Sponsoring a Cambodian girl through university

This post is all about you helping out some wonderful people I lived with in Cambodia. If you have any interest in helping others, whether through one-off donations, fundraising, or long-term sponsorships, please read on! If you’re after the rest of my blog, you’ll find it below, or using the categories to the right of this page.

Thank you so much to the who have so far offered to sponsor the wonderful girls at PAGE! You are amazing. And I can assure you the girls all truly deserve it.

Seven girls are still in need of sponsors though. If you, or anyone you know, thinks they might be able to spare £20/ month to give one of them the incredible gift of higher education, and all the life-chances it brings, please keep reading! You can email me for more information too- just leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Sponsoring a Cambodian Girl’s University Education

The girls at PACE

The Background

I spent October, November and December 2008 volunteering for a charity in Cambodia. The charity was founded by Buddhist monks, and is called the Life and Hope Association (LHA). It manages five complimentary projects, all of which provide education, security and love to some of the most disadvantaged young people in Cambodia.

One project LHA manages is called PAGE- Program Advancing Girls’ Education.  This project allows the poorest girl-students to complete high school by providing free accommodation, food, care and extra lessons. 14 girls aged between 13 and 21 currently live at the “PAGE house”, and if it weren’t for LHA’s support each one would have to quit school immediately and find work. PAGE gives these girls the second chance they long for, and thoroughly deserve.

I lived in the “PAGE house” with these 14 girls for one month, and in all honestly, I was bowled over by them. They are extraordinary young women. Their disarming lovingness, openness, generosity, perseverance, and sense of fun would fill anyone with awe and inspiration.  These girls will grow to be incredible women, and I was thoroughly heartened (though in no way surprised) to learn how strongly they all wish to serve society in the future; pockets of Cambodia will flourish in their hands.

These girls clearly need to be armed with degrees! Without degrees, they’ve no chance of becoming the teachers, NGO workers, politicians, doctors and managers they work so hard to become.

However, I was saddened to witness their anxiety over their futures; they know they can’t pay the university fees, and they know equally that without degrees their hard work and great aspirations will come to nothing.

£600 is enough to guarantee one girl a university education.  That’s about £17/month over 3 years. If you think you can help, and thereby give a totally wonderful Cambodian girl the chance to go to university (and enjoy all the opportunities that a degree would open up for her), please contact me. (Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you very soon)

Basic Logistical Information

It costs £1200 to enable one girl to complete a four-year degree. However, most years we have help from Australian sponsors too, which means we only need to raise £600 at our end. This can be paid in installments:

£25/month for 2 years,

£17/month for 3 years, or

£12.50/month for 4 years.

Every penny of your donation will go straight to the girl and her education. This is quite rare in the field of charitable giving. The charity and myself cover any additional costs, such as admin, transfer fees, extra living costs etc. But we do really need your donation for academic costs, to give one of these wonderful, deserving girl enough support to allow her to complete a degree. I hope you share my opinion that sponsoring a girl in such a way is truly wonderful opportunity for both you and the girl.

If you would like to and feel able to cover all costs for a girl (a full scholarship, including living costs) this can also be discussed. It is more expensive, but would of course give the girl much more stability and peace of mind. However,  this level of commitment is not essential; the girls can support themselves somewhat by finding work, and should be able to continue receiving food and accommodation from LHA (though sadly this cannot be guaranteed over so many years). One-off or general donations are also hugely welcome, as the girls’ income will undoubtedly need supplementing at times- living costs are hugely variable, unexpected medical expenses may arise, and their living conditions are already very basic. Cheques can be made payable to “Life and Hope Association” (please contact me for an address/ account details).

There are 12 school grades in Cambodia, and some of the girls are still in very low ones. For example, he youngest girl is 13, and is in grade 4. Promising sponsorship early means more time to save up the money, and more time to get to know the girl you’re sponsoring as she progresses through school.  However, if you would like to sponsor someone who is going to university sooner, many will be starting in the next year or so, and so are really urgent cases for sponsorships! We should be able to arrange for you to sponsor one of those girls. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you sponsoring two, or more, girls if you want! Alternatively, if you’d like to help but can’t afford the full £600, any extra financial help for the girls will always be gratefully received and put to good use, as the girls’ living conditions are very basic, while their true needs are personal and always fluctuating unpredictably.

