Thursday 1 November 2012

You just never know where you'll find her next!

"It seems quite amazing to be back in Cambodia."
"This wasn't in the job description but I'll give it a go!"
 "Much has changed in the three years since I was here, but of course there is much that hasn't. As difficult as it is to tell when you just "pop in" for a short time every now and then, I think that this time there is more hope for a future.

Today we went to the stilt village near Tonle Sap Lake. While there we stopped at a restaurant that was a community project of the whole village. The people have also got together to build a tree-top walkway through the mangrove swamp to attract extra tourist dollars. It was just great to see this sort of self- help in this community.
Highlights:-     1. Dinner last night with Rathany and Bophay who have started the project we are visiting tomorrow. They are both so passionate about helping the people of Bos Village. Their 3 month old daughter is just too cute for words. 

2. Today we met an elderly artist 76, who managed to escape the Pol Pot era and is now teaching young people to make carvings and architectural drawings. It was an honour to meet him and talk with him. His sculpture of Ankor Watt was just amazing.

But the most delightful thing was that his great grand -daughter had just been born a couple of hours before. She was the most gorgeous little thing and it was very special to be there on her birth day.



3. Talking with some workers who were ploughing up a paddy getting ready to sow rice tomorrow. 1000ha is now all owned by a company (most individual farms are 1 ha) and about 10-15 of locals work for the company. I wonder what happened to all the rest of the people who sold land to the company?"
                  -  Julie Greig

More photos at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/116891173493894340392/StiltVillageSeimREap?authuser=0&feat=directlink
and
https://picasaweb.google.com/116891173493894340392/MuslimCemeterySingapore?authuser=0&feat=directlink

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