Arun Susdai (Good Morning) *Snooze Snooze Snooze* *Yawns* Shh Shh Shh, the bristles of the toothbrush rubbing against our teeth and the crunching of toast with jam and peanut butter. Not forgetting the refreshing cup of orange juice and super sweet milo every morning. It had become a routine for us before setting off daily and today was no different. The final day of our project started with an early morning as we had to get ready for the scheduled inauguration of the library at 11AM. We arrived at Taom at around 9.30AM with renewed vigor and drowsiness shaken out off us by the ever bumpy ride to the village. Somehow, the bus ride to the village became shorter and shorter as we seem more accustomed to the bumps and indentations on the rocky road track. We were eager to get started on the finishing touches of our library. By then, the library had really come together and we were amazed at the sheer amount of progress that had been undertaken within these short five days. From just the structure of a 4 X 10m shed to a rather furnished library with books and mats. Although the furniture like tables and chairs were not ready, it still was presentable and a truly stunning feat for the inauguration of the library.
As we entered what seemed like a totally different structure from what we had encountered five days ago, the room was bare save for two make shift shelves that were nearing completion. With slightly over an hour to go, we quickly got down to work, dividing the labor such that we could finish what we had set out to do. Benjamin, Jun Yan, Cheryl and Edmond went straight to paint the walls of the library with pictures of sun, trees, and mountains. Meanwhile Vieshaalan, Davin and Kyle proceeded to put up the streamers on the front of the library. The rest of us got around looking for places to put up the educational charts we had bought for the children. With only minutes left to the inauguration we managed to whip out some balloons as well. Just seeing how the children were so contented with blowing up the balloons and playing with them humbled us. How easily these children find joy in their lives when we complain at every single little thing, like how dirty a balloon was or how the balloon wasn’t our favourite colour. By then, there was already a small curious crowd standing outside the door and peering in through the windows. Most of them were youths dressed in uniform; we had recognized them as the target group for our library.
The inauguration ceremony was quite formal despite the simplicity of the life in the village, with the head of police, the head of education and all the village chiefs attending this momentous occasion. It was an amazing sight to see everything single villager (aside from the youths) wearing our personally designed T-shirts that we had donated to the village. The whole village was a black sea with orange words saying “Sorry, I’m Booked”. During the ceremony, they graciously thanked us for embarking on this project and coming all the way there to help them. They also thanked God (since most of them were Catholics) and blessed the library with sprinkling of holy water. By then, some of us were already touched by their ever-flowing praise for our group and one or two were nearing tears. The Father also graced us with some words of wisdom “We learn a lot from books. The world is like a book-the book of life. Your actions are part of this book and we have been inspired by them. You have brought to this village something very important and have truly inspired these youths to make a difference” Our team felt like we had really done so much even though it was just in this small village that was 70km from the province Siem Reap. After the inauguration was over, the library was thronged with people of all ages who admired the books, the paintings, the charts, etc.
Meanwhile, our team quickly rushed over to the learning centre of the village to help serve food in the ‘rice-soup’ programme for the children. There were probably 200 odd kids sitting in neat orderly rows eagerly waiting for food that seemed scrumptious even to us. The rice soup was a simple bowl of porridge with pumpkin, eggs and a little meat. This small meal was already a blessing to these kids and it really humbled us; especially when they all ate as quickly as possible so that they could get seconds.
We spent the remaining amount of time in the village playing with the children. Although they were shy at first, they soon warmed up to us and were all over us before we knew it. Some even clinged to us like baby koala bears to their mother. Just seeing their laughter and joy at our presence was incredibly heartwarming. They also played with us simple games and just seeing their glistening smile made us not want to part with them. It is an experience that pictures cannot portray; one that lies in memories and must be experienced firsthand. The best part is the kids were SOOOOO CUTEEEE!!!
In the late afternoon, we were shocked by the number of youths inside the library all sitting on the floor and attentively reading the books that they pulled off the shelves. It was amazing! Never before had we seen such quick results from a project. It was very satisfying to know that our library had already been put to good use. Before leaving we left our mark in the form of handprints on the central pillar of the library as part of our legacy. The village chief also got his hands dirty by putting his handprint on the pillar with ours. He also promised us that he would take care of the library and send us pictures when the library was fully furnished. It was really a blessing to see that this building of the library is what the children and youths in the village needed and how they would treasure and take care of the library we built for them.
Sad as it was, the time had come to say goodbye and we were all hesitant to leave. We had already overshot our departure time by an hour! As we boarded the van, there was a crowd waiting to send us off. With us singing our goodbyes ( Li hai in Khmer , a sense of nostalgia enveloped us as we walked one last time through the village to board the bus. There were many smiles and many more waving hands in the air as we waved back with joy and satisfaction in knowing we had been able to do something for this small but friendly and amiable community. Some of us could not bear to part with our ‘adopted’ children we had played with earlier, but alas time flies by too fast. But we will always remember this village and its people who extended their hospitality to us (providing fantastic free food and even offered lodging!) and worked with us to put together the library. Their smiling faces will be engraved in our hearts and I speak for the whole team when I say that we will never forget this experience and hopefully can visit this village again someday. Som Aukun (Thank You) for the memories and the experience that we had in Taom and in Siem Reap. I’m sure that all of us although different as we are, will take back the same lessons and be contented in the fact that we managed to make such a big difference to the community in Taom village and by God’s grace, be able to finish our task which was to complete building the library.
