pictured sitting on a brick in the sun twisting rebar… but being a part of effective and successful rural development initiatives firsthand and being a part of other people getting excited about it as well...its a good place to be. :)

Not too shabby... we'll see how it looks after 2 more weeks! :)

Many more photos to share.. but it's painfully slow uploading them with the internet here! I'll be out of internet range again from tomorrow for another week or more... but I'll be in touch again.. One more important post on its way. :)

xoxo
Rainbow

School, smiles and friends from 2010! :)

Super quick post, but we went back to the village we were at last year with the 2010 UNION team! And here's the school all completed now!

All the kids are studying now! A whole bunch of the ones that were always around at the school with us last year! :)

Lots of learning going on now! :)

All our favourite kids! :)

Ok gotta run now... but I love these kids!!

xoxoxo

Rainbow

My new team of barangs!

Hello from Cambodia! :) Warm greetings.. and I mean WARM! I came back to my hotel room the other day and basked in its coolness... and looked down at the thermometer on my alarm clock and saw that it read 30 degrees. Ah yes, just as I remember! It's like extreme hot yoga... very much sweaty and kinda gross, but for many 90 minutes on end..  and for free! I will have no more toxins left by the end of these couple of weeks! :)

Anyways, in more exciting news, my team - Martin, Corinne, Jocelyn and Emma! I met them at the airport with jasmine flower leis :)

It's only been 2 days, but they seem to be a great bunch - pretty easy going and eager to help and get their hands dirty. It's hard not to think back and compare my team with last year's awesome goofy team that I just loved... but I'm sure this year's team will be awesome as well! In any case, as I reminded the team in our first meeting together, I work for an international development agency... not a tourist agency. And that's why we're here and hopefully we'll get to understand a lot more what that means in the coming few weeks! We spent yesterday taking a visit to the genocide museums/memorials in Phnom Penh to learn about the recent history of the Khmer Rouge regime that brutally killed more than 2 million people (some 20% of the population) just one generation ago..

One of the torture rooms in the S-21 prison :(

We're now in Pursat, the province where HOPE works, and we'll be headed to the village/community that we'll stay for the next 3 weeks tomorrow.

Hopefully more next week when we have a brief break back from the field! I used to do planning, sort pictures, write blogs and run errands, etc, early in the morning before the team wakes up. "Unfortunately", everyone on my team seems to be early bird eager beavers as well, up at 6am, so we've been starting our days pretty early instead! But, it'll be a good thing with lots of perky energy on the team! But for now, that means just a random collection of a few quick pics!

Bright coloured monks

Martin checking out the various creepy crawly goodies sold at the Central Market

Two picked out

Eughh..!

And last but definitely not least...
Celebrating the Canucks' win in front of the Royal Palace!! Whoo hoo!! :D

Alright... bedtime for now. Until next time! :)
xoxo
Rainbow

Rainbow in Cambodia: Take 2

I'm off to Cambodia again....

...  for Take 2 of a Cambodia UNION team with HOPE International Development Agency, 2011 edition!! This whole Cambodia blog so far had been a chronicle of adventures with our (awesome!) 2010 team... feel free to check out some of the stories from our team last year! I'm sure there will be many more stories to add soon! :)

A bit of a cheater way to share more about what I'll be doing - but I promise to share more later! For now, our latest UNION Newsletter about the trip! :)

Happy April! Here at HOPE, we are looking forward to the May flowers at the end of these April showers. Even more so, we are looking forward to June and July this summer, with two 2011 UNION teams going out to be a part of our work in the developing world. We are still accepting applications for our Cambodia team in June and the Dominican Republic team in July. Read on for more info, and pass along the message to anyone who might want to join us this summer! Cambodia: June 2011 Dates: June 2-26, 2011 Cost: $3500 This summer’s Cambodia UNION trip will be a unique opportunity for volunteers to experience life in rural Cambodia. Be a part of the 2011 Cambodia team, and share in work, laughter, and new experiences with local villagers in Pursat province, Cambodia. Join hands with a community and work together in building a primary school for their village. Meet and learn from families in the community whose lives are being transformed by HOPE International Development Agency's clean water, home agriculture, and rice farming initiatives.   Learn more about the Cambodia trip Download a PDF about the Cambodia trip

I'll be in touch again soon from across the Pacific! :)

xoxo

Rainbow

The End.