A bit more about the girls

All the girls are from very difficult, poor backgrounds. All study very hard- until 10pm most nights, and also help around the house without complaint (even though it means waking at 4:30 each morning to do chores). The girls are all totally lovely people- disarmingly open, generous and loving, yet still fully aware of how to have some serious fun!

Reflections on Happiness, Cambodian style!

I’ve been back in England for over a week now, and I’ve had time to talk to people and reflect on my experiences. Being able to view my memories in contrast to life back home has really given me a lot to think about. So yes, sorry- here I go…

I’ve been trying to pin down what was so brilliant about life with the PACE girls. If there’s some sort of formula to it, it’s definitely a winning one, and it’s worth trying to recreate it here! So this blog is basically my thoughts on that- how to maximise happiness!

[Edit: Be warned- this reads like something written to instruct five-year olds. Oops]

One thing is, it was always nice to come home, because I knew everyone would be happy to see me and immediately welcoming, and at the same time, they were such great girls that it was always a joy to see them again. So, I think that’s about really APPRECIATING THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU and never taking them for granted. Another thing is, we always tried very hard to make each others’ lives better. They were much better at this than me It’s lovely, if a tad embarrassing and guilt-provoking, to come home and find that your friend has taken the time to hand-wash your mass of dirty clothes and make your room look tidy, just cos she wanted to do something nice for you. Feeling so much gratefulness to one person (and so often- there were similar gestures every day) becomes equal to feeling very loved, liked and cherished, and it definitely put me on several long-lasting highs!

This really isn’t about having slaves though; slaves are NOT the secret to happiness! I’d happily do my washing myself- being a bit weird, I grew to quite enjoy handwashing clothes! It’s the gesture and the love encased within it that’s so brilliant. SO similarly, it’s nice for you to help out with chores whenever you can, and plan fun activities and treats for people, and see that they’re happy because of something you’re doing. So, step one: TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU GET TO TREAT PEOPLE.

Step 2…
FUN! This is very easy to find in a house of 15 teenage girls. Wink murder, musical chairs, dancing, badminton, ball games… we knew how to milk our free time! And even doing chores like cooking and cleaning didn’t feel like chores when so many of us were doing it, and joking along as we went. So, BEING AROUND ACTIVE, OUTGOING PEOPLE WITH WICKED SENSES OF FUN AND HUMOUR is pretty clearly going into the happiness cocktail.

This must make it sound like I’m really miserable at home! Ha ha, not so! But Cambodia was a NEW experience, so I’ve obviously got NEW things to learn about happiness from it. Onwards…

I think a third component would have to be that I had A JOB WHERE I WAS HELPING OTHER PEOPLE A LOT. Nearly every day you’d do something that you knew was going to make a big difference for the better, so even if there are trials and challenges at work, I tended to leave the office on a good high.

And for the days I didn’t, when I left the office exhausted, put-down, and ready to go home and be seriously unsociable, I had to go straight into teaching my lovely 5pm class, who never failed to put a smile on my face and restore the spring to my step. They were always welcoming, delightful, smiling, funny, kind, conscientious, polite, hard-working, interested, responsive… pretty much perfect students. And they were my age, which helped the classroom to have a wonderfully cooperative, positive atmosphere. It was such a good late-afternoon boost. “Young people: proven to be one hundred times more effective than coffee for that late-afternoon boost.”

I think another thing has got to be HEALTHY DIET AND REGULAR EXERCISE. I was eating lots of rice, fish, vegetables, salad and bananas, and not a lot else. Most stuff was boiled rather than fried (although I was partial to the odd “chayge chee-un”- fried banana). Exercise-wise, I had to cycle to work and back twice a day, which meant nearly 40 minutes of cycling each day. And I think the fact that the cycling was split into 4 short sessions meant that I got regular boosts of energy and refreshment throughout the day. Then in addition, lots of free time was spent dancing around, playing ball games, hand-washing clothes etc- much more active things than are typical for the UK.