So as we are all back in Singapore, safe and sound, we will definitely remember all the times we had in Taom village and the memories that we had as a group would last forever.
Some quotes that defined our trip: “BAR-NANA!!” and the whole bunch of bananas would appear on our table. “Tuk tuk driver: Tuk tuk to airport. Ben Wang: NO! Tuk tuk driver: Ok then you take your own tuk tuk!”. “Air refresher from the super mart! Mondy bring a window cleaner, so we can all see through clearer” “ Apples, oranges, peaches, pears. But banana. Jackfuit. Mango. Chiku chiku!” “Bus is leaving at 6.30am which means 7am. Indian Standard Time” “What sport do old men play? Gulf! Correct!” “What do you get when you run too much? Heartburn! Correct!” “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Uranus! Correct!” TABOO AT ITS FINEST! “Hello! Mixed fruit shack! 6 mixed fruit shack! 3 mango shack! 2 coconut shack!” SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE!!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Day 4
Step by step, one by one, pretty soon we're gonna be done. Like all other days, today started off with us failing to leave on the dot, sigh. Our worries of us being unable to complete today's tasks were intensified as we had to stopover the Catholic Church of Siem Reap to collect some boxes of raisin bread for the kids at the village. Wanting to be all geared up for a day of hard work of painting, we tried to catch forty winks on our typically bumpy and rocky road up to Ta-om. Nonetheless, even though our driver for today was different from the previous days, we managed to arrive at the time we estimated, yay :)
Not wanting to waste anymore time, we broke off into groups and started painting the exterior of the library, touching up and removing the dust from the well-sawed wooden planks - this was just the tip of the iceberg. We then proceeded on to paint the handmade bamboo meshes for the upper walls of the library, which I must admit was quite a challenging task as we had to arch our backs and squat in uncomfortable positions under the blazing sun which shone relentlessly.
In the twinkle of an eye, it was time for lunch, which provided somewhat of a respite after a half day of tiring painting. The lazy afternoon heat did influence some of us after lunch, in which we were distracted by the adorable puppies and innocent kids. Cognizant of our task at hand, soon, we went back to more painting; this time, we had to paint the shelves, a fence-like wall and the window frames. Despite the task seeming rather boring, we showcased great teamwork and skill and managed to complete the task even faster than we had expected. Of course, during the task, we had fun teasing each other about their past relationships while some of us broke out in song, singing the randomnest songs from High School Musical to ?? O_O One of our very 'blur' friends even placed a paint bucket on another person's head which resulted in him having a few streaks of cream coloured hairs. :/ Owell, I guess this is good evidence of our hard work! :)
Come to think of it, it is amazing how we actually accomplished so much in a mere 4 days. From a scaffolding that did not really resemble a library but a mere house, our library now bears testimony to the result of one's sweat and blood - how teamwork and cooperation transcends and helps us overcome any challenges and how every bit counts. I must mention that the library is far from being complete, we still have a few finishing touches and a few more installations to make before we can truly call it a library! It was also interesting to see how even though the villagers werent exactly well-educated, they had ideas of pasting scotch-tape around the window frames to prevent the grey-coloured paint from seeping through and ruining our initial efforts but still ensuring a nicely painted rectangle could be formed.
It is amazing how happy, gracious and giving these Cambodians are. Though living in obvious poverty, some even lacking the necessary food, giving their guests, us, food was done with no hesitation. Everyday we arrived to the village greeted with welcoming smiles and open arms, full of love and joy. It is hard to believe that such standards of living still exist in this world, and despite in such conditions, the happiness present in the lives of these people. Truly, economic development and status is not a real reflection of happiness.
I believe appreciation is the key emotion that all of us feel. An emotion that many of us in our well comforted, developed world lack. It is astonishing how we have so much, but value so little. How we have so much, but smile so little. How we have so much, and yet are so unfulfilled.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, we broke off into groups and started painting the exterior of the library, touching up and removing the dust from the well-sawed wooden planks - this was just the tip of the iceberg. We then proceeded on to paint the handmade bamboo meshes for the upper walls of the library, which I must admit was quite a challenging task as we had to arch our backs and squat in uncomfortable positions under the blazing sun which shone relentlessly.