The night after we had met Ran’s family, I asked one of my happy barangs how he was doing (he was awfully quiet for such a happy barang..). And he said, well I’m just sad. I told him and the team later how very appreciated his usual enthusiasm, laughs, jokes and goofy foolishness was… his love to bring smiles to those around him. But it was also awesome that he really shared in people’s sadness... that in itself would go a long way.

A note I got from one of my barangs after going back to Ran's family: :)

    This was my most special day of the trip and I appreciate your help making it possible for me to find a way back to put a smile on that woman’s face.

And my UNION team barangs continue to warm my heart with some of the messages they send me from time to time a few months after the trip:

    It was the best 3 weeks I have ever experienced.

    Going on the union trip has inspired me to start living life more.

    I realize this morning the ways my UNION experience has changed my views - I think it was the spark that helped me realize how much more I want out of this life. When I'm wishing my time away 2 weeks at a time when poor people of the world can just pray that tomorrow comes. And how its going to be .. Today I'm starting a new outlook and focusing more on breaking out of this cycle. I was sad but happy that I have the opportunity to be more this morning.

    Newsletter = awesome. I plan to put up 5 posters already haha.. Two gyms, work, my bike shop and local outfitters .. Woot UNION ROCKS .. I will do this with pride!

    [On giving water filters to Cambodian families in the name of friends and family as Christmas gifts]. I feel this is a great gift. I’m glad I can give to these people whenever and however I wish.. HOPE makes helping others easy .. I’m so proud to have been able to be even a little part of the big picture! I’m soo excited to give my cards [from HOPE about the water filters] as gifts this year.

Among many more :)

I was very thankful for these fun, crazy, and awesome people on my first (and thanks to them, not last ;) ) UNION team and it's been a blessing to journey with them through Cambodia and to some extent, still through life back in Canada.

HOPE’s UNION Program is really just what it stands for – Understanding Needs In Other Nations. Understanding human needs is the first step to meeting them (Adlai Stephenson’s words of wisdom, not mine).. and through all our various adventures and escapades through the Cambodian countryside, the Cambodia UNION team understood not only with their heads, but with their hearts. And they were moved to act and take the initiative to do it.

Initiative to see, to learn, to care and to act… will go a long way.

Poverty and human need is not so difficult to understand… yes the reasons and causes for poverty can be complex… but understanding some of the basic and simple needs that we can respond to – effectively – are not so hard. It might be more a choosing to open our eyes to see and allowing our hearts understand. And then choosing to take the initiative to respond… that will make all the difference. Maybe not for every single person in need, but it mattered to Ran and her family, and it always matters to that one.

*              *             *

Well, that is officially the end of the Chronicles of Team Barangutang’s adventures in Cambodia. There are many more stories untold that you can hear from me in person one of these days… - OR - maybe… experience for yourself next year!!

Find out more on HOPE's website at www.hope-international.com/union

- Or - see my latest UNION newsletter… and if you want, sign up your email for updates to hear about the opportunities coming up.

- Or - best yet, just talk to me sometime! :)

You can follow up my next adventure.. coming soon-ish at www.rainbow-in-ethiopia.blogspot.com.

So... is "The End" of this Cambodia 2010 blog (and actually finished -just barely- in 2010, imagine that!)... BUT the story of these 4 barangutangs, and the story of Ran and her family, and the stories of all the other families and kids that we had the chance to briefly be a part of.. are still being written.

We'll see what comes of these stories in 2011. :)

Thanks for sharing these adventures with me in blog-form.. and best wishes for you in the coming year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!