We also had no glass in the windows of the office or the house, and I wonder if the CONSTANT FRESH AIR AND CONNECTION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT OUTSIDE made a big difference. It wasn’t the same as being cooped up in your little “office bubble”. In fact, waking up the morning I often felt like I was camping because I could hear the noises of animals and the river and wind and rain and people generally going about their daily business all around me. I like camping. . Of course, the downside of “open-air living” is that you get bitten to death by mosquitos, freezing cold in the middle of the night, and woken repeatedly by dogs that WON’T STOP BLOODY BARKING!!!! *ahem. So, life has it’s balance…

I’m really going on now, but I guess you’d've stopped reading by now if you weren’t interested in my little insights into happiness. You must be if you’re bored enough to read all of this, ha ha! Anyway, there is another thing that I enjoyed, which I’ve hinted at earlier wrt hand-washing…

Life there was very simple. I felt a lot more connected to myself, in that I had to provide for my own needs. Except when my darling slaves… ahem, I mean… friends… did it for me). If you wanted your clothes to be clean, you had to get water from the pump and sit outside scrubbing them and rinsing them and then hanging them up to dry until they were clean and ready to wear. You had to set aside time in your day to do that. And if you wanted food, you had to start with the fresh ingredients, preparing them from scratch. This would include killing, gutting and scaling the fish- not my personal favourite job!-, getting the coal fire burning, chopping the vegetables without chopping boards whilst sitting on mats on the floor, and enjoying the sounds and smells of everything coming together to make a delicious, wholesome feast. Ha ha ha, I sound like Delia Smith… anyway… Again, you had to set aside time and put in considerable effort to satisfy your basic needs. It was a similar picture for use of water. It didn’t just come out of a tap on demand. You had to pump it into a bucket, then carry the bucket to wherever you needed the water. You only used hot for cooking, anf for this you had to boil it on the coal fire. And for flushing the toilet, you just chucked tubs of water down the loo and let gravity work its magic. For “showering”, you chucked tubs over yourself! Tubs of water, that is. Let’s not be silly now. And of course, when it came to washing up, there was no dishwasher. There wasn’t even a sink! You just crouched by the drain with a cloth, washing liquid, and a bowl of cold water for rinsing things. Everything had to be done by you, from scratch, and as I say, there was something quite satisfying about it all.

Saying all this, I’ve not reverted to hand-washing now I’m back in england! What do you think, I’m crazy??!! Ha ha… It was somewhat tempting, until I actually get round to doing it and realised I had so many better things to be doing with my time!!! I am cooking more though, and taking a long time to cook from scratch really is more satisfying than making something quick and not all that tasty, or simply defrosting something from the freezer. And we DO have time to do these things, on the whole. The Cambodians generally sleep at around 11 or 12, and get up at around 5am- their bodies are used to less sleep, and they’re fine with it. And they don’t waste time watching TV etc- when it’s needed, every second is productive, and it’s bearable because a lot of the production is enjoyable. Of course, they also would have the washing-machines and dishwashers given the chance..

And that really is a very long post. My goodness. So I’ll go, but I may be back writing on Cambodia cos I reckon a few more things’ll crop up that I’ll want to share with me 2 intermittent readers (love ya guys, x x x!!!).

Best wishes, lots of happiness!!!
Sally
xxx

My Birthday and others

You have to read the post below first, by the way. This is strictly Part Two.

…

So, she lead me downstairs. And as I climbed down, I couldn’t help but notice that it was pitch black, and that all the girls could be heard whispering and giggling outside. She lead me to the front door, and made me close my eyes. Then, I heard the flick of a cigarette lighter and the crunch of the big metal door being dragged open, as candle-light began to brighten the dark behind my eyes. “OK, open your eyes!”

…. (dramatic pause)..

…ha ha ha….

And there they all were, standing grinning from ear to ear around a tray of home-made, many-shaped biscuits, which propped up five yellow candles. It was SO sweet, and then they all began singing a cambodian rendition of Happy Birthday to You! Well, I felt a little awkward at this point, because it wasn’t my birthday, and I didn’t know if it was some deliberate mistake, or if they’d genuinely got the day wrong (and if I should go along with it anyway!). But when they’d finished Ratha explained to me:

“We know it’s not youre birthday, but you will not be here on your birthday, so we are giving you one today.”