In the twinkle of an eye, it was time for lunch, which provided somewhat of a respite after a half day of tiring painting. The lazy afternoon heat did influence some of us after lunch, in which we were distracted by the adorable puppies and innocent kids. Cognizant of our task at hand, soon, we went back to more painting; this time, we had to paint the shelves, a fence-like wall and the window frames. Despite the task seeming rather boring, we showcased great teamwork and skill and managed to complete the task even faster than we had expected. Of course, during the task, we had fun teasing each other about their past relationships while some of us broke out in song, singing the randomnest songs from High School Musical to ?? O_O One of our very 'blur' friends even placed a paint bucket on another person's head which resulted in him having a few streaks of cream coloured hairs. :/ Owell, I guess this is good evidence of our hard work! :)
Come to think of it, it is amazing how we actually accomplished so much in a mere 4 days. From a scaffolding that did not really resemble a library but a mere house, our library now bears testimony to the result of one's sweat and blood - how teamwork and cooperation transcends and helps us overcome any challenges and how every bit counts. I must mention that the library is far from being complete, we still have a few finishing touches and a few more installations to make before we can truly call it a library! It was also interesting to see how even though the villagers werent exactly well-educated, they had ideas of pasting scotch-tape around the window frames to prevent the grey-coloured paint from seeping through and ruining our initial efforts but still ensuring a nicely painted rectangle could be formed.
It is amazing how happy, gracious and giving these Cambodians are. Though living in obvious poverty, some even lacking the necessary food, giving their guests, us, food was done with no hesitation. Everyday we arrived to the village greeted with welcoming smiles and open arms, full of love and joy. It is hard to believe that such standards of living still exist in this world, and despite in such conditions, the happiness present in the lives of these people. Truly, economic development and status is not a real reflection of happiness.
I believe appreciation is the key emotion that all of us feel. An emotion that many of us in our well comforted, developed world lack. It is astonishing how we have so much, but value so little. How we have so much, but smile so little. How we have so much, and yet are so unfulfilled.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Day 3
“Ring Ring”, the alarm clock from our respective phones went off. 6.30pm sharp. Thank God for the “snooze” function, as we were saying, we use it ever so often(: We were supposed to leave at 7.30am, but as usual, we left promptly late at 8.00am sharp. This time, it was no fault of ours – 2 of our friends woke up with a fever and hence, decided to stay back to rest in their comfy beds and air-con while the rest of us sweat it out under the sun for the kids.
The ride there was pretty shacked, really. No one spoke much, everyone was more interested in grabbing a bit more sleep. After about an hour on the road, we then started out treacherous journey through the “woods” – “Gidddyyuup Giddyuup”. Everyone was dying to reach the village, no one wanted to get their asses kicked by the rocks no more. Our stomachs were feeling the pinch, our breakfasts were churning in our stomachs.
“Yes! Finally!” everyone shouted as we entered the gates of the village. It was a journey safe and sound, other than a pee-in-the-grass half way through. Our faces radiated this smile that we would not necessarily have had on any other day. But, today, was special. It was rice-soup day, as well as play with kids day(: wooohooo!
Upon arrival at Taom, we were greeted by the sight of the villagers working hard on the library. The skeleton structure was being boarded up as planks were being nailed into place. News came that we were unable to carry out the rice soup programme today because of a miscommunication; instead the womenfolk will be whipping up lunch for the kids and we can still serve the kids lunch.
We had time to spare before lunch. Some of us entered the church where the children were having classes and joined in the fun and games. The young teacher’s voice sounded across the hall, “Up! Down!” The ringing commands were met with obedient cooperation and ended in peals of laughter, chiming throughout the church as Angels’ bells would. It was music to the ears. Seeing those smiles just brought this funny fuzzy feeling to our hearts—like marshmallows melting on the fire. A couple of us wandered off towards the shed where the villagers kept their animals. The two of us had the luxury of experiencing a semblance of what parenthood possibly feels like as we cradled the sleeping puppies in our laps with little kids crowding around us and competing to put their tiny hands on the sleeping puppies.
Lunchtime! We helped carry the piping hot rice soup-filled buckets to the church where the kids obediently queued-up waiting for their food. Their obedience and patience was something that we admired much. When the rice soup bowls were ready to be served, we took the opportunity to serve the well-behaved kids. Surprisingly, they were extremely polite, each either saying “aukun” or “thank you” – impressive, really.
After a while, we noticed that some children were struggling with their bowls. Some kids were too young to eat on their own, some were eating too slowly, as such we decided to take the golden opportunity of feeding these cute kids. SO cute, omggg! They all ate at such a tremendous speed that after about half an hour, the church was empty, all the kids were playing outside and the dogs were already doing the “clearing-up” inside.
Timing was very fluid. After lunch, we had the entire afternoon to spend interacting with the children. Initially, everyone was unsure of what activities to carry out or how to go about engaging the kids in games. How should we break the ice? With a smile? A photo-taking session? Doing the chicken dance and Macarena in increasing rapidness did the trick. We soon had the children collapsing in hilarity. Mirth filled our playground. We never realized the powers a smile and forty pairs of twinkling eyes could do. The sparkle in those large brown eyes simply lifted our spirits by miraculous amounts.
We had a hand in helping the villagers with the construction of the library as well. Unprepared as we were (attire-wise) to lend a hand, everyone eventually got down to work sanding the planks, painting the exterior, and sawing. We also laid the planks out to dry. The problem with this paint-thing is that when it gets on us, we would need turpentine to get it off, how troublesome, purr! But, anything for the kids(:
Nuff! Nuff! Enough painting! We wanted to camwhore and play with the kids so badly. We initially wanted to armwrestle with them like yesterday but then we had more interesting ideas in mind - “scissors, paper, stone” combined with a mix of “pepsi cola 123”; hockey-pokey, twinkle twinkle little stars, the chicken dance, London bridge which surprisingly they knew how to play, and Macarena. Though they probably didn’t understand a word we were saying, it worked. Communication barriers were overcome. In fact, what are communication barriers? They seemed inexistent as we all clapped our hands and stomped our feet. Laughter’s the best medicine to anything; so is a smile (:
Grinning faces, adorable puppies, pungent whiffs of paint, bananas-yet another day awaits. Signing off!