How thoughtful and kind are they?

And then we played wink murder for about an hour and a half (I’d taught them it the day before, so it was nice to see how much they liked it). They made me laugh so much. We had the biscuits in the middle of the circle, and they all began dying suspiciously close to them, then reaching out spookily from beyond the grave to munch! And they must be the only girls who’d rush in with a sewing kit “medical box” to attend to those who’d died too many times :-D Hee hee hee.

Shall we move on? What? We should finish? No chance- who do you think I am? So, we’ll MOVE ON…

Last night I had a dinner with a potentially awkward stakeholder in my charity. There were pretty bit disagreements between this person and the charity, and I wanted to hear things from their perspective for the first time. I thought beforehand- this is either the beginning of my lifetime career in diplomacy, or the beginning of my loss of faith in humanity and my subsequent spiral into lifelong depression.

Well, it turned out (thankfully?) to be neither, but it was very pleasing to have my fath in humanity confirmed: I could understand where this person was coming from, and it was no dark, slimy, Transilvanian cave-of-evil. I wasn’t in full agreement with the person, but I could see that they weren’t a ‘lost cause’ at all. I was mainly just listening, so no Nobel Peace Prize just yet, but for my own peace-of-mind (:-D) it was a great experience.

And that, m’dears, is all

Oh, and lots of love, of course

Christmas, a Birthday, & more

Well hello, stranger!

Yeah, sorry about the delay. I’m veeery busy at the moment because the director is here at work, and then in the evenings… well, I love my girls and internet cafes are just far less enticing. Or is it inticing? Hmmm…

Anyway, I had some doubts about the potential of Christmas in Cambodia. There was really no sign it was even happening, even on Christmas Day itself, even in the main tourist areas. There were a few santa faces plastered to shop doors and a few strands of tinsel in the market. But really, nothing.

So how did I end up creeping around the house in the middle of the night with a sackful of presents, and waking up in the morning to open presents and cards on my bed? And how did I manage to find myself dancing a Christmas jig, singing Aulde Lang Sine (sp?!) in the traditional circle arrangement, and even receiving presents from santa while a choir sang “We wish you a Merry Christmas”???!!!

And at the same time, the temperature was in the high 20s, I had rice for every meal (no Turkey orChristmas pud!) and I wasn’t with my family. I even went shopping for most of the morning… but shopping for chocolate log, chocolate coins, and Christmas music.

Oh, it was such a strange, but wonderful mix! At times so Christmasy it was unreal, at times so NOT Christmassy it was like being in  some developing Buddhist country!

But people can be SO generous. A girl from my class bought me an all-singing all-dancing Christmas card, and must have spent ages writing and decorating the inside, and THEN she sent me a happy CHristmas email. And her friend even bought me a real, beautiful silk scarf in a pretty box, and I know they cost at least $5. Then the girls at PACE presented me with some incredible handmade paper flowers and a handmade box, which I opened to find dozens and dozens of paper cranes, and stars! They really must have spent AGES making them. My co-teacher of just one day gave me a lovely card and a gift-wrapped pen. I got all the girls at the Sewing Training Centre to make Christmas cards for each other, and some of the couldn’t be stopped from making them for me. Then, Catherine, my lovely, had sent me a gift-wrapped copy of Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope”, with another lovely personal note, which was just perfect (I’m enjoying it very much!). And all before the big day, I had many other Christmases (what IS the plural? Damn ENglish language why does it have to be SO BLOODY CONFUSING???!!!) (Hmmph) because… … all my relatives had sent me hugely generous portions of money to spend at will. I couldn’t believe how un-deserted I felt after all the concern people had expressed about me having “Christmas alone”!

And THEN (oof, a very happy blog, and I’m sorry for anyone who didn’t have a nice Christmas and feels I’m rubbig it in their face, but I want to share the wonderfulness of many many many people with you all)… so… and THEN yesterday I had another unexpected celebration: my birthday!