The ride there was pretty shacked, really. No one spoke much, everyone was more interested in grabbing a bit more sleep. After about an hour on the road, we then started out treacherous journey through the “woods” – “Gidddyyuup Giddyuup”. Everyone was dying to reach the village, no one wanted to get their asses kicked by the rocks no more. Our stomachs were feeling the pinch, our breakfasts were churning in our stomachs.
“Yes! Finally!” everyone shouted as we entered the gates of the village. It was a journey safe and sound, other than a pee-in-the-grass half way through. Our faces radiated this smile that we would not necessarily have had on any other day. But, today, was special. It was rice-soup day, as well as play with kids day(: wooohooo!
Upon arrival at Taom, we were greeted by the sight of the villagers working hard on the library. The skeleton structure was being boarded up as planks were being nailed into place. News came that we were unable to carry out the rice soup programme today because of a miscommunication; instead the womenfolk will be whipping up lunch for the kids and we can still serve the kids lunch.
We had time to spare before lunch. Some of us entered the church where the children were having classes and joined in the fun and games. The young teacher’s voice sounded across the hall, “Up! Down!” The ringing commands were met with obedient cooperation and ended in peals of laughter, chiming throughout the church as Angels’ bells would. It was music to the ears. Seeing those smiles just brought this funny fuzzy feeling to our hearts—like marshmallows melting on the fire. A couple of us wandered off towards the shed where the villagers kept their animals. The two of us had the luxury of experiencing a semblance of what parenthood possibly feels like as we cradled the sleeping puppies in our laps with little kids crowding around us and competing to put their tiny hands on the sleeping puppies.
Lunchtime! We helped carry the piping hot rice soup-filled buckets to the church where the kids obediently queued-up waiting for their food. Their obedience and patience was something that we admired much. When the rice soup bowls were ready to be served, we took the opportunity to serve the well-behaved kids. Surprisingly, they were extremely polite, each either saying “aukun” or “thank you” – impressive, really.
After a while, we noticed that some children were struggling with their bowls. Some kids were too young to eat on their own, some were eating too slowly, as such we decided to take the golden opportunity of feeding these cute kids. SO cute, omggg! They all ate at such a tremendous speed that after about half an hour, the church was empty, all the kids were playing outside and the dogs were already doing the “clearing-up” inside.
Timing was very fluid. After lunch, we had the entire afternoon to spend interacting with the children. Initially, everyone was unsure of what activities to carry out or how to go about engaging the kids in games. How should we break the ice? With a smile? A photo-taking session? Doing the chicken dance and Macarena in increasing rapidness did the trick. We soon had the children collapsing in hilarity. Mirth filled our playground. We never realized the powers a smile and forty pairs of twinkling eyes could do. The sparkle in those large brown eyes simply lifted our spirits by miraculous amounts.
We had a hand in helping the villagers with the construction of the library as well. Unprepared as we were (attire-wise) to lend a hand, everyone eventually got down to work sanding the planks, painting the exterior, and sawing. We also laid the planks out to dry. The problem with this paint-thing is that when it gets on us, we would need turpentine to get it off, how troublesome, purr! But, anything for the kids(:
Nuff! Nuff! Enough painting! We wanted to camwhore and play with the kids so badly. We initially wanted to armwrestle with them like yesterday but then we had more interesting ideas in mind - “scissors, paper, stone” combined with a mix of “pepsi cola 123”; hockey-pokey, twinkle twinkle little stars, the chicken dance, London bridge which surprisingly they knew how to play, and Macarena. Though they probably didn’t understand a word we were saying, it worked. Communication barriers were overcome. In fact, what are communication barriers? They seemed inexistent as we all clapped our hands and stomped our feet. Laughter’s the best medicine to anything; so is a smile (:
Grinning faces, adorable puppies, pungent whiffs of paint, bananas-yet another day awaits. Signing off!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Day 2
Labour Side (Alan)
On the “Labour” side, as we affectionately call the team of us involved in building, we had a couple of interesting moments in the time that we took to travel to the village. Most significant was a little debate we had right after we had dropped off the planning team at the church.
We’d met a girl in the church, around our age probably. She was mentally challenged, but she a genuine look of happiness on her face both times that we came around. The smile on her face was not the result of some indoctrinated need to be polite, but rather a sincere sense of joy at having met someone unfamiliar for the first time.
Naturally, we felt a great deal of sympathy for her, because of her condition. That’s how the discussion started. She was most definitely happy where she was, doing what she was doing everyday. There was no need to feel excessively sorry, was the point raised by one of our members.
At which point we realised, we felt sad for her because through our own experiences, we’d seen how any form of disability can truly be limiting to any one person. Couple that with the fact that she was living in a poorer region of the world, and almost instinctively one feels a small tug at one’s heartstrings. Because we know what she’s missing out on, even if she doesn’t.
The discussion pretty much ended there, on that note, as we wandered into our individual realms of thought during the long 2 hour ride. As we hit the road that led into the village, the ride seemed even more turbulent than yesterday. It didn’t provide us any opportunity to take a nap. So once we got to the village, we grabbed our gloves, and went straight to painting out wooden planks.
There’s an inexplicable sense of gratification in planting your feet in the mud and tirelessly covering every inch of the wood with the paint, while laughing at almost everything we said to each other. Needless to say, some bonds of kinship were strengthened during the time we spent painting.
Also, new acquaintances were formed during that time. After lunch, we took a good deal of time off to interact with the children. They may not understand English well, but that wasn’t a problem. Words weren’t our only method of communication. Games such as tag and arm wrestling were more than enough to establish some degree of rapport with the kids. Seeing the children laugh away while we high-fived them and took pictures with them, that was just priceless.
That was about all we had on the construction side, apart from the long ride back which we spent singing our lungs out to any and every song on our iPods. Very soon, we were back in the city, and heading for dinner.
Planning Side (Kyle)
Another day done, another day down, another day desperately needing of reflection. Today was rather busy, non-stop action with us moving from place to place constantly. I was part of the team of 4 that was so called the “thinking” committee, basically the designing committee of the library. Initially it was shunned as an excuse to skive off the actual hard labour of painting and sanding the planks that was considered truly giving your back and soul into the project. Unfortunately I was one of those who went along with that idea as well, furthermore, initially I wasn’t part of this team, but all 3 of the girls were and thus it became somewhat a girl’s team. Then along the way, one of the female members spoke up and said she’d rather do the sanding and such, and Ethan made an executive decision to put me into the planning committee, swapping with her. I was more than fine with any team I was in, though I did still have that previous conception in mind. That changed throughout the course of the days.
I realised that this team I was in, though we did not tan in the sun nor slog out painting under backbreaking conditions, was responsible for so much more than most thought. We were in charge of what will make the library comfortable, suitable for learning and for providing what a library needs to be a library, besides its physical structure. Of course we were still teased, but we knew in our hearts, we were doing something more than it seemed. Every decision we made, be it the dimensions of a table, the number of books, positioning of the reading corners, they would inadvertently affect how the children would be able to learn better when we all leave. That would be our mark.
With that thought, I guess we put ever more weight into making the right decisions, considering as much as we can, trying to make the best out of what we can give this library that might be the future of the village children. One can and should never doubt the power of education and its necessity. So we went about pushing ourselves to make the most of the time we have to buy materials and stock up on what the library essentially needed, though I think most of us were tired.
Along the way though, travelling from shop to shop, trying to find the best prices for everything, I got to see the way of life of these Cambodian people. Yes, given that they/we are in the tourist targeted part of the country and the standard of living is much higher here, you can still see the poverty beyond those eyes, and you just know in your heart that this is as good as it’s going to get. That elsewhere in this country, where Her currency is literally run by the USD, thousands, millions of people are suffering and living below the poverty line, below simply USD$2 a day. But yet in those same eyes, you see content. You see happiness in that content, to still be alive, and not have NOTHING. Half the children in Taom roam about half naked or with clothes so tattered and torn, you’d wonder if they were over washed. That is a blessing they are thankful for. We are thankful for blessings that include houses bigger than 30 of their makeshift houses put together.
Yet, you see a spirit of generosity, and honesty. That’s what hit me the most. These Cambodians, when they smile, they truly do smile, when they give, they truly give from the heart. They have little to spare yet I get the feeling that they will not let you go feeling unappreciated nor unwanted. Their accepting culture is just bliss, and their uncomplaining nature. One example would be how they welcome us with what would be a banquet in their eyes, and this would be our lunch for the five odd days we’d be spending in the village. They hold nothing back. We see kids running around with bloated stomachs, possibly a condition of kwash something (I still can’t spell it), dogs with stomachs thinner than my calf, and we look back at our plates and think, no. There’s no way they can give us this much food, when their own people look like they haven’t had a proper meal in months. And we just look at each other, wordless, because some things, need not be said to be understood.
And as most people who go on mission trips or community service trips such as this one will do, I compared them to us Singaporeans. I need not say more about how much we take things for granted. How we cannot fathom spending a night on the floor with a lizard crawling across the ceiling above our heads. One word. Disgusting. But what really is disgusting? Or WHO is really disgusting? Tell me when you find out.
Now with the library, these children now have the opportunity for education. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote, “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education”. Well, I think these Cambodian kids may just have an edge over us in that… they have both.
On the “Labour” side, as we affectionately call the team of us involved in building, we had a couple of interesting moments in the time that we took to travel to the village. Most significant was a little debate we had right after we had dropped off the planning team at the church.
We’d met a girl in the church, around our age probably. She was mentally challenged, but she a genuine look of happiness on her face both times that we came around. The smile on her face was not the result of some indoctrinated need to be polite, but rather a sincere sense of joy at having met someone unfamiliar for the first time.