When I arrived home all the girls were showing slightly suspicious excitement levels, and I was told I wasn’t allowed ot go outside, and all the windows to there were shut. And then later Ratha, the superviser, asked me to follow her downstairs….

…To be continued…

The PACE house= love

So I’m in the PACE house. OMG I love it. I have to tell you about my  day yesterday and then maybe you’ll get an idea of why I’m SO glad I moved in…

On Sunday morning (7am!) there was a ceremony at the Wat that we all went to.  Loads of people from the community were there, all dressed in traditional ceremony clothes and beautifully made-up. Because I was with the PACE girls, and the PACE girls were helping serve the food, I got to eat in the back room of the Wat with all the helping staff. I must have been one of very few Westerners to ever sit on the floor there eating rice porridge, and I got some very amused, warm greetings from Khmers who passed through!

The night before we’d attended another ceremony, where we had to sit through an hour of Sanskrit/ Pali/ Khmer chanting. I didn’t get too bored- it taught a bit of patience- but Sunday’s alternative of watching the children from LHA’s projects doing some brilliant and often (intentionally) hilarious Khmer traditional dancing was far more enjoyable! Some of the children were so great- their poise and expression and whole movement was perfectly controlled to put across what they wanted to the audience. The dances all celebrated aspects of Cambodian life: there was a monkey dance, a fishing dance, a coconut dance etc. The musicians were also children from our projects, and some again showd huge talent. The songs are really long, and they play them all by heart. They’re pretty young children too. It made me understand some of the importance of preserving Cambodia’s cultural heritage; the audience were loving the celebration of their culture, the children had a pass-time they could be passionate about (it’s great for them to have something to aspire to), and everyone got to see the joy that can be brought to otherwise ordinary jobs/ objects (like fishing and coconuts!).

Anyway, after lunch at the Wat, I went for a drink with a Western girl and Sophanit (from LHA) and we had a really great chat, and laughed a LOT! Then when I went back to the PACE house, the girls had finished all their work and chores, and were hanging out outside playing/ watching each other play badminton. Unlike the day’s dancers and musicians, everyone was pretty talentless, and the shuttle-cock must have landed in every nearby alleyway, plant pot, bicycle basket and water tank before eventually getting stuck on the roof.  Then we played “monkey”, which is piggy-in-the-middle in a circle, when the monkey (piggy) just has to try to touch the ball. This was sooo much fun. I was exhausted from running frantically after the ball, and away from the “monkey”, andaside from that my cheeks seriously hurt just from laughing! I also got to see how brilliant all the girls are; they’re all up for a laugh, and they’re all really funny when they want to be. They have really strong personalities, and I saw that despite being very kind and modest, they also have no shortage of personal confidence. We must have played for about an hour, and we hardly stopped laughing throughout.

After dinner, they asked me if I could dance. Here we go…

So the youngest, Darlin, showed me two traditional Khmer dances. MY she was talented. She also danced with great poise, and it was clear that despite working hard to learn the moves and get them perfect, she was also a natural. It was great to see as well, because she’s such an outgoing, scrappy, fun-loving girl (the best “monkey” despite being by far the smallest), and to learn she could also dance as eleganty as the best Apsara dancers, and pull it off in her pyjamas, was really mind-blowing!

Then of course it was my turn to learn. We put on the Khmer pop music and after about an hour I’d just about got the “forward two three four, back two three four” whilst crossing and uncrossing your arms… Very slow learner. Some of the songs didn’t have particular moves, so it turned into a mini disco in the front room, which was sooo much fun. I love those girls. Maybe after 3 months I’ll finally have learnt to dance. Or, more probably, maybe not.

Oh, and musical bumps/ statues also made an appearence.

And now I’m SO glad I moved in with them and can’t believe I’ll have to leave them, possibly for ever one day, because they are the kind of girls I would befriend for life given the opportunity. *Sign. Every silver lining…

I hope you’re all doing as well as me. You have Christmas after all! We’re going to have a Christmas party at PACE, and invite the girls from the Sewing Training Centre too! That’ll make about 35 of us. Yaaaaaay!