Naturally, we felt a great deal of sympathy for her, because of her condition. That’s how the discussion started. She was most definitely happy where she was, doing what she was doing everyday. There was no need to feel excessively sorry, was the point raised by one of our members.
At which point we realised, we felt sad for her because through our own experiences, we’d seen how any form of disability can truly be limiting to any one person. Couple that with the fact that she was living in a poorer region of the world, and almost instinctively one feels a small tug at one’s heartstrings. Because we know what she’s missing out on, even if she doesn’t.
The discussion pretty much ended there, on that note, as we wandered into our individual realms of thought during the long 2 hour ride. As we hit the road that led into the village, the ride seemed even more turbulent than yesterday. It didn’t provide us any opportunity to take a nap. So once we got to the village, we grabbed our gloves, and went straight to painting out wooden planks.
There’s an inexplicable sense of gratification in planting your feet in the mud and tirelessly covering every inch of the wood with the paint, while laughing at almost everything we said to each other. Needless to say, some bonds of kinship were strengthened during the time we spent painting.
Also, new acquaintances were formed during that time. After lunch, we took a good deal of time off to interact with the children. They may not understand English well, but that wasn’t a problem. Words weren’t our only method of communication. Games such as tag and arm wrestling were more than enough to establish some degree of rapport with the kids. Seeing the children laugh away while we high-fived them and took pictures with them, that was just priceless.
That was about all we had on the construction side, apart from the long ride back which we spent singing our lungs out to any and every song on our iPods. Very soon, we were back in the city, and heading for dinner.
Planning Side (Kyle)
Another day done, another day down, another day desperately needing of reflection. Today was rather busy, non-stop action with us moving from place to place constantly. I was part of the team of 4 that was so called the “thinking” committee, basically the designing committee of the library. Initially it was shunned as an excuse to skive off the actual hard labour of painting and sanding the planks that was considered truly giving your back and soul into the project. Unfortunately I was one of those who went along with that idea as well, furthermore, initially I wasn’t part of this team, but all 3 of the girls were and thus it became somewhat a girl’s team. Then along the way, one of the female members spoke up and said she’d rather do the sanding and such, and Ethan made an executive decision to put me into the planning committee, swapping with her. I was more than fine with any team I was in, though I did still have that previous conception in mind. That changed throughout the course of the days.
I realised that this team I was in, though we did not tan in the sun nor slog out painting under backbreaking conditions, was responsible for so much more than most thought. We were in charge of what will make the library comfortable, suitable for learning and for providing what a library needs to be a library, besides its physical structure. Of course we were still teased, but we knew in our hearts, we were doing something more than it seemed. Every decision we made, be it the dimensions of a table, the number of books, positioning of the reading corners, they would inadvertently affect how the children would be able to learn better when we all leave. That would be our mark.
With that thought, I guess we put ever more weight into making the right decisions, considering as much as we can, trying to make the best out of what we can give this library that might be the future of the village children. One can and should never doubt the power of education and its necessity. So we went about pushing ourselves to make the most of the time we have to buy materials and stock up on what the library essentially needed, though I think most of us were tired.
Along the way though, travelling from shop to shop, trying to find the best prices for everything, I got to see the way of life of these Cambodian people. Yes, given that they/we are in the tourist targeted part of the country and the standard of living is much higher here, you can still see the poverty beyond those eyes, and you just know in your heart that this is as good as it’s going to get. That elsewhere in this country, where Her currency is literally run by the USD, thousands, millions of people are suffering and living below the poverty line, below simply USD$2 a day. But yet in those same eyes, you see content. You see happiness in that content, to still be alive, and not have NOTHING. Half the children in Taom roam about half naked or with clothes so tattered and torn, you’d wonder if they were over washed. That is a blessing they are thankful for. We are thankful for blessings that include houses bigger than 30 of their makeshift houses put together.
Yet, you see a spirit of generosity, and honesty. That’s what hit me the most. These Cambodians, when they smile, they truly do smile, when they give, they truly give from the heart. They have little to spare yet I get the feeling that they will not let you go feeling unappreciated nor unwanted. Their accepting culture is just bliss, and their uncomplaining nature. One example would be how they welcome us with what would be a banquet in their eyes, and this would be our lunch for the five odd days we’d be spending in the village. They hold nothing back. We see kids running around with bloated stomachs, possibly a condition of kwash something (I still can’t spell it), dogs with stomachs thinner than my calf, and we look back at our plates and think, no. There’s no way they can give us this much food, when their own people look like they haven’t had a proper meal in months. And we just look at each other, wordless, because some things, need not be said to be understood.
And as most people who go on mission trips or community service trips such as this one will do, I compared them to us Singaporeans. I need not say more about how much we take things for granted. How we cannot fathom spending a night on the floor with a lizard crawling across the ceiling above our heads. One word. Disgusting. But what really is disgusting? Or WHO is really disgusting? Tell me when you find out.