Lots of love

SSSSSSSSSSally

xxx

So, Placebo played at Angkor Wat on Sunday…

Hello! Firstly, have  a look at this: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/08/2440680.htm?section=entertainment

I heared that some Western groups were holding a special rock concert at Angkor Wat on Sunday, to raise awareness about human trafficking, so I cycled over to find it. You’d think it would be easy to locate a rock concert in a 12th century temple. You’d think it would stand out some what, and be comfortably audible over the blanket of centuries-old tranquility. But, akin to the time I cycled past Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world, without even noticing it was there, I again failed to find the haystack.

I could bear the pain of this; I had a nice bike ride and was happy to go home and Skype Mum. But today I found out exactly who was playing this rock concert. Headlining: PLACEBO. Oh. My. God. Can you imagine, Placebo, playing at Angkor Wat? Can you imagine a BETTER gig? Can you imagine ANY better way to spend a Sunday evening???!!! AAARRRGGGGHHH!!!

*Sigh. Anyway, these things happen. And I’d already had one wonderful (in the true sense of the word) musical experience that weekend. On Saturday evening, I went to The Singing Tree, expecting to find a Yoga class (ok ok, again, I’d got times and dates mixed up…!). Instead, I heared Indian traditional music and group singing coming from the upstairs Yoga room. I was invited to join. There followed the most hippyish experience of my life so far. I found myself sitting in a room full of serenly-smiling, long-haired, headband-wearing men and women sitting in half-lotuses, eyes closed, singing Indian mantras. It was both relaxing and great fun (fun and funny, a god combination) and when the lead singer left the song sheet and burst into a sporadic and lively “Harry Krishna Harry Krishna” mix, and everyone joined in, and knew the tune and the words and, apparently, the deep joyful significance of it all, I couldn’t help but laugh. How perfectly hippyish.

But the best news of all is- I’ve moved into the PACE house! And the girls are ABSOLUTELY lovely. I am having to work very hard to stop them acting as willing slaves for me. When I arrived “home” yesterday lunch, my lunch was already prepared for me, waiting under a mosquito guard on the table with cutlery and a chair pulled up for me. The same was true for dinner, and breakfast this morning. Then, I had to buy a mattress, shelves and sheets at lunch, so all the girls came out with me and insisted on carrying it all back. Then they helped me unpack it all, made my bed with me, and spent about half an hour trying to erect the make-it-yourself drawers with me (these shelves were impossible and the pictures to help made no sense, so after much umming and arring we gave up). They also expressed distaste at my small mosquito net and insisted in giving me a huge square blue one, which is just GREAT, and putting it up for me. Anything I want, I have to ask them. One, Ratang, even won’t let me wash up without her help, and another helped me wash my hands! To top it all off, when I arrived home from work yesterday evening, they had put up the impossible shelves! I said thank you very much, and asked had it taken long? No, no, they reassured me. I asked how long it had taken. Just two house, they told me. :-O

So I officially feel welcome. As I see them around the house, I can see that they’re great fun, very kind, earnest and intelligent. They are grown-up too. They look after the house and each other pretty independently. I already have a lot of respect for them, and can see that it’s going to be very hard to leave them at the end of it all.

OK, there you go, you’ve got your blog! How are you all? Hows Christmas warming up? Lots of love

Sally

xxx

I’m alive!!!

Ooops, forgot to tell you I’m alive. Well… I am. Hello! I’ll save all my thrilling adventures for later. When they have actually happened. Love

I forgot the funny monk!

HOW could I forget, possibly the main inspiration behind that last blog. Monk Chat’s funny monk.

He sat there in front of us all on a meditation pillow, legs crossed in a hald-lotus, serene look on his face and calm, pointed words falling from his lips. After some discussion of Buddhism itself, this 19-year old began to talk with us about his own experiences of monkhood. He became a monk 4 years ago when he was 15. He’d never set foot in a monastery before, but when he went for the first time, he saw the monks walking round in their robes, and liked the robes so much, and had such a desire to be able to wear them that he decided he wanted to become a monk! He asked his parents for permission when he arrived home. They said he could, but only if he committed to it for 5 years, and he agreed. Voila un monk.

He loved his robe so much, that for the first week he washed it at least once every day. He still does love it, but the washing has calmed down a little.