Now with the library, these children now have the opportunity for education. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote, “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education”. Well, I think these Cambodian kids may just have an edge over us in that… they have both.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Day 1
The road to Taom is surely a long and trodden one. Taking the highway south, our journey lasted 2 hours, half of which was spent on rocks and stones! The bumpy trail led us to figure that Taom would be barren and far from civilization. Looking out, I remembered how the tour guide described Cambodia to us: 80% of its population was farmers who lived on less than US$2 a day. Was Taom going to be stripped and naked of basic necessities and resources? To myself, the sight of great expanses of farmland was also vastly different from the common environment of Singapore, where the jungle is a concrete one, and the grass is only inches tall.
First impressions do tell us a lot about a place! Despite the picture that I know I had in my mind about the collective “Less Economically Developed Countries”, what I was seeing of the people contrasted my original thoughts of Cambodia. Whilst their hair was brown with dirt and sand, their smiles were shining and ever-present. Such a heart-warming sensation would pass through you every time children waved at our passing van. Indeed, the project of Building Libraries for Siem Reap would be more than stacking wood, but would be the vast development of our selves and persons.
Bouncing along the gravel and speeding by the unending grain, it was a relief to alight from our vehicle in the Learning Centre of Taom. The mid-afternoon sun blazed the stable ground we welcomed. It was blatant here how opposite our cultures were. Even though the temperature left us drenched in sweat, some locals donned jackets to my shock and awe. They lives seemed so comfortable, so pretentious they were in their glee that it was not only joy but jealousy that hit me when I saw them. So content were these people with lives which were deceptively simple and silly people like me complain endlessly about the heat and the troublesome mosquitoes! Definitely, the first thing I realised from coming to Cambodia is not to judge people. Worse still, the poverty that governments so often talk about and seemingly seek to solve was created none other than by themselves! It was not hard coming to the realisation of this by entering Taom, which had all it needed for self-sustenance but was apparently in need of our aid in order to break out of this “Cycle of Poverty”.
In the end, we shared a meal with the locals, munching on delicacies like fried snakes. Beyond the serious discussions concerning the library, we were able to share laughs and smiles with the Khmer-speaking people of whom a minimalistic level of communication passed between us. Not knowing what to do, we were split into a group of Labourers and a group of Planners, of whom the Labourers began to sandpaper large planks of wooden boards about 4-5 metres long in an attempt to ensure no splinters were left behind. The Planners, on the other hand, stood around and, essentially, planned. They designed the layout of the library – deciding where to place the cupboards, tables and chairs etc. There was also a need to take measurements for the shelves and the tables (and chairs), since the furniture could be customized to fit the library, thereby maximizing space! Whilst we planned, we also had to take into consideration the age of the children, for this determined their size and therefore, how tall/short we could make the tables and chairs and stools. The labourers, other than scraping the stray particles off wood, also had the opportunity to paint them a very deep red colour, for these planks would be the façade of the library we were completing!
Time passed quickly; it always does when you’re enjoying yourself! An observation I made was how the locals lived their lives and passed their time. It was interesting to see them idling and chatting with one another. Little do we come across this sense of community in Singapore, for most of the time the community we hang around with is nary our neighbours but more of the online, virtual meetings we have with our friends or classmates. In a Kampong-like manner, the communal activities like meals and school seem so much friendlier, and were that much more homely than we are used to. They surely weren’t shy in polishing up the insufficiently shaved wood that some of us had attempted to render proper! Their open arms and friendly demeanor made me feel quite at ease with them.
As we worked on building our library, there were children upstairs in the learning centre, having lessons. When we finally started to clean up, the children too had ended school. Though I am a tad disappointed that we did not manage to interact with them – because we were busy with our task at hand and because they were shy – they do seem happy; it’s a simple kind of happy, one where you’re contented and grateful for what you have. And they smile and laugh and prance around, despite the fact that many of them don tattered clothing, with some even with swollen stomachs. Our speculation was that they had kwashiorkor, a protein-deficiency disease, but according to a Japanese volunteer there, it could be because of the presence of worms in their stomach that was in turn due to unclean water. This made us realise the state of their poverty. Here we are, downing mineral water, and yet these children don’t even have basic clean water and sanitation facilities! Knowing this spurs many of us to want to do our best for the children, for the community.
There was a need to leave the village by 5pm, because the roads would be pitch dark thereafter, and that would make for a dangerous journey home. Hence, we all had to wash up – some with turpentine to get the paint off our skin and clothes – before boarding the van to prepare for yet another 2 hour journey to the old town for dinner. Overall, one could say that we had an eventful start to our endeavour to build a library for the village of Taom. As long as we stick to our schedule, I believe we are able to have fun, work hard, and change lives. I honestly cannot wait to see how the next few days will pan out!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
MGS Bake sale
A Sunday morning, an early morning- where some of us would have still been in bed sleeping through the morning, or been at church worshipping;
Nonetheless, the group of us had managed to make it- in time- to the concourse of Methodist Girls’ School, bringing with us a whole jingbang of load. From large bags containing boxes of baked goods- namely, brownies and cereal-raisin cookies- to trays, and bulky plastic bags of self-designed T-shirts of all sizes, with even their hangers being brought along. Obviously, every single detail, down to the last miniscule specific on the presentation of the shirts, was already well thought out and pre-planned by Ethan, our ringleader.
As we approached the final leg of our fundraising efforts, today was our last baking sale session- our last opportunity to raise as much funds as we possibly could for our trip to Cambodia. Not, of course, to fund our trip, but to fund the Purpose of our trip.
After having been through one previous bake sale, experienced, we were once again prepared to go all out at full force today and attack as many potential customers as we could. All in the name of Charity.
Our ‘customers’ today was the congregation of the Wesley Methodist Church. Talking to a few people around, we found out that there too, was a group from the Church going down to Cambodia on a mission trip. Perhaps it was this fateful coincidence that the people of the church warmed up to us quickly and our baked goods and T-shirts were very well-received by the crowd there.
At the ring of a school bell, the congregation began streaming out of the chapel, indicating to us the start of our sales. In the spirit of fun, and also to rev up sales, we came up with a competition to see who could finish selling all the stuff on their trays in the shortest possible time. From our last baking sale, the two top ‘salesman’ identified in our group was Douglas and Ben, and both competed in good spirit, assisted by one other helper. Initially, with only a handful of people in the concourse, keeping track of the progress was easy. However, as more and more churchgoers emerged from the chapel after service, the concourse was soon thick with the crowd. Too caught up in the flurry of activities- scurrying to and fro to re-stock on brownies and cookies that were selling like hot cakes, and to get the change for our customers, each side lost track of the numerous boxes of cookies and brownies sold.
Only when the crowd started to subside, and when we were sure we had approached about every single father, mother, man and women in the concourse, did we take a breather. As the buzz around us ebbed, looking at the deflated bags around us, once filled-up to the brim with boxes of cookies, we knew that our scurrying about had been well worth its result. There were only a few straggling boxes of cookies left to finish off.
To sum up our morning’s efforts, the HL Math people among us: Cheryl, Ben and Alan- those who calculated at a light-year’s pace too fast for the normal SL Math beings- set out to calculate our profits through a series of far-too-complex mental sums that only astounded the rest by its final figure. Altogether, we had achieved a profit of over $1000 from today’s bake sale session-
A Sunday afternoon: where it would be about time for some of us to finally pull ourselves out of bed, or for some of us to be in the midst of lunching with friends or family after church,
We, the same group of us, walked out of the school gates, $1000 and more closer to our goal of raising $10,000 for the children and villagers living in the village of Taom, Cambodia.
Nonetheless, the group of us had managed to make it- in time- to the concourse of Methodist Girls’ School, bringing with us a whole jingbang of load. From large bags containing boxes of baked goods- namely, brownies and cereal-raisin cookies- to trays, and bulky plastic bags of self-designed T-shirts of all sizes, with even their hangers being brought along. Obviously, every single detail, down to the last miniscule specific on the presentation of the shirts, was already well thought out and pre-planned by Ethan, our ringleader.
As we approached the final leg of our fundraising efforts, today was our last baking sale session- our last opportunity to raise as much funds as we possibly could for our trip to Cambodia. Not, of course, to fund our trip, but to fund the Purpose of our trip.
After having been through one previous bake sale, experienced, we were once again prepared to go all out at full force today and attack as many potential customers as we could. All in the name of Charity.
Our ‘customers’ today was the congregation of the Wesley Methodist Church. Talking to a few people around, we found out that there too, was a group from the Church going down to Cambodia on a mission trip. Perhaps it was this fateful coincidence that the people of the church warmed up to us quickly and our baked goods and T-shirts were very well-received by the crowd there.
At the ring of a school bell, the congregation began streaming out of the chapel, indicating to us the start of our sales. In the spirit of fun, and also to rev up sales, we came up with a competition to see who could finish selling all the stuff on their trays in the shortest possible time. From our last baking sale, the two top ‘salesman’ identified in our group was Douglas and Ben, and both competed in good spirit, assisted by one other helper. Initially, with only a handful of people in the concourse, keeping track of the progress was easy. However, as more and more churchgoers emerged from the chapel after service, the concourse was soon thick with the crowd. Too caught up in the flurry of activities- scurrying to and fro to re-stock on brownies and cookies that were selling like hot cakes, and to get the change for our customers, each side lost track of the numerous boxes of cookies and brownies sold.
Only when the crowd started to subside, and when we were sure we had approached about every single father, mother, man and women in the concourse, did we take a breather. As the buzz around us ebbed, looking at the deflated bags around us, once filled-up to the brim with boxes of cookies, we knew that our scurrying about had been well worth its result. There were only a few straggling boxes of cookies left to finish off.
To sum up our morning’s efforts, the HL Math people among us: Cheryl, Ben and Alan- those who calculated at a light-year’s pace too fast for the normal SL Math beings- set out to calculate our profits through a series of far-too-complex mental sums that only astounded the rest by its final figure. Altogether, we had achieved a profit of over $1000 from today’s bake sale session-
A Sunday afternoon: where it would be about time for some of us to finally pull ourselves out of bed, or for some of us to be in the midst of lunching with friends or family after church,
We, the same group of us, walked out of the school gates, $1000 and more closer to our goal of raising $10,000 for the children and villagers living in the village of Taom, Cambodia.
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