Now, this monk also loved yummy food. His mum made the best ever. But, after making this committment to become a monk, he discovered that monks couldn’t eat after midday. And the food they ate just wasn’t up to scratch either. At fist he didn’t eat much of it because it was too bland. But four years down the line, he just has to put up with it. I guess the gloriousness of the robe makes for some compensation.

Well, he found this all very funny as he was telling us this, and us barangs were in fits of giggles each time he repeated: ”I was soo hungry!” or “I thought the robe looked sooo good” or “Five years- it’s a long time, you know!”. He also told us about other people’s reasons for becoming monks. For example, there are many “ganster-monks” (his words), whose parents force them to join the monastery because they simply can’t control them. So, don’t think that just because they’re praying Dhamma, you can trust them with your wallet!!! Others become monks in order to get an education, or because they are poor and monks get free housing and food. Some really do become monks because they are devout Buddhists, but I get the sense this is a definate minority.

OK, that’s all. Just a little insight and a giggle I wanted to share. All the best,

Sallsky

Bits and Bobs

First bit of news: I’m moving into the “PACE house”, which is the house my charity owns for the girls who are on our PACE program. They stay there and get food and support so that they can go to school and don’t need to quit to work for a living. And they have a spare room which I am going to move into! This is awesome, because eeryone who’s worked with the girls says they’re really really nice, and they’re aged between 12 and 21. And I don’t have to pay rent, although of course I’ll help out financially in other ways. I just have to help electricity and food costs. And of course, eating with them will be a lot cheaper too. It’s a really nice, traditional Cambodian house, with all the traditional features of squat toilets and bucket-of-water-showering and outdoor cooking and pot-hole infested road there…. but nice!

I arrived home very happy yesterday. Saturday seems to be turning into my do-nothing day. My brain is just not up to activity!!! I finished “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which makes a personal record for me, the slowest reader in the world: 3 evenings and half a day for a book the same size as Gandhi’s autobiography, which took me 2 months!!! Afterwards, I went to “Monk Chat” at the Singing Tree, and felt a lot of respect for the 19-year-old monk who sat in front of us sharing a lot of insightful, good sense. This lasted nearly 2 hours because we all were having such a great chat! And my friend Simone happened to be there, so we went out for dinner afterwards and again I really enojyed her company. Theeeeeen I went to buy some Khmer desert from a market, and the ladies there were sooo lovely and warm and friendly! They liked that i was speaking Khmer, and as well as not charging me extra because i was a “barang”(foreigner), she gave me an extra slice of cake and an extra-warm smile and “arkun ch-ran” (thank you very much). When people treat you nicely like that, it can make the world of different and put you in a super-good mood.

All our volunteers have gone back to their relative countries now (*sniff), but in a week the director of the charity’s coming over from the states, and that’s going to be great! I really love living here… heat or no heat, ants or no ants, HUGE social problems or none… CHRISTMAS OR NO CHRISTMAS!!!… (it’s not a big deal over here- no sign of it around town, even where it’s such a touristy place)…  It must be the people. They are so rarely rude, reserved, unwelcoming, unreasonable, unfreidnly- they all seem to want to make you happy and form a gentle bond with you. It makes for a very nice atmosphere I think.

OK, got to go, but thanks for your comments and I hope you are all well!

Love Sally

Pictures (2?)

Hello again. I’ll upload some pictures for yall. We’ve had virus issues so I’ve been a bit scared of plugging cameras and pen drives into the computers anywhere, but all is solved now.

These photos show: The mosque at sunset, Phnom Penh. Kep beach (on the south coast. The sunbathing beach is at Sihanoukville- Kep is more a small fishing town now, although the locals and desperate tourists still take a dip.). Monkey at Wat Phnom, the only hill in Phnom Penh, around which the city was supposedly built. View of Phnom Penh from the top of the mall (skating rink behind me). Sunset at the water festival. Lighted boats and fireworks at the water festival (there were about 15 of these sailing around the lake- very tranquil and atmospheric). Rubbish after the water festival- Cambodians hardly ever throw rubbish in the bin when they’re out and about- let this be a warning to you all!!! Half-time at the football match in the olympic stadium, with Wat in the background.